‘Captain America: Brave New World’: Non-Spoiler Review

 

Following widely publicized production woes and extensive reshoots, Marvel Studios’ Captain America: Brave New World has arrived, and although it’s not as disappointing as social media or Rotten Tomatoes might have you believe, it’s a shaky flight for the winged Avenger.

Featuring Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson, having taken up the Cap mantle from Steve Rogers at the conclusion of Avengers: Endgame and solidifying himself as the star-spangled hero in the Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, this film unfortunately only feels like a Captain America sequel sometimes. Mostly, it’s a follow-up to 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, with many plotlines and characters carried over from that film 17 years later. It’s also a follow-up to notorious Marvel miss The Eternals, finally addressing the massive dead Celestial in the Indian Ocean that one would think would play into the MCU over the past 4 years. I give the film credit for picking up the pieces and pulling these elements back into continuity, but it all starts to feel more like housekeeping than storytelling – especially when these elements pull us away from Sam.

The pacing is a bit rough as well, and the two-hour film feels longer than that. The action scenes are fun when they aren’t generic, choppy fistfights – especially an aerial dogfight and the thrilling-but-brief battle between Cap and Red Hulk – but the rest of the film is mostly exposition-heavy and feels more procedural than powerful. It seems like Julius Onah is trying to replicate the political intrigue of the Russo brothers’ Captain America: The Winter Soldier, but it often feels like a serviceable episode of Law & Order instead.

Despite feeling flat and disjointed overall, there were some good performances. Mackie brings a lot of charm to Sam’s Captain America, while Harrison Ford – stepping into the role of “Thunderbolt” Ross following William Hurt’s death – brings new vulnerability and urgency to the character, especially when he finally “Hulks out” in the third act. Danny Ramirez provides warmth and humor to the role of Joaquin Torres/Falcon, and Giancarlo Esposito oozes his trademark measured menace as Sidewinder, the leader of the villainous Serpent Society, even though it often feels like he’s in a different movie altogether. Everyone else does fine enough with what they’re given, although one returning character from The Incredible Hulk who winds up being the film’s primary antagonist elicited a lot of unintended laughs from my screening due to sheer goofiness.

All that said, I wouldn’t say Captain America: Brave New World is among Marvel Studios’ worst outings, but it’s solidly middle-of-the-road. It hints at big things for The Avengers and the MCU as a whole, but to me felt like a hollow, brief, occasionally enjoyable experience in and of itself. I should note, however, that this film has one of the worst post-credit sequences in the history of the MCU. If you need to race to the bathroom as soon as the credits start, it’s not worth the wait.

Trailer Showdown: ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ vs. ‘Jurassic World: Rebirth’

 

We all assumed we would be getting trailers for Marvel Studios’ The Fantastic Four: First Steps and Universal Pictures’ during Super Bowl LIX this Sunday, but both franchises kicked things off a bit early, giving fans of summer blockbusters a lot to discuss and dissect this week. But which trailer packs the most punch? Has the bigger bite? Scarletts the most Johanssons? OK, that last one is pretty obvious.

Let’s see how they match up.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps

Let’s be honest: There has never been a good Fantastic Four movie. There are some fun moments in the 2005 Tim Story film, but from the 1994 Roger Corman schlock flick to the 2015 reboot misfire, the silver screen has been unkind to Marvel’s First Family. But the debut Marvel Studios film for Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Woman, The Human Torch and The Thing shows promise, placing the characters against a reimagined 1960s backdrop that’s separate from the established Marvel Cinematic Universe. Directed by Matt Shakman and starring Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bachrach, The Fantastic Four: First Steps also features John Malkovich and Natasha Lyonne in its star-studded cast, with Ralph Ineson voicing The Devourer of Worlds himself, Galactus. The retro-futuristic aesthetic in this is a lot of fun, and the visual effects bringing The Thing to orange, rocky life are exceptional. If the MCU is “at a bit of a low point” – as stated by Deadpool in a certain billion-dollar team-up flick earlier this year – this might be the splash of freshness and color the nearly 20-year-old movie universe needs.

Jurassic World: Rebirth

Jurassic World Dominion wasn’t great. In fact, it wasn’t even good. Overstuffed with characters and lacking any of the awe factor that made Jurassic Park a classic, Dominion felt like an extinction point for the prehistoric franchise. I remember hearing that the next film in the series would be a soft reboot, and it seems like that comes by way of a new human cast, ramped-up horror elements and the emergence of a new mutant dinosaur threat. It’s also directed by Gareth Edwards (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) and written by Jurassic Park co-writer David Koepp so, yeah, I’m in. 

The Rebirth trailer features Scarlett Johansson’s Zora Bennett joining Jonathan Bailey’s Dr. Henry Loomis and Mahershala Ali’s Duncan Kincaid on a dangerous expedition to extract dino DNA from several dinosaurs at Jurassic Park’s original research laboratory so it can be used to create a miracle drug. Things obviously go wrong, and the group is attacked by Velociraptors, Spinosauri, at least one Tyrannosaurus Rex and a hideous mutant dinosaur that will likely be a pretty cool toy.

The plot doesn’t veer too far away from the working formula for all things Jurassic – put humans and dinosaurs together and see what happen – but Rebirth looks like a massive stomp in the right direction after the underwhelming Dominion. Let’s hope there are no giant locusts this time.

The Verdict?

It’s close, but when it comes to The Thing taking vs. The Rex, “It’s Clobberin’ Time!” Fantastic Four: The First Steps wins in a battle of fresh vs. familiar. Jurassic World: Rebirth’s trailer seems to tread familiar ground to bring the series back to basics, while First Steps aptly showcases what sets these characters apart from the 30+ prior Marvel Studios films.