It's For the Birds

(030625) I had a very special and impactful experience seeing Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) with my late father. He was a veteran, and he remembered reading comics while he was stationed overseas. The military would give out free comics to soldiers back then, and his favorite was always Captain America. He identified with the character of Steve Rogers, a soldier who always tried to do the right thing who finds himself in a modern world he does not fully comprehend. This was one of the last times I remember having a really good time with my dad. It was the perfect film for us to see together. It was not just a good film for a superhero film, it was a good film period.

The original movie did right by the classic character and Chris Evans was perfectly cast in the lead. The film treated Captain America with the dignity and respect he deserved (unlike the demeaning portrayal of Thor Odinson in Thor: Love and Thunder), and it was faithful to the comic vision of the character.
 
The two excellent sequels, Captain America: Winter Soldier (2014) and Captain America: Civil War (2018) developed the main character further and created a whole exciting corner of the modern Marvel cinematic universe for him. Unlike many sequels they were roughly in the same ballpark in terms of quality as the original, and some viewers prefer them. The Captain America series was arguably the best trilogy of films in the whole Marvel U. The films were filled with fine action, gripping political intrigue, believable characters, and strong writing.

But the confused and inert Captain America: Brave New World is a definite low point in the series, it lacks almost all the good qualities that made the other Captain America films watchable. It does not give us a story that needs to be told or many characters that we can care about. It seems like it is just a place holder and a way to use a popular brand until a better idea or version comes along later. But its main flaw is its lack of cohesion. Like the original cut of the Justice League film, it seems like it was patched together from several scrapped and perhaps better versions and the pieces don’t go together very well.

It is not even a proper entry in the Captain America series. It is more of an Incredible Hulk (2008) sequel disguised as a Captain America film with no Captain America. Harrison Ford’s Thunderbolt Ross is the main character and gets most of the film's character development. But it will probably not please fans of either the Hulk, Captain America or The Eternals film (if there are any). Like many recent Marvel U films, it seems like a film made by people who do not understand or care about what makes comic characters great, and they can’t even begin to imagine how to do a good action scene.

The film was directed by Julius Onah who has created a choppy, haphazard film that does not flow or jell well. He directed The Girl is in Trouble (2015), The Cloverfield Paradox (2018) and Luce (2020). His previous films received bad to so-so reviews and there is little in his past that proves he can handle a big budget superhero film. He displays nowhere near the skill or finesse of the previous Captain America directors, Joe (Captain America: The First Avenger) Johnston or Joe and Anthony Russo (Captain America: Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War.)

Rather than a film made with a personal style, this project feels like it was created and written by a committee. Because of this it did not come as a surprise that the film is credited to five writers, because there is no apparent guiding unifying vision behind it. In order to help us follow the hard swallow twists and turns in the plot we are repeatedly subjected by huge amounts of spoken exposition which violates the idea that a good story should show and not just tell.

The film starts out well enough. Since the little better than okay Falcon/Winter Soldier Disney mini-series, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) has grown more comfortable with his role as the new Captain America. Here Mackie turns in a much better performance than this film deserves. The film makers have decided that like Batman, Cap apparently needs a sidekick, his new Robin is Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez) who has flying powers and has taken on the role of the new Falcon. The Torres character does not elevate the film in any way and does little beyond adding a Latino character to the mix.

There is also a new President in town. The former Hulk/super-hero hater, General Thunderbolt Ross (Harrison Ford replacing the deceased William Hurt) who helped draft the Sokovia Accords super-hero registration act has now become the President. The Hulk’s alter ego Bruce Banner was of course involved with Ross’s daughter Betty (Liv Allen) in previous Hulk movies, and provided some of his motivation for his hating the monster. Now the President is not happy because his anti-Hulk actions has totally alienated Betty who does not talk to him anymore. Which is really no better than he deserves.

Cap/Sam (I cannot call him Captain America) shows up to a party along with the new Falcon and Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumley) the African American soldier who was the first subject of the super-soldier serum. Bradley, who was falsely  imprisoned, is the most interesting and sympathetic character. His situation has obvious parallels with the Tuskegee Experiment. The party is related to a new treaty with Japan which concerns the substance of Adamantium which is mined from the dead Celestial that we saw at the end of  The Eternals. But it all ends in chaos when a mind-controlled Bradley (poor guy) attempts to murder Ross.

After the new Falcon is injured, Cap/Sam teams up with a new Israeli superhero, Sabra. In the comics she is a mutant who has superior speed, reflexes, stamina and strength and the ability to borrow some else’s powers plus she has energy bracelets. Here she is supposed to be an Israeli version of the Black Widow, with spy and acrobatic skills which makes her much less interesting than the comic version.

The villain behind the scenes is The Leader/Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson) a character last seen over seventeen years ago in Incredible Hulk who in the comics is normally part of the Hulk’s rogue gallery. He was permanently deformed and has a swollen head because of his exposure to gamma rays. Now  super intelligent, he seeks revenge on General Ross who has kept him a prisoner and used him for all these many years. The Leader controls people’s minds and makes them into "manchurian candidates" but the whole mind control thing was handled much better in Captain America: Winter Soldier.

The fight scene at the end is mostly disappointing and it is completely unconvincing. The Hulk and Falcon look like they are not even occupying the same space, and look digitally combined from two whole different films using green screens. The CGI use to create the Red Hulk does not look natural or realistic at all, it almost looks like he came from an animated film. To make Cap/Sam more impressive in battle he is given almost indestructible set of steel wings. But since this Captain America has never  taken super soldier serum, The Hulk should have still been able to shred him like a chicken with hardly any effort.

This film is not a total unmitigated disaster like The Marvels or Antman & Wasp: Quantumania, but this confused film was considerably less enjoyable and effective than Morbius which was considered a critical and financial disappointment, but it is better than Madame Web. Then again almost any movie is.

Despite my complaints this is not the worst Captain America film. That dubious honor belongs to either the 1979 made for TV films starring Reb Brown or the 1990 direct to video film with Matt Salinger. But it’s definitely a contender for worst Marvel U film and does not bode well for the future of the franchise. If Marvel/Disney can assemble a quality cast like this and spend over $380 million dollars on production/marketing costs and still end up with something this mediocre then maybe they should just not make any more super-hero films; or at least take a long break. When at the end of the credits we see the line: “Captain America will return,” at this point it sounds more like a threat than a promise.