REVIEW: Captain America: Brave New World (2025)
Review By Liam Herschall — NewsTime News
Julius Onah’s Captain America: Brave New World is a well-made, polished, thoroughly competent superhero film. It looks great, it sounds great, and it does everything a Marvel movie is supposed to do. Anthony Mackie is a charismatic and capable lead, I guess. He steps into the Captain America mantle with grace and gravitas, not that that’s what we really want from that character, but he does do that. The film makes a commendable effort to tackle real-world issues—power, responsibility, national identity—and wraps them up in the usual spectacle of high-flying action sequences and dramatic monologues. It’s all there, right in front of me, unfolding in perfect, calculated rhythm. And yet, the only thought running through my head as I watched was: Man, I don’t know if I have the capacity to give a shit about this anymore.
Maybe it’s not the movie’s fault. The performances are solid. Yeah, they’re solid committed performances, I think. Mackie carries the shield like he’s supposed to, and supporting actors like Danny Ramirez and Carl Lumbly bring genuine heart to their roles. Even Harrison Ford as President Thaddeus Ross is, objectively speaking, a fun addition—because why not, right? Why shouldn’t the President of the United States be personally involved in whatever superhero nonsense is happening this time? It’s 2025. This is just how things are now. We’ve moved past the need for superheroes who exist in a world with, I don’t know, actual government officials who stay in their lane, or even (imagine this), provide a voice of reason for the audience as a backdrop for all this superhero insanity. Now the President has to be part of the action too. He’s showing up to military briefings where someone is explaining why a guy with metal wings has to stop some vague geopolitical disaster, and the other option is that he gamma’s out till his little business clothes rip. and we’re all just supposed to go along with it. Sure. Fine. I honestly can not give a shit at this point.
The action sequences, I’ll admit, are well-done. One particular mid-air fight scene is an impressive showcase of Sam Wilson’s skill, seamlessly blending his flight mechanics with combat choreography in a way that actually sets him apart from Steve Rogers. That’s cool. It’s well-executed. But what does it matter? At this point, I’ve seen so many fights, so many sky battles, so many sequences where things explode while triumphant music swells, that my brain barely registers them anymore. Oh, another person getting kicked off a moving vehicle and catching themselves at the last second? Neat. Oh, another hero delivering an impassioned speech about what America really stands for? Sure. I bet that’ll look great in the Disney+ thumbnail. Just let me sit here while this thing begs for my attention until I capitulate by laughing at a moment where the music stops and someone says what a normal person would think in that situation.
There’s a moment late in the film where Sam has to make a major decision, one that will define his role as Captain America moving forward. It should be a powerful moment. I can recognize, intellectually, that this is an important turning point in the narrative. But instead of feeling anything, I just found myself wondering what the post-credits scene would be. Probably a tease for Thunderbolts, right? Or maybe some vague allusion to Secret Wars. At this point, every Marvel movie is less a self-contained story and more an elaborate game of franchise chess, pieces moving into position for the next big thing. And that knowledge seeps into every frame, and then out of my ears as fucking goop.
I used to get worked up over these movies. I used to care. I used to have opinions. Maybe I would have spent this entire review ranting about how the film gestures at complex political themes without ever really engaging with them. Maybe I’d be frustrated that, once again, the Marvel machine pulls from real-world anxieties—global instability, government overreach, economic disparity—without actually having anything to say about them. But at this point? I don’t even have the energy to get mad. The movie exists. It is competent. It will make a billion dollars. And then we will do this all again.
If you love Marvel movies, you’ll probably love this one. If you’re tired of them, you’ll remain tired. That’s it. That’s the review. I could dig deeper, but honestly—who gives a shit?
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