Captain America: Brave New World was terrible. I finally watched it, and it has become one of my favorite recent MCU movies.

For various circumstances, I was unable to see Captain America: Brave New World in theaters, which is unusual for me with Marvel films. Though I didn't skip out on the 2025 picture due of the negative critical reception (CinemaBlend awarded it two out of five stars in our official review), I admit that there weren't many people chanting its praises. I was lead to feel that this was not one of Marvel's best films, but rather something awful, sloppy, and unfortunate. While one of those statements may be correct, I must stress that this was not a horrible or unfortunate film. Quite the contrary.

I eventually watched Captain America: Brave New World, and it immediately became one of my favorite recent Marvel Cinematic Universe movies. Sure, it didn't have a top-tier Marvel story, it was sloppy at points, and it felt like a sequel to Falcon and the Winter Soldier, but it was a lot of fun and well exceeded my expectations. Allow me to explain.

Captain America: Brave New World is a messy movie, but it never drags or wears out its welcome.
I'll grant that Brave New World is untidy at points - one of my colleagues previously mentioned difficulties with the Serpent Society - but unlike many other Marvel films from the last five years, it never lingered or beyond its welcome. One of the shorter MCU titles (two minutes shy of two hours, counting the post-credits stuff), I was with Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) and President Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross (Harrison Ford) from beginning to end, and the tale never lost my interest.

Whether it was delving into conspiracies with unknowing people (like as Carl Lumbly's super soldier Isaiah Bradley) being controlled like winter warriors to pull off some crazy stunts, or focusing on Cap kicking all kinds of butt, I was into the film the entire time.

The action sequences, particularly the fight with the Red Hulk, were outrageously fun.
I went into this film expecting some fantastic action scenes, and it more than delivered in this regard. There was so much to love here, from multiple scenes in which the new Cap takes on small groups of armed henchmen or soldiers to an explosive run-in between the United States and Japan over The Eternals' celestial remains, in which Sam Wilson saves the day just before World War III destroys the planet, to the assassination attempt at the White House.

But the scenario that I enjoyed the best, and one that was widely emphasized in all of the teasers, was the fight between Captain America and Red Hulk in Washington, D.C. Without giving anything away to those who are even later than me in seeing this film, this gigantic and very destructive combat is one of the most exciting one-on-one confrontations I've seen in the MCU since Iron Man and Hulk in Avengers: Age of Ultron. We've got Cap flying, Red Hulk demolishing everything in his way, and cherry blossoms blooming around the nation's capital. I am here for it all.

Previous Captain America movies had a conspiracy thriller vibe. We Were Once Again On Point.
Again, I'm not going to spoil anything, but I must point out that not everything is as it appears in Brave New World. As hinted just before the film's February 2025 release, there's more to the villain side of things than previously shown, ending in a massive conspiracy involving almost everyone featured. This component of the film feels quite at home with the other Captain America films, which all involved some type of conspiracy.

I'm not saying this is on the same level as Captain America: The Winter Soldier (a top-tier MCU film), but the mix of superhero movie and gritty conspiracy/revenge thriller makes for a fascinating and compelling experience. With all of the tensions between international leaders, I was really pleased with this one.