If Captain America: Brave New World is Disney’s apology for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Disney+ series, then all is forgiven.

Sam Wilson (played by Anthony Mackie) is back and ready for action. Tasked to recover a stolen sample of Adamantium, Sam interrupts Sidewinder’s (Ginacarlo Esposito) sale of the durable element. As a thank you, President Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford) invites Sam, Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez), and Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly) to the White House. It’s all fun and games until Isaiah tries to kill the president. Sam and Joaquin work to clear Isaiah of the charges and in the process discover another player pulling the strings to orchestrate an all-out war.

This movie is reliant upon the cast’s performances, and Mackie is a fantastic leading man. It must have been a daunting task to step into the role of Captain America after Chris Evans’ departure from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but Mackie makes it look effortless. He brings an authenticity and grounded feel to Captain America that allows him to make the role all his own. Even Bucky (Sebastian Stan) makes a brief cameo, and their rapport was what The Falcon and the Winter Soldier sorely needed more of. Mackie is the Swiss army knife of this movie and gives his co-stars something to strive for.

Also killing every scene he’s in is Lumbly as Isaiah. He delivers some of the most heart-wrenching moments in the film especially when he gets incarcerated again. Marvel recast the role of Thunderbolt Ross after William Hurt’s death, and Ford is a perfect fit. Ramirez was the biggest question mark as the film went on. He never really was the comedic relief or even hotshot-turned-hero. Fortunately, the last scene he and Mackie share reveals why Ramirez is a great replacement as Falcon.

Along for the ride are Esposito as Sidewinder and Ruth Bat-Seraph as Shira Haas. Both are fine in their respective roles; however, both are severely underutilized. Esposito has a scene that sets up his character to return to future movies, whereas Bat-Seraph doesn’t. The movie doesn’t seem to know what to do with the character other than make her a stumbling block for Sam and Joaquin early on.

The story has a political thriller element which works on a macro level, but there’s only one moment in the movie that has raised stakes: the fight over Celestial Island. Other than that, Brave New World acts more like a sequel to 2008’s The Incredible Hulk rather than The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, featuring characters such as Ross and the return of Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson).

That said, Brave New World is a fun and entertaining movie despite the odd choices such as the discovery of Adamantium in the modern age or the missed opportunity to pair up Captain America and the Hulk. Brave New World often feels more like an Incredible Hulk adventure featuring Cap–despite the movie’s green-Hulk-shaped hole.

Rating: 3.5/5.

AddiThe biggest crime the deleted scenes commit is removing Xosha Roquemore who plays Leila Taylor. Her presence in the final cut is reduced to a glorified extra, but the deleted scenes do have the actress as being front and center with stars Mackie and Ford. There’s also a really good scene that is left on the cutting-room floor that features Lumbly and Ford interacting with one another that adds depth to both Lumbly and Ford’s characters.

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The writer of this piece is: Laurence Almalvez
Laurence tweets from @IL1511

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