Sam Wilson now has the shield and we get a Hulk of a different color, but there’s little in “Captain America: Brave New World” that’s particularly brave OR truly new. This is a solid, well-acted, fast-paced adventure with a relatively small-scale storyline — a decidedly mid-level Marvel movie that never comes close to achieving the soaring brilliance of the likes of “Black Panther” or “Avengers: Endgame,” but is a far better work than recent missteps such as “Thor: Love and Thunder,” “The Marvels” and “Eternals.”
At least we’re back on the right track.
If we go too deep into the weeds about timelines and TV spinoffs and all that stuff, we’ll never get to the movie, so let’s strip it down to this. In “Captain America: Brave New World,” Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson has inherited the Cap gig from Steve Rogers and has been Captain America for some time now, zipping around the world and saving the day, with the help of his loyal protégé Joaquin Torres (a charming Danny Ramirez), who is champing at the bit to earn his wings and take over Sam’s old role of Falcon.
Harrison Ford, who is working as much now as he has in his entire career and seems to be having something approaching fun in doing so, takes on the role of Thaddeus Ross (previously played by the late William Hurt), the former Army general and onetime U.S. Secretary of State and now newly elected president.
Thaddeus has a long history of opposing the Avengers, but now that he’s in office, he wants to prove that he’s a changed man who is more interested in peace than power. He summons Sam to the White House to propose that they work together, and hey, what if the Avengers reassemble, wouldn’t that be something? Most important of all, Thaddeus hopes to cement his legacy as a uniting force by brokering a peace treaty among nations that will allow everyone to share equally in a new alloy known as Adamantium, which is said to be even more miraculous than the Wakanda-sourced vibranium.
A host of new and returning characters join the mix (I won’t spoil any surprise cameos). Giancarlo Esposito is a screen-commanding force as Sidewinder, the leader of the mercenaries known as SERPENT. A highlight of the film is an early fight scene between Sam and Sidewinder, which reminds us that Sam hasn’t taken the super soldier serum, making him a more vulnerable and “human” superhero, a la Tony Stark or that Bruce Wayne fellow from that other universe.
Carl Lumbly is wonderful and empathetic as Isaiah Bradley, the sole survivor of the horrific serum experiments conducted on Black soldiers during the 1950s. (For the most part, “Brave New World” glosses over politics, though Isaiah’s story remains powerful, and there are some obvious parallels between certain actions taken by President Ross and some current-day developments.) Less impactful is the presence of the greatly talented but in this case underwhelming Tim Blake Nelson as Samuel Sterns, the brainiac obsessed with getting his revenge on Thaddeus. Sporting makeup out of a 1950s B-movie, Nelson comes across as more goofy than terrifying.
We know Thaddeus Ross and his temper are eventually going to make him too big for his britches. It’s on the posters and in the trailer. And who better to play a grouchy guy with a red face than Harrison Ford? The fight scenes are fun and exciting, the performances by Ford and Mackie are authentic; they pour themselves into their roles. Granted, the pleasures offered in “Captain America: Brave New World” are neither grand nor groundbreaking, but they’re consistent and earned.