CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD

'Captain America: Brave New World' truly amounts to nothing. Sam Wilson's growth happened in a Disney+ show, so here his story isn't interesting. I'm all for these kind of "middle" Marvel films that don't really impact the larger saga, but 'Brave New World' has nothing happening. The action is so blandly choreographed, the story is so generic, and its characters uninteresting. This movie should have been what 'The Falcon and The Winter Solider' is, which I by no means loved because it felt stretched out to fill six episodes. However its core story - what do Bucky and Sam do without Steve and how does Sam become Captain America - are far more engaging than anything present here. Frankly, the story of 'Brave New World' would have been better fit for a TV series. It's so condensed: Cap finds the Adamantium puts him in the President's path who then turns into the Red Hulk and they fight, and that's the whole film. Being a show would have also helped flesh out wasted characters like Seth Velker (Giancarlo Esposito, 'Megalopolis'), who is hunting down Sam for stealing the Adamantium, Ruth Bat-Seraph (Shira Haas, 'The Zookeeper's Wife'), a former Black Widow-turned-government official, and Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly, 'Doctor Sleep'), a former super soldier. All of which have so little to do and just add nothing to the film. Even though I enjoy having these smaller films, we are a year out from the next 'Avengers' film and don't even know who the current Avengers are - plus we don't even have a concise understanding of the MCU Multiverse, and in only three films we are meant to be dealing with all of that.

For what should have been a very straightforward film, 'Captain America: Brave New World' felt like it had the most homework. You have to know the TV show 'The Falcon and The Winter Soldier' which I, and I'm sure many, haven't thought about since it aired. Then 'The Winter Soldier' and 'Civil War' Captain America films, 'Infinity War', 'Endgame' and 'Black Widow'. The 2008 'The Incredible Hulk' film and all its characters, and that Ross is now being played by Harrison Ford and most wildly, 'Eternals'. It's crazy to expect an audience - and I understand this is 35th film in this franchise - to remember and care about side characters from all of these films. The 2008 'Hulk' film is one of the lowest-grossing in the entire MCU and largely forgotten; similarly for the 'Eternals'. This film did not need all this preamble and it just alienates its audience further.

I could go on and on about 'Captain America: Brave New World', but I am already forgetting about this film a mere hour after seeing it. It sucks because I do like Anthony Mackie and his role in the MCU and it's cool to see him get a solo project, but the film is a huge disservice to him and his character. The new characters go in one ear and out the other, the CGI and green screen are rough, and Red Hulk amounts to nothing. If you must watch this know it's a Marvel film built for streaming.