I got to see the new Cap for free yesterday (my friends kind of do previews and recs), so here's my 2 cents.
Spoiler below the cut
First and foremost, I'm Team Cap through and through. The Cap movies are some of the most compelling of the MCU and Winter Soldier is, hands down, their best release.
Brave new world certainly follows in their footsteps and it's a well done movie, especially compared to some of Marvel's most recent films. I honestly don't get where the criticism is coming from.
It's political, it wants to send a message and it does it fairly well.
It's well paced, the plot is entertaining without being convoluted, it doesn't last for an eternity (maybe it could do with another 15 minutes, but it didn't feel too rushed), the director does his job, nothing too fancy, but it works. The cgi could have been better? Yes, it was a little wobbly, but not so much as to take me out of the movie.
The character of Isaiah certainly has a tough time, and the scene of his conversation with Sam from behind the glass in prison is a hard one to watch. The actor does a marvelous job of portraying the struggle, the despair this characters is going through, once again unjustly accused and condemned, a symbol of a far larger issue of American society and history.
Harrison Ford, too, does a good job with a character that isn't well loved and we see Ross, in his old age, struggle with guilt and loneliness (Betty hasn't spoken to him in years), but at the same time old habits die hard and he does get autoritative unnecessarily and is prone to rage (and not only for the pills) in his desperate effort to keep others (and himself) under his control.
The side characters didn't emerge as much, in my opinion, neither Sabra nor the villain, Sterns. Esposito steals the scene in his few minutes of screentime.
Jaquin is there both as a reminder of what Sam could potentially lose (and it's not a coincidence that we see a photo of Riley in Sam's office) and as a comic relief, although, and that's honestly one of the things I have appreciated the most, the movie is a sombre one and it never stumbles into inappropriate and useless humor: there's friendly banter in a few scenes, but it never interrupts important moments with ill-timed jokes.
Like Mackie said, Cap doesn't rapresent America as it is (Steve, and Sam with him, for 2 movies have been uncompromisingly anti government), but portrays universal values, such as integrity and equality.
Last, but not least, our new Cap: this movie picks up where we left off after TFATWS. Sam has taken the mantle, but he's still coming to terms with his role and the legacy of that shield.
He's not Steve, he doesn't have the serum, but the thing that made Cap great isn't the super strenght...it never was. Bucky, who we see briefly in a cameo (and I swear, since they decided to go down this politician route, if they give me anything less than Barnes, hero of the proletariat, i will be pissed), serves as a reminder that he is worthy. Not because Sam is strong in body, but in conviction. He's someone who people can look up to, he's the common man that fights for what he believes is right, for the weak and the oppressed, who brings the truth to the surface and justice to those who have been wronged.
And of course... it's an american movie, we see it through those lenses, but we finally have a black Captain America, someone who really can become an inspiration to a lot of people.
Let's appreciate that and see where this is headed.
Sam getting his own movie is super important. I just need a stinger at the end of him and Bucky each coming home from their separate missions and being like “Hey babe 😍.”
