‘Brave” it might be, but there’s nothing all that “new” about the world revealed in this latest tired and uninspired dollop of content from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s perhaps notable for Harrison Ford playing a US president for the first time since Air Force One in 1997, but now with secret health worries and liable to succumb to a terrifying rage which turns him into Red Hulk (Red State Hulk?) who is the ultimate disruptor, putting his great big red fist through the West Wing.
A novelty there, maybe, though he conforms to the time-honoured Hulk tradition of somehow having miraculously stretchy trousers so that the Red Hulk genitals are not exposed. As for the apparent Maga implications, Mr Ford has himself denied them, and the MCU is as cautiously apolitical as ever, though Ford’s character is certainly keener on international cooperation than the current real-life incumbent.
Supersoldier Captain America is the title now conferred on Sam Wilson, played by the personable Anthony Mackie; the previous holder Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) having stepped down and gone back in time to his 1940s heyday. Wilson is astonished to receive an invitation to a reception at the White House, now presided over by the ex-general turned commander-in-chief Thaddeus Ross (Ford) – an enemy of the Avengers who is regretfully tormented by the thought that he has alienated his daughter Betty (Liv Tyler) on account of her relationship with Bruce Banner.
Captain America shows up to the shindig with his buddy and protege Joaquin Torres, or Falcon (Danny Ramirez) and Korean war veteran Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly), who is bitter at his former imprisonment as a mistrusted supersoldier. The reception ends in violent chaos, connected with a sinister plan to exploit the powerful new element Adamantium recently discovered in Japanese waters, and to create warlike division between Japan and the US who might otherwise sign a treaty guaranteeing international ownership. Captain America and President Ross are going to have to put aside their differences to battle this new threat to the Pax Americana, which might have something to with the awful scientist Dr Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson) whose shocking appearance perhaps indicates that no one on this production got the memo about stigmatising facial deformation.
And so this convoluted green screen digital contrivance finally snakes its way to a suspended episode-conclusion; the action is moderate and it’s lacking in the steam-heat, humour and the surreal energy of superhero movies past. Mackie has charm and presence, and it would be great to see him at the centre of something more satisfying.
• Captain America: Brave New World is out on 13 February in Australia, and 14 February in the US and UK.
