Captain America: Brave New World is a movie all about percentages and probability, and the idea of ‘50 percent’ came to mind a lot while watching it. It’s about 50 percent the movie Captain America: The Winter Soldier is, despite so clearly trying to channel it. It looks about 50 percent finished, and you can tell it’s 50 percent reshoots.
You need to have an encyclopaedic knowledge of the MCU right back to 2008 to understand it all. 50 percent of the cast either aren’t trying, or are, but aren’t very good. 50 percent of Sabra was very obviously snipped from the middle from it. And, most crucially, only 50 percent of it is any good. But I only care 50 percent as much as I might have a few years ago.
Brave New World Is Not As Bad As You’ve Heard, But It’s Close
The worst part is, when Brave New World is good, it really is quite good. It’s not the taut ‘70s political thriller the most desperate fans paint it as, but it is on the level of twisty, campy fun like Olympus Has Fallen (or, another Harrison Ford As Angry President outing, Air Force One). The first half of the movie is light on cheap CGI, seems to feature a lot of scenes shot on location, and is mainly characters talking with some good old fashioned hand to hand combat.
There are still some flaws here – the scenes with Isaiah Bradley require knowledge of the Falcon And The Winter Soldier TV to land, though they are powerful for fans with their eyes open. One fight scene is shot from above, in a nice piece of visual flair that recalls Steve Rogers while being its own thing, but is chopped with frenetic editing that guts it of any impact. And, of course, there is Sabra.
Sabra, who is only identified by her actual name Ruth Bat-Seraph in the movie, was the source of much controversy during production. Sabra is an Israeli hero, whose fleeting comic book appearances are specifically tied to her service in the Mossad in her homeland – this is retconned into her being a Widow graduate in the MCU. Given the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine, Sabra increasingly threatened to be an albatross around the film’s neck. With her costume a bright white suit with blue stripes and a Star of David over her heart, that’s not the sort of thing you can edit around.
Brave New World Is Much Weaker For All Its Cuts
And so it proved. Sabra is reduced entirely to her non-superhero role of being one of the President’s security officials, which as a result, means her constant presence around action scenes she’s been edited out of feels awkward. At one point Cap tells her to “suit up”, and we see her outfit under a black jacket… only for her to disappear for the action scene and rematerialise at the end.
Obviously, the fact a Marvel movie has a disjointed plot is not the biggest tragedy of the Israel Palestine conflict. And not that Kevin Feige asked me, but I endorse removing the Sabra-ness of Brave New World, who I always thought was a poor inclusion in the first place. But it underlines that Captain America: Brave New World is a film that doesn’t need to exist, barely does even exist, and doesn’t know what it’s meant to be.
While it picks up from the racial tension of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, it abandons that for a generic slugfest. Except it’s worse than ever before here. Frustratingly, Red Hulk itself looks pretty good, but his fight with Cap would be a low point for the MCU but for the fact Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania exists.
Firstly, there’s the fact Ross turning into Red Hulk is treated as a major twist by the movie, despite being such a prominent part of the marketing that the cinema I saw the movie at was selling Red Hulk souvenir cups. Secondly, because Red Hulk is CGI, the climactic fight is greenscreened, squishy, and so badly lit Wicked could give it pointers. It was never going to earn the ‘it’s a real movie like All The President’s Men!’ exaggerations thrown at The Winter Soldier, but Brave New World at least does a good impression of being a movie for a while.
But with so many cuts (not entirely for Sabra, but a general lack of faith in a movie that cannot be promoted without revealing its twist), plus an ending that does the same as every other Marvel movie but worse, everything is heading nowhere. I respect them for trying to tell an Isaiah Bradley story and resent them for deciding not to try anymore halfway through. Mostly though, I just don’t care about the MCU anymore. I think most people feel the same, and Captain America: Brave New World won’t change anyone’s mind.
