General “Thunderbolt” Ross (Harrison Ford) is now President of the United States and offers Captain America (Anthony Mackie) an opportunity to restart The Avengers. However, when an associate tries to assassinate Ross, Cap must get to the bottom of the attempt on the President’s life. Meanwhile, the evil Leader (Tim Blake Nelson) has been manipulating Ross into turning into the rage-driven Red Hulk to show the world what a true monster he is.
I enjoyed the Marvel show Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which had Falcon picking up the mantle of Captain America. This big screen movie sequel feels more like a TV show than many of the recent Marvel pics. The action scenes are decent enough I suppose, but they are a tad underwhelming for a big budget comic book movie. While I probably would’ve been more disappointed if I saw it on the big screen, it looked fine at home on Disney+.
As a fan of 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, I was intrigued to see all the stuff that was set up in that flick so long ago finally beginning to pay off. It’s just kind of odd to see it happening in a Captain America movie. The film also deals with the fallout from The Eternals (of all movies), which is kind of weird. (The mention of adamantium also leads me to suspect they are starting to set up X-Men here too.) Because of that, it felt less like an honest to God Captain American movie and more like Marvel tidying up their house a bit as they inch closer to another Avengers film.
This is kind of a disservice to Mackie, seeing as it’s his first solo shot as Cap. The finale where Ross turns into Red Hulk is pretty good though and makes up for some of the film’s shortcomings. You have to wonder if the symbolism of a black man trying to stop a President who has become a red monster from destroying the White House was accidental or intentional though.
While the prospect of having Ford take over for the late William Hurt was promising, Ford seems grumpier than usual, especially when he’s supposed to be acting presidential. Mackie is OK in the lead, but he’s just not given a whole lot here to work with. Although he had an opportunity to properly flesh out his character on the Falcon show, he’s basically required to do little more than spout exposition and glower here. Danny Ramirez, who plays the new Falcon, is pretty entertaining and brings some much-needed humor to the film. Nelson is fun as Leader too, although it’s a shame they waited so long to utilize him.
Marvel Cinematic Universe Scorecard:
Spider-Man: No Way Home: ****
Avengers: Age of Ultron: ****
The Incredible Hulk: ****
Iron Man: ****
Thor: Ragnarok: ****
Avengers: Endgame: ****
Ant-Man and the Wasp: ****
Spider-Man: Homecoming: ****
Iron Man 3: ****
Captain America: Civil War: *** ½
Ant-Man: *** ½
Guardians of the Galaxy: *** ½
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: *** ½
Avengers: Infinity War: *** ½
Werewolf by Night: *** ½
Black Panther: *** ½
The Avengers: ***
Captain America: The First Avenger: ***
Captain America: The Winter Soldier: ***
Deadpool and Wolverine: ***
Thor: Love and Thunder: ***
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: ***
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings: ***
Captain Marvel: ***
Spider-Man: Far from Home: ***
Thor: ***
The Marvels: ***
Captain America: Brave New World: ***
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3: ***
Thor: The Dark World: ***
Iron Man 2: ***
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania: ** ½
Doctor Strange: ** ½
Black Widow: ** ½
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever: **
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special: **
Eternals: * ½
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