Hark! The tantara of cornets blaring out of an Atlanta soundstage can mean only one thing: a novel Marvel phase has begun. Six long years after Aveng
Hark! The tantara of cornets blaring out of an Atlanta soundstage can mean only one thing: a novel Marvel phase has begun. Six long years after Avengers: Endgame stormed the planet, Marvel has shaken off the multiverse and changed course. The studio’s novel film, Captain America: Brave New World (in theaters February 14) introduces us to a novel Marvel paradigm under which a next-generation team of Avengers will eventually assemble and, blessed be, Disney shareholders will rejoice.
In theory, anyway. Having seen Brave New World, I’m not so sure this is the jumpstart that the studio—which thrashed and languished badly in the multiverse era—no doubt hopes for. The film itself seems insecure about its place in the superhero firmament; one major plot point of the film is the novel Captain America, Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson (who used to be the Falcon), worrying that he can’t measure up to Chris Evans’s Steve Rogers. “You’re just as good, you are!,” the movie seems to implore—to Sam, yes, but really to us in the audience. Sadly, though, Sam is right to worry.
Mackie can be a beguiling actor, so magnetic in films like Half Nelson and The Hurt Locker. Here, though, he is stymied by the flatness of his character, who used to be an amiable enough second-string complement to the main Avengers gang but now pales under the harsh airy of center stage. He’s occasionally quippy, but not in a very amusing way, and he doesn’t have any real sense of mission. Steve Rogers had all his WWII hangups and Bucky Barnes-related grief. Sam’s only real motivation is to compare himself to what came before.
Marvel tried to flesh out the character in the streaming series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, but that numb and erratic show was something of a nadir for the studio. Unfortunately, you’ll have to watch it in order to understand what’s happening in Brave New World. Oh, and you should probably familiarize yourself with at least the ending of Eternals, one of Marvel’s least successful films. Doesn’t that sound fun? Watching a bunch of junk to understand this novel junk?
In the novel film, directed with little flair by Julius Onah, Sam delves into a mystery involving an assassination attempt at the White House. The structure of the film is designed to evoke 1970s conspiracy thrillers—just as Captain America: The Winter Soldier did—with some Manchurian Candidate thrown in for good measure. But the answers to the movie’s questions aren’t very thrilling; it turns out it’s just some random bad guy doing bad stuff. Those misdeeds trace back to the president, Thaddeus Ross, a former villain from 2008’s The Incredible Hulk now played by Harrison Ford. (Oh, right, you should probably refresh yourself on The Incredible Hulk too; Brave New World has pretty much none of the same actors, but it’s still kind of a sequel.)
Ford’s character is meant to be complicated, a once sinister operator now trying to make good and, as is limply prodded at, reconcile with his daughter. Already spoiled by the trailers is the fact that Thaddeus will turn into Red Hulk by picture’s end, a climactic showdown that does the requisite Hulk smash stuff but doesn’t take the film in any compelling direction. Brave New World is a bunch of characters wandering around in search of meaning, the Marvel machine creaking loudly as it tries to whip up some grand mythos around these B-tier figures.
Watching Brave New World, one’s mind begins to wander in search of anything that might hold attention. I dialed in on the engaging relationship between Sam and his eager, ambitious sidekick, Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez). Joaquin hopes to replace his hero Sam as the Falcon, sweetly choosing to revere a regular guy rather than someone with super powers. But that’s not the engaging part. What interests me is that Sam and Joaquin seem to live together in some kind of sleek, shiny man cave that, when paired with the gleaming Hummer they drive around in, gives off the heady whiff of overcompensation. In their scenes, Sam and Joaquin are playfully teasing and physically affectionate with one another. At one point in the film, Joaquin is referred to (accurately!) as “pretty boy.” Neither have outside love interests. What I’m saying is, they might as well be a couple. Maybe in the next movie, Marvel could explore that very brave novel world.
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