Captain America: Brave New World (2025) Dir: Julius Onah

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When the trailers dropped for this Julius Onah directed venture into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I actually thought it looked like a decent enough film, certainly in regards to Marvel of late. However, the warning signs were there; the film had undergone extensive rewrites, and soon reviews came trickling through, and they were not kind. It stopped me from seeing it at the cinema, but I did at least want to give it a go - it had been a while since an MCU film had compelled me in the slightest.

What a mistake. Within the first ten minutes, I almost turned the film off three times. I'm not sure how I persisted. It all started with the abysmal visuals. It baffles me that such a big blockbuster film can look so pathetic. The CGI was honestly laughable. It looked like it was from about ten years ago, and that's being kind. The direction was woeful. Genuinely, be it the framing, the the shot selection or even some of the more general camerawork, it was all pretty horrendous. This was such an ugly film.

The action looked inexcusable. People complain about kung-fu films having unrealistic fight choreography, but at least it looks impactful. This film's action sequences looked painfully staged, overly choreographed and obviously artificial. I just couldn't take any of it even remotely seriously. I think what makes it all the more frustrating is how formulaic and uninspired it all is - I've seen those exact fights time after time in Marvel, with very little in the way of creativity at this point in their run.

The writing was just as diabolical. The dialogue was cringe-inducing to the highest degree, and the quips weren't even corny in a fun comic-book way, they were just bad. The film played like a very low quality straight-to-television parody. The villains were once again boring and forgettable, a familiar trait for the MCU, and another reason on the long list that factors into the fall from grace that the franchise has suffered. It is honestly absurd seeing just how bad these films have become.

I felt very bad for Anthony Mackie, because he has worked his rear end off to get his own film in this franchise, and he had to try and make something of this god-awful screenplay. Mackie's acting wasn't even that great either, unfortunately, but I still felt he was hard done by. He at least seemed to be putting in the effort to make something out of nothing, which is more than I can say for his co-star.

I love Harrison Ford, but he half-assed this and then some. This has got to be one of the worst performances I've seen from him, unfortunately. Then again, I can hardly blame him for how little he seemed to care about the film. It was god-awful. The supporting cast weren't a whole lot better either. Danny Ramirez acting made him come across like an actor in a corporate video, Shira Haas seemed to have exactly zero personality, Tim Blake Nelson's villainous portrayal was beyond lacklustre, as was Giancarlo Esposito's for that matter, and Carl Lumbly looked a little lost, more than anything else.

Overall, I almost don't know what else I can say at this point. How Marvel, or Disney for that matter, can churn out shoddy films like this and think it's an acceptable product is beyond me. There are bad films which feel like everyone involved worked very hard on, and then there are bad films where it looks like the higher-ups didn't give two hoots what the end-product looked like. Lack of care is the big killer of this film - Marvel Studios didn't care about the film, so why on Earth should I? What a waste of time.