Julius Onah's Captain America: Brave New World scores major points with the earnestness of its intentions -- and the enormous appeal of its title star Anthony Mackie -- but it feels draggy and inert in more places than it should.
That's not for the lack of spectacular fight scenes -- both close quarter and aerial -- and some villainous characters -- Tim Blake Nelson as the brainy and bitter Dr. Sterns and the ever-watchable Giancarlo Esposito as the assassin Sidewinder -- that promise to expand the Marvel Cinematic Universe of perils even more.
This might actually invite some to wonder when will it all end? Probably not soon.
In Avengers: Endgame (2019), Mackie's Sam Wilson inherited Captain America's togs and shield from Steve Rogers (Chris Evans). Wilson refused to take the Super Soldier Serum that turned Rogers into an invincible fighting machine. He preferred to go natty, but he is still formidable as the winged Captain America, a sterling inspiration to all.
Cap' has an ace computer geek apprentice named Joaquin (an engaging Danny Ramirez), who doubles as Falcon, another flying avenger (small "a"). They make a winning, trash-talking, homeboy team of Top Dogs, and I wish they had been given more screentime for their amiable banter.
Brave New World's 8-member writing team has packed a lot of exposition into this picture -- partly as fan service and partly to move the larger narrative forward, if only a few inches.
Harrison Ford plays newly elected President Ross, a formerly unscrupulous agent who is now trying to get himself straight. He is working on a treaty with other nations concerning an enormous piece of space debris that landed in the Indian Ocean. It contains an alien substance that would be of great benefit to humankind.
Nelson's Dr. Stern has been slowly poisoning Ross with pills the president believes are keeping him alive. They're actually altering his body chemisty and turning him into glowing red rage monster, to misquote Tony Stark / Iron Man -- The Avengers (2012).
An assassination attempt by a former Super Soldier (Carl Lumbly) sets in motion a series of investigations and interventions that ultimately result in American and Japanese battle cruisers facing off and a knock-down drag-out between Cap' and the Red Rage Monster.
Brave New World plays to the MCU formula, which might be why it felt so under-energized at times. Its production values are certainly on par with other Marvel Studio pictures, but the story feels a bit too grounded. It's polemical when it should be pulverizing.
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