It is fitting that I went to see “Captain America: Brave New World” on Presidents’ Day, because the main focus of the film is Thaddeus Ross- AKA Red Hulk- fictional President of the United States.
As someone who is very interested in politics, especially those of the United States, I was enthralled by this movie’s storytelling method of telling a fictional story centered around fictional characters, in the setting of the real world and its real governments.
I thought the scenes involving political discourse and international disputes were
excellent and captivating, even if they weren’t all that complex. I liked that these scenes showed what potentially would be happening in our world if these supernatural entities and objects really did exist, and were interacting with humans.
For reasons unrelated to Brave New World, I’ve been watching multiple WWII documentaries recently, and some of the battle scenes in this movie were strikingly reminiscent of real footage shown in those documentaries.
This raised my interest in the film, and made it feel much more realistic than most other Marvel films. As a whole, Brave New World is one of the most grounded and realistic Marvel movies I have seen.
It’s still a superhero movie, but it doesn’t involve what feels like seven billion characters destroying an entire city with CGI lasers that probably exploded the computers that were used to create them.
Speaking of fight scenes, the action sequences in this movie were crisp and
entertaining. Again, they were contained, and felt cohesive and easily digestible as a result.
As a huge professional wrestling fan, I noticed a few wrestling moves being used. I just barely stopped myself from awarding this movie 17 stars out of five for its use of WWE-esque attacks.
The final fight scene in particular had some dramatic visuals that elevated the action as a whole. Yet, Marvel still can’t make movie posters look good.
The thing I disliked most about Brave New World was one of its villains: Samuel Sterns. I hated this character, and not in the way you’re supposed to. I found him to be very annoying, boring, and not scary at all. He looks and acts like if Brainy Smurf and Shrek somehow had a child together, and the child grew up to be “emo.” The way that he goes about his villainous plan is creepy and interesting, but he himself is totally unthreatening in every way. I’m known to some as “Chicken Legs,” and even I could probably beat Sterns in a fight, by the looks of him.
I was surprised by how short this movie was. It was under two hours long, which is unheard of for virtually all films
released in the past few years. I normally finish the 2,000-gallon Icee that I get at the movie theater by the end of the movie, but not this time. I actually agree with the choice to make Brave New World this short; it didn’t need to drag on longer. The ending was peachy the way it was.
Overall, I enjoyed the movie, particularly the fictional politics, and the fight scenes. I recommend that you go see it, but don’t expect something spectacular.
