Starring: Anthony Mackie, Harrison Ford, Shira Haas, Tim Blake Nelson, Carl Lumbly, Danny Ramirez
Distributor: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Runtime: 118 mins. Reviewed in Feb 2025
Reviewer: Peter W Sheehan
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This American, super-hero film shows Captain America linking up with a newly elected President of America, and finding himself at the centre of an international plot.
This is a high-action movie grounded in political intrigue, that appears to capitalise on contemporary political events, especially those related to the election of a new US President. Captain America: Civil War (2016) ended the Captain America trilogy starring Chris Evans as Steve Rogers.
The movie is intended to be the fourth instalment in the Captain America film series. It is the 35th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and is directed from a screenplay written by Rob Edwards and others, and stars Mackie as a new Sam Wilson/Captain America. It has a new director (Nigerian-American film-maker Onah), and Harrison Ford steps in as a newly-elected (ageing) US President. (William Hurt, who acted Thaddeus Ross in the past, died in 2022.)
In this movie, the new President transforms to Red Hulk during the film and finds himself at odds with Captain America in a global conspiracy. Sam Wilson is no longer a super-hero soldier, but uses Captain America’s shield and wing suit in his fights and communicates that a black Captain America has a different conception of what a hero is and what constitutes acceptable behaviour. Mackie acts well as Sam Wilson/Captain America in the lead role, but the film is not a continuation of the past, so much as a film that uses its characters and themes in different ways. There is a final battle between Captain America and the monster that the new President has physically and mentally become.
Use of split screen shots emphasise the footage of other political thriller films, and the film invites comparison with thrillers that intentionally convey a modern look, but the Captain America franchise has lost both Hurt in a major role and Steve Rogers as the title character. The film’s appeal ultimately depends on audience responsiveness to intense physical action embedded in emotionally charged situations. Action thrills and modern themes guarantee strong impact, but the film will disappoint diehard fans, who are not expecting so much change. Plot complexity constantly shifts, and multiple paranoid fantasies are in abundance.
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