Captain America : Brave New World (2025)

Another Marvel movie!
It’s shorter than superhero films in general.

OK, so…
As usual, we know we’re not going to watch this kind of film to think, but rather to have fun, be entertained, and switch off our brains… even though I think the world of Super-Heroes makes you think, but it’s not in a film lasting less than two hours that we’re going to emphasise that.

Let’s face it, in 2025, ‘produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures’ doesn’t sound very good any more. We know that the quality of the product is getting lower and lower.

This is the fourth instalment in the Captain America film series, a sequel to the TV mini-series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021) and the 35th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). And that’s just the beginning!

It stars Anthony Mackie, one of Marvel’s most charismatic actors (no matter what anyone says!), who returns in the role of the inescapable Sam Wilson. It puts Captain America where he belongs, in a political thriller rather than a battle against aliens or, God forbid, a multiversal enemy.

So I love the first, I love the second and the third is one of my favourite films of the genre. So the bar was set pretty high.

I had to remember why it was Mackie who was taking over the role, why Sam Wilson was becoming the new Captain America. But it seems to me that it was already mentioned in the fourth Avengers and the third Captain America, unless I’m mistaken. From what I’ve read, it’s mainly in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier that we get the answers to these questions. So I’ll have to see that series.

It’s very hard for me to imagine any actor other than Chris Evans, but yes, his Steve Rogers character ends up dying. I’ve heard of it, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen it in a film. However, Chris Evans had twice refused to play the role until Robert Downey Jr. finally convinced him. Working from Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) to Avengers: Endgame (2019) was quite an investment, both in time and energy.

This film has a pretty cool cast: Seth Rollins, Shira Haas, Giancarlo Esposito, Liv Tyler, Tim Blake Nelson and above all… Harrison Ford! The latter replaced William Hurt in the role of Thaddeus Ross after Hurt’s death in March 2022. Ross becomes the super-powered Red Hulk in the film… who only makes a cameo for a few minutes, if ever. Yes, if you only watch the film for him, you can forget it!

Nelson and Tyler returned from the second film in the MCU, The Incredible Hulk (2008).

So obviously the film is a disappointment. That’s to be expected!
I haven’t seen the Falcon and the Winter Soldier series, but I think it’s more interesting to watch. Poor Marvel, not doing well and going in circles. It doesn’t bode well for the future if it continues to decline like this.

A film that’s been a long time coming and yet is ten years late in every way. This is a rather botched Marvel production. The biggest disappointment remains the script? If ever, this isn’t a paranoid Marvel thriller from the 70s, but rather an ersatz revenge film set against a backdrop of geopolitics for dummies.

How could Anthony Mackie be the leader of the new Avengers? We can’t really imagine him leading the team, but let’s not forget that he’s not used to being a leader and that his fears and doubts can give the impression that he lacks charisma.

The guests add nothing, there’s no particular theme music, the action scenes are watchable but unremarkable and quickly forgotten. In fact, the fight choreography is uninspired and recycled to the core. There’s a false air of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, endless running times, lazy dialogue and occasional humour where none is needed.

Note that Captain America came out at the same time as Bridget Jones’s Diary 4!
Coincidence???