I finally saw "Captain America: Brave New World" yesterday. I actually hadn't intended to watch it at all. I'm more of a DC fan than Marvel, and with the rapid decline in quality the MCU has been suffering from lately, I've pretty much lost interest in their movies altogether at this point. But, I saw a trailer for CA:BNW on youtube and it looked pretty fun so I went.
Maybe it's because I went into the theater expecting less than nothing, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this movie. No, it's not a great movie by any means (to be fair, most MCU movies aren't either), but it is good and I had a fun time watching it. Tbh I'm confused by the level of bad reviews I saw online after the opening weekend. If nothing else, it was far better than most of the other content Marvel has been churning out the past few years.
There were a few issues with pacing and one action scene fell kinda flat for me. (Also, there is one rather important moment in the climax that I wish had been done better, but I'll get to that later.) Other than that, I really didn't see anything wrong with the movie. It had some solid action scenes, an intriguing mystery plot, and genuinely good character moments for everyone. Also, as someone who loved "The Incredible Hulk" movie, it was fun to see so many callbacks to that one.
Overall, I liked it quite a bit more than I thought I would. Not a favorite superhero movie for me, but I definitely wouldn't mind buying this one when it comes out on DVD. As a side note, I took my roommate with me, and she actually is a huge MCU fan who was going solely to hate watch it (she wanted to hate it on principle due to them replacing Steve as Captain America) and even she enjoyed it.
And now to jump into some of the specifics of what I did and didn't like in the movie.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
1. Let's start with the big one: Sam as Cap.
As a longtime comic book reader, I'm more than used to seeing characters swap out superhero identities on a regular basis. (Right now, they've got three Superman heroes running around the main DC comics timeline and a couple more in alternate universes.) So I wasn't actually that bothered by the concept of a new Captain America to begin with. I just wanted Sam to be a good Captain America. Was he? I'll be honest, I'm a little torn.
I can't decide if I like the idea of Sam not taking the super soldier serum. It feels like any new Captain America should have the super strength, heightened reflexes, and endurance that Steve had. While Sam's vibranium wings and the shield do give him a boost in fights (more on that in a second), it does feel weird seeing an un-powered individual going up against fully powered supervillains of the scale that Captain America is going to have to be facing.
That being said, from a purely character based perspective, Sam nailed it. I feel like Steve would be proud of how he handled this situation and the decisions he made. He's carrying on that legacy of hope for people in trouble. He's gonna be a great Cap.
2. Next, let's talk costumes and visuals.
First, Sam's costume. Absolute win. That first costume at the beginning of the movie with the white and blue design was fantastic. It still carried the general Captain America theme while being visually distinct from any previous iterations, making it Sam's own. It was gorgeous. I'm not as happy with the second costume he wore for the rest of the movie. The colors weren't as eye-catching; it just didn't pop off the way the white-and-blue did. Also, it felt like it was trying a little too hard to be reminiscent of Steve's costume.
Second, Falcon's costume. As I said, I'm more of a DC fan than a Marvel fan, so I didn't realize the green was a nod to his comic book design. In the theater, my first impression was that it was just bland. I hope they'll give him an upgrade next movie. They can keep the green, but surely they can figure out a way to make it look cool as well.
And let's talk about the vibranium wings for a moment! I. LOVE. THEM. I've always loved the way they depict vibranium in the MCU movies, and the visual effects for its energy absorption/discharge properties. Utilizing that in Sam's wings was epic. Massive kudos to them for also figuring out so many cool ways to incorporate the wings into Sam's fighting style. It gave the fight scenes a new layer that was incredibly fun to watch.
The flying in general looked amazing. The special effects for depicting both Sam's and Joaquin's flight scenes were so good. It gave me the urge to go home and play flight simulator video games lol. I would watch fifty more movies of just those gorgeous flying scenes.
3. Joaquin Torres, aka Falcon 2.0.
I've never watched FATWS, so I had no idea there even was a new Falcon until seeing the trailer. As with every replacement character I encounter, I was fully prepared to be overly critical of him just on principle. Instead, I ended up falling in love with his character about 0.3 seconds after he first appeared on screen.
On the surface, he was clearly in the movie to fill the role of "the quippy one" that every MCU movie apparently has to have. It didn't come across as obnoxious or overplayed, though, which was a pleasant surprise; the humor landed for me and I liked the banter between him and Sam. But I was mostly relieved to see that he isn't just the quippy sidekick. He's actually competent at his job. He handles himself well in a fight, thinks fast on his feet, and carries his own set of skills to make him valuable on missions. He's not just there to get into trouble and need saving every five minutes, which already puts him leagues above a lot of superhero sidekicks.
Most importantly to me is that, underneath that hyper energy and boundless enthusiasm, there is a genuine sincerity to the character that I appreciated. The Falcon role means a lot to him, and he shows that in how he conducts himself in the field. The discussion at the end between Sam and Joaquin about feeling the need to prove themselves and earn their new titles was such a good moment and really tied together their arcs.
Yeah, I think this human equivalent of a golden retriever puppy just might become one of my new favorite MCU characters. At least, as long as they keep writing him as well as he was in this movie.
4. The nitpicky stuff.
Okay, like I said, I had a few issues with the movie. The pacing was a bit wonky at times. The beginning didn't do a bad job building up the plot at first. Like most MCU movies I've seen, it started with a fun little action scene to tide the audience over while they dive into some necessary exposition and character stuff. Then we get a fun action scene to introduce the conflict/mystery for the movie. But then it just kinda... stops for a while. There are several scenes that felt completely unnecessary or dragged on for too long. Other scenes felt a little too rushed. The big climactic battle over the Celestial Island was good, but then we take another awkward break before ramping back up into another big battle scene -- which then ended way too quickly.
I've heard there were a lot of reshoots and rewrites, so that might be part of the problem. It didn't break the movie for me, but I really think another round of editing might have fixed a lot of these issues.
Also, the fight scene between Sam and that Serpent Society guy was weird. It felt out of place and didn't do a lot to service the plot (at least nothing that couldn't have been accomplished in a million other ways). It could have been a good chance to show what Sam can do in a fight when he doesn't have his gear, but if that was the intention it didn't land very well.
Okay, last nitpick. The final fight with Red Hulk resolves with Sam being able to talk him down. I don't hate this moment at all, but it should have been Betty who actually got through to him. Especially since Sam had already tried and couldn't break through to him. It would have been such a good scene for Betty to reconnect with Ross and deliver that speech about trying to be a better person. Especially since Betty's whole thing in the "Incredible Hulk" movie was being able to calm the Hulk when he was angry. It wouldn't have taken anything away from Sam, either, if they'd played it right. They could have had Sam try to talk Ross down, fail, and then realize who might be able to succeed and radio back to base for them to bring Betty in. Then he still gets a cool fight scene against Red Hulk while waiting for that backup to arrive.
Final thoughts:
Like I said, I really don't understand the hate for this movie. It wasn't spectacular, but neither are the majority of the MCU movies, especially over the last several years.
It was a fun movie. The plot was interesting, Ross was a surprisingly sympathetic antagonist, there were plenty of fantastic action scenes, and the visuals were good.
Overall, I enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to the next appearance of this Captain America & Falcon duo.
Background Image by Valentin Salja