Shadows on the Wall | Captain America: Brave New World

Captain America: Brave New World

dir Julius Onah
prd Kevin Feige, Nate Moore
scr Rob Edwards, Malcolm Spellman, Dalan Musson, Julius Onah, Peter Glanz
with Anthony Mackie, Harrison Ford, Danny Ramirez, Shira Haas, Carl Lumbly, Tim Blake Nelson, Giancarlo Esposito, Xosha Roquemore, Johannes Haukur Johannesson, William Mark McCullough, Takehiro Hira, Liv Tyler, Sebastian Stan
release US/UK 14.Feb.25
25/US Marvel 1h58

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With a propulsive pace that powers through a series of beefy action set-pieces, this movie feels like a reboot six years after the last Avengers adventure. Refreshingly, the scale is more focussed on a handful of conflicted characters, even as foundations are being laid for the future of the wider franchise. But the writing and direction are almost astonishingly blunt, making everything flatly obvious while weaving between offhanded comedy bits, swelling emotions and properly vicious violence.

With the Avengers disbanded, Sam (Mackie) is called in as his alter-ego Captain America to help newly elected President Ross (Ford) deal with the arrival of a mysterious "celestial island" in the Indian Ocean, which is packed with a powerful new element. But Ross' international treaty is jeopardised when brainiac Sterns (Nelson) begins pulling strings, as the thuggish Sidewinder (Esposito) takes on Sam and his protege Joaquin (Ramirez), and Sam's mentor Isaiah (Lumbly) goes rogue. Meanwhile, Ross is struggling to contain his fiery anger, while his security chief Ruth (Haas) tries to get to the bottom of this.

Thankfully, the script never bogs down in explanations beyond short bursts of gobbledegook, which helps director Onah focus on the characters and their messy motivations and inter-relationships. This allows for several sparky moments along the way, as throwaway punchlines cut through the sometimes oppressive gravity of it all. And a gritty filmmaking style adds some weight to the internalised drama, while also grounding the action with coherent choreography and more subtle effects work.

All of which allows the fine cast members to add some nuance into their performances. Mackie has a terrific magnetic energy that gives a resonant kick to Sam's personal trajectory as he grapples with his own identity under pressure to live up to the Captain America persona. He has terrific chemistry with Ramirez, who is frankly adorable as the over-eager Joaquin. Ford also provides plenty of oomph as the mercurial Ross, a man with a very messy past. And the surrounding figures are strong as well, most notably Haas as the tough but tiny Ruth. There's also a very cool cameo.

This film feels much more focussed and contained than most Marvel extravaganzas, with a threat that feels more human in scale and strong present-day political themes. This allows it to connect with an audience in a more personal way than more earth-shattering Avengers epics. There's still plenty of brutal battles and mass destruction on display here to keep fans happy, but they might be caught off guard by the way the film encourages them to look for the good in even their shadiest opponents.

themes, language, violence 12.Feb.25

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