Captain America 4: Brave New Reboot, Same Old Problems

Oof. This one hurts to write, folks. Marvel really thought they could coast on the Captain America name, and boy, were they wrong.

TMJ Rating: 🍿🍿/5

What You Need to Know

Sam Wilson is officially Captain America now, which should be exciting! Instead, we get a paint-by-numbers conspiracy thriller where Sam discovers (shocking!) that the government has secrets. He goes on the run, fights some bad guys, and tries to save the day while everyone questions if he’s really cut out for this.

There’s also something about a rare metal everyone wants, some big monster transformation that may or may not happen, and a bunch of characters who show up to either help or hurt our new Cap. The movie can’t decide if it wants to be a serious political drama or a comic book romp, so it awkwardly tries to be both.

Honestly? It feels like someone watched a really good Captain America movie and tried to remake it from memory.

Cinematography and Visuals of Captain America 4

The movie looks fine, nothing spectacular. There are some cool flying scenes and a few decent fight sequences, but nothing that’ll make you go “whoa” in the theater.

The big special effects moment everyone’s talking about reportedly tested so badly with audiences that they’re not even sure they want to keep it. That’s…not promising.

Everything feels very standard Marvel movie: competent but forgettable.

Acting and Cast Performance

Anthony Mackie is trying his best, and you can tell he cares about the character. But man, following Chris Evans is rough.

Sam Wilson just doesn’t have that same magnetic presence that made Steve Rogers so compelling. It’s not really Mackie’s fault; the script doesn’t give him much to work with.

Harrison Ford shows up and does his Harrison Ford thing, which is automatically the best part of any movie he’s in.

The supporting cast feels like they were ordered from the bargain bin of Marvel characters. Generic assassin guy, mysterious helper lady, random civilian friend—they all feel like we’ve seen them before, just worse.

Story and Pacing

Here’s where things get rough.

The story beats are so familiar they feel like déjà vu. Hero gets mission, mission goes wrong, conspiracy revealed, hero goes rogue, big fight at the end. We’ve seen this exact movie before, and it was better the first time.

The dialogue tries to tackle serious themes but comes across as preachy rather than natural. Characters explain things that should be shown, and motivations feel thin. It’s like they had a checklist of “Captain America movie things” and just went down the list.

Action and Direction

The action is there. It exists. Sam flies around, throws the shield, fights some people. But none of it feels particularly creative or memorable. There’s no standout sequence that’ll have people talking afterwards.

His powers are weirdly inconsistent, too. Sometimes he’s just a regular guy with wings; other times, he’s somehow tanking massive hits like he’s got super strength.

Pick a lane, movie.

The Bigger Marvel Problem

This movie suffers from what a lot of recent Marvel stuff does—it throws in references and callbacks without earning them. “Hey, remember this thing from that other movie? Well, it’s here now!” But they don’t do anything interesting with these elements.

It feels like the movie exists more to check boxes and set up future films rather than tell its own complete story. That’s exhausting for audiences who just want to enjoy a good superhero flick.

My Final Verdict

Look, I wanted to like this movie. Sam Wilson deserves his moment to shine, and there’s definitely potential for great Captain America stories that aren’t about Steve Rogers.

But this isn’t it.

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Should You Watch It? 

If you’re a die-hard Marvel fan who needs to see everything, sure. But if you’re just looking for a good time at the movies, maybe skip this one and rewatch something that actually earned your time and money.

It’s not offensively bad, just disappointingly meh. And somehow, that feels worse.

Did you catch Brave New World in theaters? Am I being too harsh, or did it let you down, too? Drop your thoughts in the comments, I’d love to hear what other fans thought!