I know what it's like. Maybe you've got a new baby at home, or your next-door neighbor is doing renovations, and all you want is a little shuteye, just a chance to catch a few Zs. Boy do I have a movie for you!
I've endeavored to avoid spoilers below, but the biggest spoiler is that it just wasn't very good.
What was missing:
1. Charisma
There is none.
Anthony Mackie plays the new Captain America, Sam Wilson, having been handed the shield by Steve Rogers at the end of Avengers: End Game.
(The Disney Plus series, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, had a plot that revolved around him giving it up and getting it back, but that's pretty much irrelevant to this movie.)
I like Mackie as an actor. He's good with others and his debut as "the Falcon" (wearing a prototyped winged suit) in Captain America: Winter Soldier was excellent. Whether it's bad writing or bad directing (both could definitely have played a role) he doesn't bring that certain "it" factor to command your attention when he's on the screen like a leading man needs.
I'll concede there was a glimmer or two of charisma, but it wasn't brought by Mackie. It was brought by someone who does have that "it" factor:
Giancarlo Esposito.
You know, this guy 👇
Esposito was brought on for reshoots and if you've seen the movie, you'll understand why. His unfortunately brief time on screen (I doubt it totaled ten minutes) are some of the best parts and reminded me of the way he nearly took over The Mandalorian when he appeared as Moff Gideon in the first season.
Keep in mind, every scene he is in was added after the movie was done. He was added because the prescreening feedback of the original version came back negative. He wasn't even a character in the original cut, and appears to have replaced more than a couple of others who ended up on the cutting room floor.
Mackie, in contrast, is perfectly well suited for ensemble performances. He proved that in Winter Soldier. The script certainly didn't do him any favors, heavy as it was with exposition, but as the President Ross character (played by Harrison Ford) notes, "you're no Steve Rogers," and so by extension, no "Chris Evans."
Not yet, anyway.
Speaking of Harrison Ford, he's pretty good here. He's in his eighties and has lost a step or two, and also struggled with the same clunky script as everyone else, but the movie is better for his presence.
It's still not enough.
The one other actor who stood out for me was Shira Haas playing Ruth Bat-Seraph, a former Black Widow operative and head of Ross's security detail. There was all manner of controversy over her inclusion in the movie (many of her scenes ended up being cut as well) that prompted a call for a boycott among pro-Palestinian activists.
Everyone else was fine. It was a good supporting cast, which could have worked...
...except for another missing element.
2. Chemistry
When the parts are greater than the whole, you can make a movie, or an entire TV series, with just a supporting cast where no one in particular stands out IF there is chemistry.
There isn't.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was not a very good series, but there was real chemistry between Bucky Barnes (the Winter Soldier played by Sebastian Stan) and Mackie.
There is really very little of that here.
3. Compelling Villain
Yes, you have the "Red Hulk," but the main villain is supposed to be someone else (only partly revealed in the trailers) working behind the scenes, pulling the strings if you will.
It doesn't work. It could have, but they completely flubbed it, from bad makeup and CGI choices (really, what were they thinking?) to more poor writing and a listless performance. The villain's appearances present yet another opportunity to take a nap.
4. A Spy Thriller Plot
We were told they were aiming for another Captain America: Winter Soldier and were using spy thrillers like The Day of the Jackal as a model.
But no. Not even close. The writing, the acting - everything conspired against this movie.
5. Humor
I get it, they wanted to go dark here, so I guess ... mission accomplished?
Humor can be a useful tool in serious movies by breaking the tension which can enhance it all the more if only by the contrast. Winter Soldier, the alleged inspiration for Brave New World, did this successfully.
Aside from a handful laughs, Brave New World did not.
6. Wokeness.
Yes, this missing element was a rare positive.
You won't find anyone shoving a trans character at you and demanding you stand up and applaud the stunning bravery, which I'll mark as a win.
That said, it does suffer from an annoying underlying assumption among Hollywood liberals that we have made exactly zero progress in racial relations in the past 70 years.
I don't have a problem with movies exploring elements of America's frequently racist past; heck, I loved Hidden Figures, a beautifully told story about struggle and triumph.
But what I do have a problem with is the completely dishonest refusal to recognize that things are dramatically, historically different today.
Perfect? No, never will be, so let's abandon that little childish fantasy now, but it's destructive and disrespectful to the men and women, of all colors, who fought to make this a better world, often paying with their lives, to in any way imply that nothing has changed.
The heartfelt conversations between Mackie's character and Isaiah Bradley (well played by Carl Lumbly) could have held real dramatic weight if they had included an honest recognition, not just of Bradley's terrible mistreatment all those years ago, but also a nod to the tremendous opportunity Wilson has having earned the mantle of Captain America and what that means about growth and the future.
But to do that would be contrary to the Neo-Marxist oppressor-oppressed paradigm and work against the preferred narrative that this is a white supremacist country.
(I'll note that millions of non-white people trying to break into a white supremacist country is never reconciled with this worldview.)
What was included:
1. Action Set Pieces
Well, two anyway. The battle with the Red Hulk is a fun and loud CGI fest and the aerial battle over the Indian Ocean is as well. There were other fights, too, with various physics-defying moves which were typical fodder for a superhero movie.
So, there's that.
2. The Hulk
Well, a Hulk, anyway.
One of the criticisms of this movie is that it's more a sequel to the 2008 The Incredible Hulk than a Captain America movie, which in many ways it is. That's part of what makes it a mediocre Captain American movie, but it does make for a slightly better Hulk movie, so if you are badly in need of a Hulk fix, this could work for you.
3. Cameos
Two. Two cameos. Really short, and yes, I'm grasping at straws here.
Plastic straws, that is!
(I promised no spoilers, so I won't reveal them.)
I don't regret seeing it, mostly. I'm a Marvel nerd and literally sat through the entirety of the Disney Plus series, Secret Invasion which was hands-down the worst Marvel production of any kind. How do you make a bad Samuel L. Jackson movie? Heck, I'd rather watch Snakes on a Plane.
As to some regrettable remarks Mackie made about what Captain America means while promoting the movie in Italy, I will chalk up to a clumsy attempt to broaden its appeal to non-American audiences. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt based on other things he's said (see below), but that was an unforced error.
The movie wasn't terrible, it was just underwhelming. Mediocre at best.
But, what do I know? it sure appears to be having a really good opening weekend.
Whether it can maintain that pace remains to be seen given the poor reviews these early viewers are giving it.
Regardless, this does not spell the end of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The upcoming Thunderbolts* movie looks like a fun ensemble, and The Fantastic Four could very well be great.
But this one? Feel free to skip.
P.S. Now check out our latest video 👇
