my review for captain america: brave new world

i originally wrote this review on letterboxd but after sleeping on my thoughts i have decided to edit it a bit so here's my extended review :)

i think all i ever see these days when marvel movies/shows are mentioned is that it 'fell off' and that nothing will ever beat pre-endgame. as much as i can agreee that pre-endgame marvel is some of the best action movies i've ever seen, i don't think all the hatred and negativity is warranted. there has definitely been some awful media like quantum mania, she-hulk, the marvels etc but this movie is definitely not as bad as any of those. with that being said, it definitely has its flaws and annoyances.

 this is such a tornado of a movie. i think i spent about 30-ish minutes very confused trying to follow what the hell is happening.

it started off with action and a fight that you had to immediately lock into to find out what was going on. it’s not hard to follow, it just feels a bit like whiplash since after that fight we’re in the white house without much in the middle.

it’s extremely action packed and i feel like you hardly get a moment to just relax with some dialogue before being thrown into another fight. however, i will say that the fights are very dynamic and fun to watch with a lot of creativity and flow. it’s amazing to see how sam utilises the shield, hand-to-hand combat and redwing. every combination you can think of doing was done in this movie and it was mesmerising to watch. i especially loved the flight scene above the indian ocean with sam and joaquin i thought the visuals and camera work was really good in showing the scope and the impact of 

one thing that irritated me a bit is that when sterns is egging on ross over the headset, why doesn’t ross just throw the headset off? it seems a bit silly but i suppose the plot has to continue somehow. but also in the same breath, i was expecting more of the red hulk. considering he’s on every poster i thought there’d be more of him but i did enjoy the fight a lot, even if it was short. the entire fight between sam and ross was good don't get me wrong, but it felt lacklustre considering the red hulk is on every poster and in every trailer. i have read that there were problems behind the scenes on this movies production and direction, but it still disappoints me either way. another note on the red hulk, why is his heat almost just not mentioned? sterns mentioned the heat in his belly and when ross transformed he initially had steam coming off of him but that was about it. looking back, i wish that sam had some kind of quip about how he was hot to the touch or maybe the tarmac melting beneath his feet, or better yet, the cherry blossom ross catches in his hand burning up in it which would help the impactfulness on sam's janky therapy talk to him. it's all in the details and it seems like there isn't much focus on things like that.

i did somewhat enjoy the plot of this movie when it got going, i thought it was engaging and interesting. loved joaquin to death he’s so fun to watch on screen and the chemistry with sam is reminiscent of childhood friends. joaquin makes a good falcon even though when he first showed up on screen in that fugly green suit i thought he was half naked because of the skin coloured legs. it was extremely cute and heartwarming to see sam comforting him as a friend and as a mentor, so i'm hoping they'll fight alongside each other for more movies/shows.

for the most part i enjoyed ross as the villain, but i was sort of just waiting for him to lose his cool and turn red. i loved watching him jump after sam to chase him that was super cool and so was the environment with the cherry blossoms, very pretty. harrison ford put his heart into this movie and it really shows since he immediately grabbed my attention every time he was on screen. i loved his performance as ross, a man with a short temper but also trying his hardest to reform himself so he can stop hurting the people around him. he was a struggling man and that was conveyed perfectly, at some points i felt bad for him but not enough to where i was rooting for his redemption. it did feel like he became president and then stepped down within a week so that was a little bit funny.

BUT there were too many villains and it was a bit convoluted with serpent, sterns and ross. at one point i thought the short ex red room woman would be an enemy but she suddenly just started working with sam and joaquin??? it felt like she suddenly turned on a dime and was helping them so that threw me off. i’m disappointed that we only got to see her fight once. it was a good show of her abilities but i wish she got the spotlight more for her fighting and some sort of dialogue to where they agree to work together.

this movie was decent. not the worst mcu movie but definitely not the best either. han solo fell off so hard the poor guy but im SO HAPPY that bucky got his little heart to heart with sam i love bucky so dearly and FINALLY since the winter soldier movie he has a good haircut. finally.

i truly don't understand why critics and average people alike are being so dramatic over this movie and saying it's completely put them off watching marvel and it's the worst movie they have ever seen when madame web exists. it feels to me like everyone can't see the positives in media anymore. all of the online reviews are calling this movie 'slop' and phrases similar to that but there is an unbridled potential within this movie that is being glossed over. there is always something to enjoy within a movie, even if you find it to be monotonous, the dialogue to be unrealistic and boring, there is always something good about a blockbuster movie. i just feel incredibly frustrated that this movie is being treated like it's a pile of shit when i enjoyed myself watching it and i liked the direction it was going, even if it felt convoluted at times or like a rollercoaster. 

also, was anyone else confused as fuck when isiah stood up and shot the president? all of a sudden he just locked in and went into kill mode and i thought it was a fever dream.