Captain America: Brave New World: Movie Review

Cast: Anthony Mackie, Harrison Ford, Giancarlo Esposito, Tim Blake Nelson
Director: Julius Onah

Marvel heads back into the action world with a brand new Captain America taking the helm in the form of Anthony Mackie.

When Sam Ross (Mackie) finds himself in the middle of an international incident involving US President Thaddeus Ross (Ford), he must solve a global conspiracy before it's too late...

It may seem a simple plotline that reveals little about the film, but in truth, this feels like one of Marvel's slightest entrants, a film that ties up loose ends that nobody was crying for the conclusion of and offers a fairly formulaic conspiracy-led film that concludes in the usual CGI Marvel mayhem.

Essentially a tale of overcoming white male rage, Captain America: Brave New World manages to somehow sideline Sam Wilson (a character repeatedly referred to as being inspirational throughout, but who rarely gets the chance to be so unfortunately).

But far too often in this flick, there feels like a lack of real tension and it beggars belief that five people came together to write a screenplay that's both muddied and slight, with action that's impressive but is slightly failed by some of the CGI bringing it to life.

Perhaps the pinnacle of Captain America: Brave New World is a sea-bound dogfight between Captain, Falcon and the combined Japanese and American armies, poised on the brink of war. It's here the action comes together, but it's also markedly here that some of the constraints come to the fore.

If Mackie impresses with a sense of ease and purpose, he's let down by a script that forces him into exposition and awkward reactionary, rather than something which feels fluid and relaxed. Ford is a little luckier in that his Thaddeus Ross gets to change in ways that have been readily spoilt by trailers and marketing, but seem to be a commentary on a current presidential incumbent.

Maybe the best of the bunch is Tim Blake Nelson, embodying a character who's been let down by the powers that be and who bemoans the fact that a brave new world should be out there. He's perhaps the strongest of the players - and the irony is that he's right.

Perhaps there could have been a Brave New World out there - if the Marvel backstory and mythology hadn't muddied waters and dragged this semi-entertaining but occasional slog of a film disappointingly down.