Charles Merritt helps Christian parents to talk to their sons and daughters about change in ourselves and others by using the latest Captain America film as a discussion starter.
The Film: Captain America: Brave New World
Rating: 12A
Watch if you liked: Captain America: Winter Soldier, Incredibles 2
Running time: 118 minutes
Genre: Superhero, Thriller
Overview: The new Captain America, Sam Wilson, must de-escalate a potential world war as countries try to take hold of a valuable new resource, all while trying to co-operate with a president who had once been his enemy.
What I Liked:
It’s been a while since we’ve had a smaller scale story in the Marvel Cinematic Universe – MCU – based on earth and it was a nice change of pace to have a story with more personal stakes than an alien invasion.
The film opens with Thaddeus Ross (played by Harrison Ford after taking over the part from the late William Hurt) delivering his presidential victory speech emphasising his campaign message of togetherness. Ford is one of my favourite actors (Indiana Jones being one of my favourite fictional characters in cinema), and so maybe I’m biased in this, but he really carried the film for me.
His portrayal of Ross as President of the United States felt believable (he’s had plenty of presidential practice from his Air Force One days) and the character was a tragic portrayal of someone trying to change, only for their past mistakes to come back to bite them.
Although Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson, at times, feels underpowered as the new Captain America (some of his fighting moves are questionable as to whether or not someone without taking the super serum could really pull off), by the end of the film you feel a good enough connection to him, especially with his speech about carrying the weight of expectations on his shoulders to his new Falcon (Danny Ramirez).
Isaiah Bradley also returns from Disney+ series ‘Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ (don’t worry, the film does a great job at explaining what happened in that show to save you the trouble of watching it) and his character’s heartbreak at once again being imprisoned for something that wasn’t his fault was beautifully delivered by actor Carl Lumbly.
The best action sequence is a Top Gun: Maverick-esque aerial battle involving two rogue fighter jets needing to be intercepted by Captain America and Falcon, dramatically set against the escalating tension of President Ross’ inevitable transformation into a raging monster.
What I Disliked:
Despite the film trying to convince you it was a highly intelligent political thriller, the plot was very predictable. I knew exactly what was going to happen before anything happened but, having said that, it didn’t stop my enjoyment of the film.
Giancarlo Esposito was wasted in his role as leader of the Serpent Society – something that was added in the reshoots of the film to increase the stakes. He’s a phenomenal actor but, although the door is left open for him to return to the MCU, his character didn’t make enough of an impact to leave the audience wanting more. In my opinion, he would have been a much better Charles Xavier whenever the X-Men enter the MCU or, really, any other character than the one we’ve ended up getting him as.
Because of the extensive reshoots, it’s clear that some of the CGI was rushed, which took me out of the film at points. It’s a shame because the CGI for the Red Hulk is very impressive and clearly where a lot of the time and budget went…
Finally, let me save you from having to sit through all of the end credits for the post-credits scene. Nothing really happens, except a vague threat/set-up for a future MCU film but, as it’s only hinted at, it’s really not worth hanging around for.
Conversations around faith:
Can a person really change? And what does it take to change?
President Ross had made some mistakes in his pre-presidential life and was working hard to change himself for the sake of his relationship with his daughter. Unfortunately, others were less convinced at his promise of change. Sam Wilson was suspicious about Ross’ intentions, not helped when things go south in the White House with an assassination attempt on Ross’ life by one of Sam’s friends. By the end of the movie, Sam realises that Ross is being manipulated and is sympathetic to Ross’ downfall. At one point he remarks to Ross, ‘We’ve got to see the good in each other, otherwise we’ve already lost the war’.
Sometimes we’re quick to see the faults in other people, ready to dismiss them, but how can we help them instead? What does it look like to give someone who has hurt you in the past a chance at redemption?
It couldn’t have been easy for those early disciples to readily trust or forgive Paul’s past life as a persecutor of Christians. Indeed, Acts 9:26 points out that they were afraid of him. It took someone else to convince them that he had changed before they allowed him into the fold. Although it’s not said, I wonder whether what convinced them was that Paul took accountability for his actions. A trait not everyone shares nowadays.
The film also explores whether you can learn to trust an institution that has failed you in the past. Isaiah Bradley’s character is still hurting from being imprisoned by the government for 30 years in an attempt to silence his legacy as Captain America. This could appear to be too big a topic for young people, but a lot of teenagers feel let down by those in power, and by the church especially. How can we help young people to trust in these institutions again? Or, controversially, how can we help young people to dismantle these institutions or, perhaps, remodel them to be better for all in order to create a ‘brave new world’ that better resembles the Kingdom of God?
