Finally made it to the movies tonight to see Captain America: Brave New World. It is merely good. I wish it was great – the cast is solid. It has the same problems as a lot of the Phase 4/5 MCU movies where the writing isn’t on point. Ross reconciling with Betty is completely unearned. They talked a lot about how he’s changing but we don’t really see it. What they wanted to say about race didn’t land as well as it did in Falcon and The Winter Soldier (I may not be the best judge of this, of course).
The fights were fun, even when they weren’t anything *new*. The one technical thing that bugged the heck out of me is the way they are shooting these. The visuals feel like they were shot on one of those green screen sets used for the Mandalorian, even when they were on location. They looked like a small step up from an episode of Star Trek: The Original Series.
I have been waiting for Samuel Sterns to show back up. Way back in Agents of SHIELD I thought he was “the Clairvoyant” so I feel some small bit of vindication that he was basically playing a role like that here. Sucks that they then used him to spout off randomly about the multiverse at the end credits.
I know Marvel had to re-tool and shift away from Kang, but it’s been a long time since they had a genuinely great movie. Guardians 3 is the last one I’ve wanted to re-watch in these two phases, other than Shang-Chi. The guy that made it is with their main competitor.
Captain America: Brave New World isn’t a return to form for Marvel. They are quickly running out of time to do so. Here’s hoping Fantastic Four: The First Steps is amazing. I’m past assuming it will be, though.
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