So guys, we've reached the first M.C.U movie of 2025, Captain America: Brave New World, which was one of the more interesting releases in a while since it's the fourth Captain America movie, but it's obviously not one focusing on Steve given the whole thing with him in Endgame and would instead focus on Sam after the events of The Falcon And The Winter Soldier. I've personally always really liked Sam as a character and so it was gonna be pretty interesting to see if he could really pull off being the main character in a movie since he's always been a side character in the other movies. Before going into the film though, I had been hearing some not great things about the film. People were saying it was just another generic M.C.U movie like some of the other ones we've been getting lately aside from Deadpool & Wolverine. While I myself have enjoyed almost all the movies we've been getting over the last few years to varying degrees, I was still hoping this would be better than a lot of the other films we've been getting that have felt sorta generic. And so, did it? Personally, I think it did. I actually really liked this film. I definitely don't think this is perfect by any means and there some major problems with it and dumb moments, but, honestly, compared to a lot of other M.C.U movies we've been getting lately like The Marvels and Quantumania, which I liked, but thought they were fairly forgettable and generic, this one, I feel had more to it and honestly had some things in it I absolutely loved. So, let's get into it and, like always, I'll do a non spoiler section first and then go into the spoilers after a warning. What's the story? General Ross, now played by Harrison Ford, has become the president of America while Sam is still doing all he can as the new Captain America. However, after an attack on Ross and no one knows who the cause of it was, Sam teams up with Joaquin from Falcon And The Winter Soldier to find out who's behind it. So, there's a lot to talk about with this film, but I think I'll go over the problems with this film because, while I did like it, like I said, there are problems and I'm not gonna act like it's perfect. For one, it feels like it has too much happening. While nowhere near as overstuffed as some other M.C.U films, it does feel like there's a bit too much going on. I already mentioned how we have everything going on with Sam, Ross and trying to find out who the main villain is, but there's a bunch of other stuff too like there's a plotline where Ross is trying to get a bunch of countries together to do something and, while it does tie into the story, especially later on in the film, I feel like there might have been a better way to do it, especially since it has ties to other M.C.U movies that don't have to do with Captain America, so I feel like they could have done that part better. Along with that, the film also feels like it struggles with proper character development in cases. I mean, it does it really well with some characters, but some are severely lacking any development which makes it hard to care for some of them. Also, I feel like the film was setting up specific moments that I feel might have helped with their development in a slightly better way, but it was never really explored or never happened at all, which was pretty annoying, especially in one moment in particular. There's also some cameos in the film, as you'd expect with the M.C.U, and some were really cool and great to see, but there were some others that felt kinda phoned in and not necessary, I feel like they could have figured out other ways for those moments to happen. I also wasn't really of the comedy in this film. It's a lot of the humour from a lot of the last few films and I just didn't find it all that funny. One or two moments might have gotten a small chuckle, but nothing crazy. This next point isn't actually a problem with the film itself, just something I wanted to bring up and is something I heard some other people say that I definitely agree with, but I don't think Red Hulk should have been advertised. That's not a spoiler, it's in the trailers and the posters for this film, but I don't think that should have happened. I think it being suspected for most of the film and then it actually being revealed would have been better. So yeah, a lot of this stuff, among a bunch of other things I'm clearly not thinking about, are a lot of reasons I'm sure people wouldn't like this film. However, with all that said, I still liked this film and I do believe there's a lot of really good things too, so I can go into the positives now. For one, the cast is really great here. Anthony Mackie has always been really great as Sam and this might be his best performance. There's some moments where the scene is focused on him and his performance and he does it really well. The main new addition to the cast though is Harrison Ford as Ross since William Hurt passed away a few years ago. I always thought William Hurt was good as Ross in the other movies, he made Ross very hateable and a good villain, and I think Harrison Ford does a really great job too. For one, it's just awesome that we have Ford in the M.C.U, but he does do a really great job here, especially in one scene in particular during the middle of the film where he and Sam are talking and he does a really great job. Everyone else is great too. Danny Ramirez, Giancarlo Esposito, Carl Lumbly, they all do a great job, even if there's not a lot to some of their characters. The directing in the film is also pretty interesting, I mean, a lot of it is pretty standard, but I noticed while watching that this has major Captain America: The Winter Soldier vibes to it. I feel like they were trying to recreate that kind of style here with making it somewhat more grounded than a lot of the other M.C.U stuff we've been getting lately. That also helped lead into some other interesting plotlines that a lot of M.C.U fans like me have wanted to see for a long time. Again, they're not handled amazingly here and some of it did come across as not very well connected as a story, but it was still great to see a lot of these moments and the way a lot of them happen is done really well in my opinion. The different twists the film keeps revealing is also really interesting and I thought it was fun following the plot and trying to figure out what was happening. I also liked a good portion of the action too. Yes, some of it is also pretty standard and generic and some of what we've seen a bunch of times, but there are some moments where it does get creative and directed pretty well. That was especially shown well in the fight between Sam and Red Hulk. Again, that's not a spoiler, but when watching the trailers, I thought the C.G.I on him looked kinda weird and, yeah, there were some shots where it looked a little off, but it honestly looked a lot better in the film itself. A lot of the close up shots looked super convincing and it was just cool to see Red Hulk in live action. Also, while the pacing of the film can be a bit inconsistent, I will say, once it gets to a certain point, it was really fun to follow the story and, again, just trying to figure out what was happening made it really fun to watch after that certain point. Something else that was actually refreshing to see here was the tone and how seriously it took itself. Unlike some other M.C.U projects recently, this one doesn't feel like a complete joke. It worked last year with Deadpool & Wolverine, but that's because of the style that film was going for, so unlike something like Thor: Love & Thunder where everything was just made into a joke, this one took itself seriously and did it successfully. Yeah, like I said, the actual comedy moments didn't do it for me, but when you get to the serious moments and the film is really taking itself seriously, it's done really well. That goes for the scene with Ross that I mentioned already, but also a few scenes between Sam and Bradley that were also done well. The different dynamics in the film is also really nice here. As I just mentioned, Sam and Bradley's is still nice to watch since Falcon And The Winter Soldier, but the one between Sam and Joaquin is another and might become one of my favourites in the M.C.U, which is also carried really well by the acting. So overall, I'm not gonna act like this is a film everyone is gonna like, in fact, I would be able to see why people wouldn't like it, but I feel like this movie did a lot more right than wrong, especially with a lot of the M.C.U movies we've been getting lately. I do honestly believe this is a good film and has a lot going for it despite all the bad things in it. So, for me personally, I do think you should check this out. I do think it has a lot of really good things about it and things that could lead into a lot of possibilities in the future.And so everyone, those are my thoughts on Captain America: Brave New World. Thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think. Okay, we're getting into the spoilers, if you don't want anything spoiled, go see the film and come back and read the rest of this.
Spoilers:
Okay, so, there's actually a lot to talk about with the spoilers, so I'll go to the start and make my way through giving my thoughts on everything as I go. So first up, that scene where Sam and Joaquin try to stop those guys is one of the examples I was saying where the action wasn't anything special. It had some cool moments, but a lot of the action and some of the dialogue felt kinda clumsey. The beginning of it kinda worried me because it started off pretty weak. Once everything happens in the White House though is where everything starts picking up though, especially when we discover that they're talking about Adamantium, which made me really excited about the possibility of seeing a new Wolverine. But then the moment when we see Bradley try to kill Ross and we don't know why, especially how he acts from it made it pretty interesting to speculate on what was going on. This whole part kinda feels like it drags on a bit though. The whole thing of Sam and Joaquin investigating and trying to figure out what's going on felt like it could have had a few minutes trimmed out of it. However, once we get to the point where Sam and Jaoquin find that camp and discover what's happening, that's where everything starts picking up. And that leads to the main villain of the film, Sterns, and we see he's after turning into The Leader. This was something I even mentioned years ago as something that would be great to see since it was set up all the way back in The Incredible Hulk and so having finally brought back after all these years was really great. I mean the whole thing of Sterns not really having any development was pretty annoying, but it was still great that we finally see him again. The whole storyline of Ross actually torturing and then using him and then using him again to stay alive was also pretty interesting. That then led to a really cool scene where a bunch of jets are around this Celestial Island, which is actually the Celestial that was coming out of the planet in Eternals. The whole thing of Sam trying to keep peace among everyone was a nice moment for him since he is technically Captain America, so it makes sense he'd try that. That scene though is actually what I was talking about with a scene of great acting, especially from Harrison Ford when we find out what the pills he was taking were and we find out he was having Sterns make them to keep him alive and he reveals he did it so he could see Betty again, which I think is a really great moment. Like I said, it had great acting from Anthony Mackie and Harrison Ford and it was nice that we got a moment that took itself seriously. It was also just interesting to see it happen where he wanted to stay alive long enough to see her again and have her see him as a better man. The end of the scene though actually brings up a problem I mentioned earlier when we see Joaquin get injured and almost die. I think this would have been a great bit of development for Sam because he could have thought back to the whole Riley thing he told Steve about in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and he could have thought how to improve and make it better so that it didn't happen again. I think that was a bit of a missed opportunity. Then, the whole hospital scene where we see Bucky show up is an example of what I was saying earlier with cameos that I felt were a bit forced. I get that it makes sense considering they're good friends, especially after The Falcon And The Winter Soldier, but, I dunno, something about him showing up felt a bit phoned it, despite Sebastian Stan doing a great job in that scene. And that leads to the climax where Ross eventually transforms into Red Hulk because the pills are revealed to be filled with Gamma Radiation from Bruce's blood. I think that reveal was actually pretty interesting and made for a good twist, and, like I said earlier, I thought the final fight with Sam trying to stop him was done well. Again, some of the C.G.I on Red Hulk didn't look amazing, but it did for the most part and it was cool that we got to see him. Plus, I like how most of the fight is Sam trying to calm him down and actually using some clever moves against him like using the kinetic energy from the wings to knock him out. But at the very end when he does manage to calm him down and he manages to get through to him was a nice way to end it. I like how the ending also helps Sam and Bradley's relationship with him helping him get out of jail, and then the scene in the Raft was really well done. Again, really good acting from Anthony Mackie and Harrison Ford and then the ending of it where we see Betty show up was a really great moment. It was great to see Liv Tyler as Betty again since The Incredible Hulk and, although it's a short moment, it was really nice and nice for Ross to have a bit of closure there. Then, with the mid-credit scene, it was pretty interesting to see Sterns in the Raft too. I mean, it makes sense, but it was cool to see him there, then him talking about "the others", I assumed he was talking about other variants from the multiverse, which makes sense since we are still technically in the Multiverse Saga, though I am curious to know who exactly he was talking about. I doubt it's Kang, so it's probably some other multiverse characters. Either way, it was still pretty exciting. So, overall, I really liked this film. No, it's not perfect by any means and has a ton of flaws, but, I personally think the stuff it did right were enough for me to say this film was good. Again, unlike some other films in recent films like Quantumania, The Marvels and even Muliverse Of Madness, which I did like all of them and thought they were fairly good, but also thought were some of the more lower M.C.U films to come out in recent years, this one had some really interesting twists and turns that made me enjoy it a bit more than those and it makes me excited to see these characters again in the future. And yeah, everyone, those are my thoughts on Captain America: Brave New World. Thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think.
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