βCaptain America: Brave New WorldβΒ hits theaters Feb. 14, 2025.Β
Spotlight
DVD REVIEW
Now streaming and on DVD: 'Captain America' depends on too much from the past
Thankfully, βThunderbolts*β demonstrated some life when it came out.
The last Marvel film, βCaptain America: Brave New World,β required too much from its audience.
Supposedly a reset of the Captain America character, it has so many callbacks to past films, comic books and situations, itβs impossible to get a bead on whatβs what.
βCaptain America: Brave New WorldβΒ hits theaters Feb. 14, 2025.Β
If those faithful ventured outside the universe theyβd probably see this is largely dependent on moves first plied in βThe Manchurian Candidate,β a film that has nothing to do with Captain America, but plenty to say about mind control and politics.
Here, the new Captain (Anthony Mackie) is called to the White House to learn about adamantium, a substance that can do miraculous things. Ownership, however, is up in the air, causing the president (Harrison Ford) to meet with foreign leaders to discuss its future. At the summit, thereβs an assassination attempt and a way into the mind control storyline.
As the Captain (with his sidekick, Falcon, played by Danny Ramirez) investigates, he discovers several bad guys and a string of plots that seemingly go nowhere.
Directed by Julius Onah, this amounts to a television version of Captain America. There are plots that could be spread out over several episodes and still leave time for a few special effects.
When itβs clear whoβs zooming who, βBrave New Worldβ becomes a cautionary tale about outsiders in American politics. It also is a real callback to storylines and characters even the biggest fans may have forgotten.
A fresh startΒ β with fresh ideasΒ β would have been a better reason for Mackie to suit up.
He handles the shift nicely but has so little time to test his own foibles, βBrave New Worldβ becomes a muddled mess of ideas that barely work. Ramirez is much better as his joking partner.
Ford acts like heβs in one of those films he did in the 1990s but Tim Blake Nelson becomes a threat who should have had more build-up. When he shows up, itβs time for someone else to see red and then itβs just a matter of time before everything gets put into a place where it can be upset once again. Nelson works.
Because βThe Boysβ has done such an incredible job sending up superheroes, itβs hard for something like this to maneuver, much less strive. Had Marvel corrupted someone in the Avengers, there might have been a need for someone else to rise to the challenge.
No such luck. This is one of those bad installments of a withering series that simply brings in a big name to hulk out.
Β Bruce Miller is editor of the Sioux City Journal.Β
