Great writeup Ryan! Not a Marvel guy but ended up seeing this in Liemax 3D & I thought a few things were pretty thematically interesting:
- The International relations element in this film - scenes spanned Mexico, Japan, International security state Zoom meetings with France & India, and an Israeli character as well as an + a an open waters resources debate are introduced. This was not done in an 'America is always right' way either- where US steamrolls, maintains moral high ground & ultimately 'teaches the world'. Harrison Ford as the American president does a great job with motives, and interactions that are nuanced, fraught at times ,and complex. All this to say, I liked how even in a movie called "Captain America" it is not really clear who is the 'good guy' at times especially with an unhinged, compromised American commander in chief...
- The criminal justice element. Spoilers for anyone reading but showing how a formerly incarcerated character could be 're radicalized' or triggered & how a 'rush to justice' leads to this mess was also I thought expansive of what is normally in a movie like this
- The emotional element- characters like Falcon, The President, even Captain America came across as more multifaceted that I would expect from a movie like this.
- Lastly, Anthony Mackie was also great but the villain was a bit of a miss for me!!
Thanks for reading, David! I appreciate your insight. I do agree there were quite a few really interesting thematic nodes presented but I feel that none were really given too much weight, narratively, which is unfortunate. In trying to present *everything*, ultimately the end-product felt very surface-level - but again, that was just my personal takeaway.
If and when I rewatch though, I'll be sure to look for opportunities to dig a little deeper.
And yes, Mackie was solid, for sure. Considering how long he's been with the franchise, to see him step fully into his new role, from supporting player to lead, is pretty cool even if the material more broadly couldn't keep up.
I just love your reviews, Ryan! They illuminate the powerful possibilities of film as a medium. You hold each film in a kind of hopefulness of what could actually be communicated. When the art reaches that height, you celebrate it. When it doesn’t you remind us the impact films can make both creatively and culturally and that art of all forms has a responsibility to expand our experience.
Thank you so much, Lisa! I'm glad to hear that initial optimism shines through: I try to give each film a fair chance on its own merits, as best I can - but yes, we should always hold every project to a higher standard, be it personally or under that broader cultural umbrella. There is always something they can teach us, through the exposure of experiences outside our own or more mechanically, within their execution. But on the reverse, we should constantly be challenging those perceptions too: never allowing ourselves to be stagnant.
Your optimism definitely shines through! Your reviews are the perfect mix of illuminating what is, pointing out what could be, and hoping for the expansion of the medium as a whole.
Thank you so much for the quote and thank you lots for the nuanced review! Sad that the new CA doesn't have much to offer. I love Anthony Mackie :( Marvel needs to wake up. So we'll written!
And thank you Sophie! I appreciate you reading and sharing your insight first: it helped to further crystallize my thoughts as I was writing, so cheers for that.
Yeah, Marvel really has lost their edge these past few years haven't they? I know it has been debated ad nauseam but with an effort like this, building towards a bigger picture be dammed, locking in investment as we used too is a hard sell. But the magic is still there, it seems, if only in much smaller doses - as, yes, the Daredevil hype proves 😂.
Let us hope they can parlay that with more focus going forward.
I liked the movie!! It was at least a 7 for me. Anthony and Danny were great, and Harrison gave a real humanity to the Ross character I hadn't felt before. The cameos were relevant and helped the story. I enjoyed it and I'm glad we'll be seeing more of Anthony and Danny in the MCU. Not everything can be The Winter Soldier and that's okay!
Good points! The ending did stand out, regarding Mackie: he really is a Cap (and a leader) all his own, which is a super cool bookend to his overall arc, going from supporting character to leading man. The stage is his now and I love it.
Thinking on it more, I do feel I went in with a certain sense of expectations/knowing of the behind-the-scenes trouble and inevitability, that's going to colour my overall perception just a little, even if the story, pacing and action didn't land for me either way.
It'll be interesting to see how this leads into Thunderbolts* though, especially with Ross' new reality and the hints they dropped about reforming the Avengers. It's going to happen sooner rather than later of course but before Doom arrives? The clock is ticking!
Great writeup Ryan! Not a Marvel guy but ended up seeing this in Liemax 3D & I thought a few things were pretty thematically interesting:
- The International relations element in this film - scenes spanned Mexico, Japan, International security state Zoom meetings with France & India, and an Israeli character as well as an + a an open waters resources debate are introduced. This was not done in an 'America is always right' way either- where US steamrolls, maintains moral high ground & ultimately 'teaches the world'. Harrison Ford as the American president does a great job with motives, and interactions that are nuanced, fraught at times ,and complex. All this to say, I liked how even in a movie called "Captain America" it is not really clear who is the 'good guy' at times especially with an unhinged, compromised American commander in chief...
- The criminal justice element. Spoilers for anyone reading but showing how a formerly incarcerated character could be 're radicalized' or triggered & how a 'rush to justice' leads to this mess was also I thought expansive of what is normally in a movie like this
- The emotional element- characters like Falcon, The President, even Captain America came across as more multifaceted that I would expect from a movie like this.
- Lastly, Anthony Mackie was also great but the villain was a bit of a miss for me!!
Thanks for reading, David! I appreciate your insight. I do agree there were quite a few really interesting thematic nodes presented but I feel that none were really given too much weight, narratively, which is unfortunate. In trying to present *everything*, ultimately the end-product felt very surface-level - but again, that was just my personal takeaway.
If and when I rewatch though, I'll be sure to look for opportunities to dig a little deeper.
And yes, Mackie was solid, for sure. Considering how long he's been with the franchise, to see him step fully into his new role, from supporting player to lead, is pretty cool even if the material more broadly couldn't keep up.
I just love your reviews, Ryan! They illuminate the powerful possibilities of film as a medium. You hold each film in a kind of hopefulness of what could actually be communicated. When the art reaches that height, you celebrate it. When it doesn’t you remind us the impact films can make both creatively and culturally and that art of all forms has a responsibility to expand our experience.
Thank you so much, Lisa! I'm glad to hear that initial optimism shines through: I try to give each film a fair chance on its own merits, as best I can - but yes, we should always hold every project to a higher standard, be it personally or under that broader cultural umbrella. There is always something they can teach us, through the exposure of experiences outside our own or more mechanically, within their execution. But on the reverse, we should constantly be challenging those perceptions too: never allowing ourselves to be stagnant.
Your optimism definitely shines through! Your reviews are the perfect mix of illuminating what is, pointing out what could be, and hoping for the expansion of the medium as a whole.
Thank you so much for the quote and thank you lots for the nuanced review! Sad that the new CA doesn't have much to offer. I love Anthony Mackie :( Marvel needs to wake up. So we'll written!
Oh in other news, I'm looking forward to Daredevil 😂
And thank you Sophie! I appreciate you reading and sharing your insight first: it helped to further crystallize my thoughts as I was writing, so cheers for that.
Yeah, Marvel really has lost their edge these past few years haven't they? I know it has been debated ad nauseam but with an effort like this, building towards a bigger picture be dammed, locking in investment as we used too is a hard sell. But the magic is still there, it seems, if only in much smaller doses - as, yes, the Daredevil hype proves 😂.
Let us hope they can parlay that with more focus going forward.
I liked the movie!! It was at least a 7 for me. Anthony and Danny were great, and Harrison gave a real humanity to the Ross character I hadn't felt before. The cameos were relevant and helped the story. I enjoyed it and I'm glad we'll be seeing more of Anthony and Danny in the MCU. Not everything can be The Winter Soldier and that's okay!
Good points! The ending did stand out, regarding Mackie: he really is a Cap (and a leader) all his own, which is a super cool bookend to his overall arc, going from supporting character to leading man. The stage is his now and I love it.
Thinking on it more, I do feel I went in with a certain sense of expectations/knowing of the behind-the-scenes trouble and inevitability, that's going to colour my overall perception just a little, even if the story, pacing and action didn't land for me either way.
It'll be interesting to see how this leads into Thunderbolts* though, especially with Ross' new reality and the hints they dropped about reforming the Avengers. It's going to happen sooner rather than later of course but before Doom arrives? The clock is ticking!