By John Corrado

Captain America: Brave New World is the fourth Captain America film, serving as the big screen debut of Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) donning the red, white and blue vibranium shield that got passed to him by Chris Evans’ now-retired version of the character.

In that way, this 35th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is really a theatrical offshoot of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, the 2021 Disney Plus series which set up Mackie’s Sam Wilson as the new Captain America. Which is also to say that Brave New World feels somewhat like an extended episode of the streaming series.

It’s a decent enough political thriller that serves as a bit of a reset for the MCU, as it gets ready to enter Phase Six with The Fantastic Four: First Steps later this year. But the film also has some pacing issues, and struggles to fully take off at times.

The film opens with newly elected president Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford) wanting to work with Wilson’s Captain America to help rebuild the Avengers. But an assassination attempt threatens their alliance, and leads Wilson down a dangerous path of asking questions. Mackie’s Wilson is joined by sidekick Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez), who assumes the role of Falcon, with them going rogue to track down a shadowy force.

These are the bones for an old school political conspiracy thriller. Director Julius Onah (Luce, The Cloverfield Paradox) does get points for trying to establish a more grounded tone within the MCU, similar to how previous franchise entry Captain America: The Winter Soldier sold itself as a 1970s political thriller. But the pacing isn’t as good as Winter Soldier, and the stakes feel diminished.

We can tell that the film has undergone reshoots to tie everything together, with five screenwriters all putting their hands on it. The result is a mishmash of ideas and influences, that still has to connect itself to past and present films in the MCU. While this is technically a Captain America movie, it also picks up various story strands from both 2008’s Incredible Hulk and Chloe Zhao’s Eternals, that were previously unexplored. Like finally addressing that giant Celestial Being protruding out of the Indian Ocean.

The film is pretty lean at just under two hours, avoiding a lot of the bloat of some other Marvel entries. But Brave New World is conversely driven heavily by exposition and is a lot more talky. If anything, it feels like it could have been tightened even further. The action scenes when they do hit are mostly fine, but also look somewhat bland. The blocking and choreography of the early fight scenes in particular feels uninspired.

For his part, Mackie is fine in the leading role. If not as charismatic as someone like Evans, he is capable of carrying the film. It’s Ford who is actually having a surprising amount of fun here. At this stage in his career, he could have easily just gotten the paycheque from playing a comic book president. But there’s no real sense that he is just phoning it in, and his investment in the role of Ross elevates his scenes.

The biggest and best set-piece is the one being teased in all the film’s marketing, involving a Red Hulk transformation. It’s all satisfying enough as a way to wrap up some loose ends while setting up new story threads. Just good enough might not be a glowing endorsement for a film that needed to help reignite the MCU, but it at least seems to be steering it back in the right direction.

Film Rating: ★★½ (out of 4)

Captain America: Brave New World opens exclusively in theatres on February 14th.