Rating of
2.5/4
Captain America: Same Old Marvel
Chris Kavan - wrote on 02/22/25
This phase of the MCU continues spinning its wheels in what is a very bog-standard entry into the long-running franchise. At least this film attempts to connect it to a previous entry (The Eternals) by acknowledging the giant dude in the Indian Ocean (and introducing Adamantium into the MCU to boot). But despite some effort to move things forward, for the most part the film plays it very safe - too safe - and although I thought the cast did its best - with Anthony Mackie, Harrison Ford and Danny Ramirez being the standouts in my view - the story was very average the Tim Blake Nelson's Leader makes for a weak villain.
Those going in without having seen Falcon and the Winter Soldier may also be at a disadvantage as both Danny Ramirez' Joaquin Torres and Carl Lumbly's Isaiah Bradley play a decent part in the film - and were both introduced in the streaming series. Though they are given cursory introductions, it's nowhere near as fleshed out and may be a bit jarring. Likewise, while I didn't mind Shira Haas as Ruth Bat-Seraph - the character was greatly changed due to current political headwinds. And despite being a mostly political film - with plenty of chance to mirror modern movements and such - the film once again made only weak attempts at any kind of discourse in that matter. But, hey, at least we have Giancarlo Esposito on hand to be a badass in his few appearances - but I'm still mad Rosa Salazar was written out entirely.
The film essentially follows Sam Wilson (Mackie) as he tracks down a very important McGuffin - from a terrorist group where Sidewinder (Esposito) is trying to offload the package to a buyer. With his buddy Torres (Ramirez) taking up the mantle of the new Falcon, the two manage to save the day and make President Ross (Ford) a happy man - as the sample is key to making sure the international treaty he is working on goes through without a hitch. The treaty happens to revolve around the giant that appeared at the end of The Eternals. Dubbed Celestial Island - it turns out that all (or at least a decent chunk of it) was turned into Adamantium by Cersei - and, as we should know - this is a very important and versatile metal - rivaling that of Vibranium and thus Ross wants to make sure it falls into the right hands.
The two heroes are invited to a White House function but will only attend if they can also invite Isiah Bradley (Lumbly) - the first man to receive the super soldier serum and one who was experimented on and largely forgotten. Sam has managed to revive his story - and the man himself - but during a critical speech by the president Isiah, along with several other high-ranking people - suddenly try to assassinate him. This serves as a catalyst as Sam quickly realizes this is some kind of set-up via a trigger word or something else and Ross begins to lose international support - and you wouldn't like him when he's angry. Both will soon realize that the one responsible is a man from the past - and he has a mind for manipulation and many probable outcomes.
Besides The Eternals, the film also surprisingly links up to the mostly-ignored 2008 The Incredible Hulk (which was technically the second film in the MCU but has rarely been acknowledged). The effort is appreciated but at the same time I still feel this phase of MCU films feels mostly disjointed - nothing to link them together as well as the OG films leading up to The Avengers - and as much as Brave New World wants to be a new Winter Soldier - it can't. While I do think critics were unduly harsh with this one, I also echo many sentiments that Brave New World doesn't present much new. At some point they are going to have to push things forward and in a big way, I just feel time is running out to salvage things.
