Captain America: Brave New World 2025 Movie Review
“Captain America: Brave New World” is the fourth film in the “Captain America” series and the 35th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Directed and co-written by Julius Onah (“The Cloverfield Paradox”) and starring Anthony Mackie and Harrison Ford, it represents a wounded MCU trying to rebuild its reputation in the wake of recent setbacks, with mostly mixed results.
Following the events of “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier”, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) is still adjusting to his role as Captain America, working alongside the US government to take down any enemies they see fit. After Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (Harrison Ford) is elected President of the United States, he tasks Sam with rebuilding the Avengers initiative, sending him and his right-hand man Joaquin Torres/Falcon (Danny Ramirez) on a secret mission to uncover a potentially life-threatening conspiracy. As he digs deeper into the political aspects of what is happening, Sam soon learns the shocking truth behind everything, leading him to become involved in a major incident that could affect the entire world. With tensions mounting between both the United States and neighbouring countries, Sam must find ways to prevent a global catastrophe from taking place while also protecting President Ross from anything that could place his life in serious danger.
There’s no denying it anymore that the once mighty MCU has certainly seen better days. The golden age when Disney could release a film focusing on the most obscure Marvel hero and have it gross more than a billion dollars is well and truly over, as several poor creative decisions and other issues have alienated audiences to the point where superhero fatigue is becoming more common. If there were any real indicator of the series’s decline, it would be their box office results in 2023, when Disney lost over $296.4 million at the box office on two of their three Marvel movies, something that would have been unheard of years earlier. Since then, Disney has been working to regain their disillusioned Marvel fanbase either by delaying numerous projects or scrapping them altogether, with the MCU experiencing some resurgence thanks to the 2024 success of “Deadpool and Wolverine”. Continuing Disney’s attempts to win back fans, we have “Captain America: Brave New World”, a pragmatically safe and acceptable entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that is neither too controversial nor too predictable in its execution.
Even from the very start, it is clear that this film is trying hard to ensure that it doesn’t feature anything that could potentially drive even more viewers away from the waning MCU fanbase. As the film opens, we see the newly-elected US President Thunderbolt Ross addressing the press regarding certain events that took place in previous MCU movies, some of which feel like a belated way to call back to things fans have wanted answers to for quite a while. This is then followed by a scene of Captain America, who is now the former Falcon Sam Wilson, ambushing an enemy compound on a secret mission to uncover important information that could cause problems for the US government. Each of these scenes feel relatively routine with some minor fan service and decent action sequences that don’t detract too much from the usual MCU entertainment value, which is something the series can’t afford to do right now considering the array of creative gambles in recent films that didn’t pay off. Though I am sure there will be those left upset at the lack of new and exciting things to look forward to, it is realistic for the MCU to play things safe for now during such a volatile time in their history.
Likewise, the political undertones here seemed more nuanced when compared to what was seen in “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier”, something of which attracted polarised reactions among many MCU fans. Although Sam’s actions as Captain America are inescapably politically motivated, the film never shows it to us in a way that feels like it is taking a particular side in the debate, with Sam simply doing his job as a hero trying to protect the President and his country. Because of this, the film has a more neutral point of view in its story involving a cataclysmic plot to cause harm to world leaders and innocent civilians, with no awkward attempts at social or political commentary to go along with it. What results from this is a by-the-numbers saving the world from destruction plot that we’ve all seen before, which could either mean that better content is on the horizon or the MCU is still stuck in an indefinite rut.
In terms of action, there are a handful of sequences that elicit some minor excitement, though this is far from anything noteworthy that the MCU has delivered in the past. For instance, as mentioned earlier, I did like the opening scene of Sam infiltrating an enemy base, as it gives him an opportunity to properly demonstrate all of his abilities as Captain America for the first time on the big screen. Here, we watch as Sam flies through the compound in his upgraded Falcon suit while brandishing the signature Captain America shield, combining his abilities as both heroes to bring down any adversaries that stand in his way. Later on during the film’s climax, we see how accomplished Sam has become since the beginning, implementing everything he has learned over the course of the story. These are all serviceable moments in the film that prevent it from becoming too stale or boring, but I would be lying if I said they are enough to salvage an already declining MCU.
As veteran fans should already be aware of by now, Anthony Mackie has proven himself capable as Sam Wilson/Falcon for many years and his promotion to the role of Captain America has been a bumpy but worthwhile transition for the most part. Mackie does a solid job holding the audience’s attention as the film’s leading man, even if some of the material he has to work with is lacking in some places. Throughout this film, we see Sam grapple with his lingering insecurities of not being able to live up to the standards of his friend and predecessor Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), whose legacy still haunts him quite evidently. It’s interesting to see how Sam essentially tries to find ways to create his own identity as the new Captain America while also trying to remain true to what the role stands for regardless of what it entails. With that said, I have accepted Sam Wilson taking on the mantle of the iconic hero, though I can’t really speak for all MCU fans at this point in time.
Taking over from the late William Hurt, Harrison Ford is a decent replacement for the character of Thunderbolt Ross, although his advanced age seems to be holding him back in some scenes. Similar to his performance in “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny”, Ford looks as though he is struggling to keep up with his younger co-stars, notably during parts that require him to be physically alert during action sequences. To his credit though, Ford is still believable as an authority figure, especially someone like the President of the United States, with this being the second time he has played someone in that position of power (the first obviously being in 1997’s “Air Force One”). Also, without spoiling too much, I did like watching him turn into Red Hulk for the first time, which is one of the film’s more memorable moments.
Given the current state of affairs, “Captain America: Brave New World” may not symbolise the MCU returning to form just yet, but it at least keeps a lid on any major problematic matters by delivering an adequately watchable entry in the long-running superhero franchise. Reportedly, this film was plagued with various issues behind the scenes that necessitated re-shoots and re-editing, so it’s safe to assume that what we ended up with could have been a whole lot worse than the original product. Taking that into account, I can only really recommend this film to die-hard MCU fans who are still hoping that the series has the potential to recapture what once made it great, but even then there is not much else worth mentioning about it. There are still more films coming for us to judge the future of the MCU, so all I can do at this stage is wish them the very best of luck.
