Review: Don’t let details bog you down and ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ works, despite itself

A heaving red brute froths and seethes behind a podium marked with the Presidential seal before tearing through the Rose Garden and leaving a swath of wreckage through the White House. As he rips through the Washington Monument, the only person standing in his way is a winged Captain America — notably, the first Black Captain America, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), who received the iconic star shield at the end of “Avengers: Endgame.” His journey was later expanded in the Disney+ series “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” but “Captain America: Brave New World” is his first stand-alone movie.

These images of a crumbling Washington, D.C., are almost too apt for the current state of the union in early 2025. Among all the MCU lore and exposition (the film is tasked with knitting together over 20 years of Marvel movies and TV series), it’s starkly resonant scene-making like the above in which you can feel director Julius Onah fighting to make a statement about what a Black Captain America means, both as a burden of responsibility and a liberating power.

Onah, who has a writing credit on the film as well (along with Rob Edwards, Malcolm Spellman, Dalan Musson and Peter Glanz), has returned “Captain America” to its paranoid political-thriller roots, established in “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” over a decade ago. Sam has passed his old Falcon wings on to a new sidekick, Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez), and now assists the new U.S. president, Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford), with covert ops in service of the country, despite Ross’ questionable past.

That uneasy alliance is thrown into question when Sam’s old friend Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly), a former super soldier imprisoned and experimented on for 30 years, is jailed after being activated to attack President Ross. This crisis is set against a delicate treaty accord in which the United States is attempting to peacefully navigate the distribution of the super-strong metal alloy adamantium, which has been discovered at the Celestial Island in the Indian Ocean (for that background, see: “Eternals”).

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If that sounds like a lot of lore, it is, and unfortunately, “Brave New World” does get bogged down with a heavy load of exposition. But if you keep your attention on the larger themes and beats — the story of an unjustly incarcerated Black man and Captain America’s fight to free him — the message comes through loud and clear. Take it from this casual-at-best Marvel viewer who has never seen a single second of a Disney+ show: “Brave New World” is completely legible, and even enjoyable, as a stand-alone film (though it helps to know some of the major players and overall arcs).

Perhaps “Brave New World” is even more satisfying for the casual Marvel fan who is less invested in expectations for the sprawling franchise (can it even be called a single franchise at this point?) and can let details and character reveals wash over them without much fine-point analysis. Liv Tyler and Tim Blake Nelson reprising their roles from “The Incredible Hulk”? Fine. It’s more fun to revel in the chemistry that Mackie shares with Ramirez, a bright spot in the film, especially during a “Top Gun”-inspired sequence during a fighter-jet conflict near Celestial Island.

The fact that the clear, crisp, saturated cinematography and sturdy action sequences rarely look like a typical Marvel movie is a good thing. It’s easier to enjoy the film as a political drama about deep-state mind control with a few superpowered individuals than it is as an overly strained bit of connective tissue in the MCU.

In fact, the amount of pressure put on “Brave New World” to string together so many different properties is about as unfair as the pressure put on Sam Wilson to wield the shield as a Black man. Late in the film, he laments that he always has to be on point, because he represents everyone who’s fighting for a seat at the table. It’s too much to saddle his stand-alone film with this much exposition, and yet, Mackie and Onah bear it with as much grace as they can. Don’t sweat the small stuff and “Captain America: Brave New World” proves itself to be a decent political thriller with something culturally resonant to say that exceeds mere comic-book particulars.

Katie Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.