I SAW CAPTAIN FALCON

It's not so much the recent repartee of Anthony Mackie and Harrison Ford (two actors I've followed with general fondness over the years) that made me wary of Captain America: Brave New World, ersatz Captain America IV/Incredible Hulk II/The Falcon and the Winter Soldier II, but rather neo-Disney's consistent trend to turn a beloved, innocuous tradition on its head. Indeed, this conspicuous practice had no choice but to make it hard, damn hard, for me to get hyped for director Julius (The Cloverfield Paradox) Onah's chapter in the Marvel Multiverse, despite its high-profile exposure and reputed, let's-rethink-the-meaning reshoots. 

I suppose before stating the brunt of my critique (based on suspicions and perhaps rash conclusions), I should summarize the plot, as rendered by Rob (Treasure Planet) Edwards and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier's Malcolm Spellman and Dalan Musson. 

Legendary Hulk-hunter and adamantium proponent, General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross (Ford), has become President. Ross wishes to reassemble the Avengers to ensure his prestigious perch, but in the surreptitious scheme of things, his checkered past comes to light after an assassination attempt is made on his life by super-soldier, Carl Lumbly's Isiah Bradley. This broadcast incident uncovers an old, Hulk foe, Tim Blake Nelson's Samuel Sterns/The Leader/Mr. Blue, and with such, the revelation of Ross' Red Hulk affliction, as a conflict between the U.S. and Japan brews, with each side wishing to seize an ample (if not exclusive), adamantium supply. Sam Wilson (Mackie), having shed his Falcon suit for Old Glory-trimmed armor, then teams with Danny Ramirez's Joaquin Torres, aka Falcon Jr., to snuff the tensions. Meanwhile, Giancarlo Esposito's Seth Voelker, aka Sidewinder, abides by Ross' crafty command, and a new Black Widow, Shira Haas' Sabra/Ruth Bat-Seraph, becomes Sam's trusty ally in the U.S.'s opportunity to establish what could become a beneficial, brave, new world.   

It's not so much the multilayered concept that muddles Captain America IV. Its idea is sound, and thanks to Onah's direction, there's genuine oomph in its progression. It's the peculiar timing of it all (in the wake of a Presidential election and the possible prompts behind those media-buzz reshoots) that creaks through the melodrama. There's also that deducible, propagandist insinuation that America--that the U.S.--isn't such a trustworthy or powerful benchmark anymore, since the nation's ideology is (per neo-Disney standards) insincere: meaning that, wrong is right, and right is wrong, and you know how it goes. (There was a trace of this subversive slant in Wakanda and I dare say, even in later portions of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier; whether by accident or plan, it's there in the new Cap. Yeah, damn it all to hell.) 

Listen, this one needn't have rivaled Winter Soldier (as hard an act to follow as one is going to get). It didn't need S.H.I.E.L.D combatting HYDRA in the margins to embed a philosophical division, though such would have been nice. It just had to be surface-value fun. Oh, and just for the record, maybe if the Hulk is red, it's not because he's a Commie, like those who once defined HYDRA, but because there's another political angle pushing the movie's agenda. (Get my drift?) 

I don't mean to be paranoid, but it breaks my heart when a mythology that I hold near and dear to my heart seems redesigned to portray me and those of my ilk as bad and/or ignorant because we don't fit some "awakened" niche (ironically, something that Aldous Huxley warned against in his cautionary novel, Brave New World). I've choked on enough ad-nauseum, "enlightened" forage on the work front, through Facebook and far too many, similar, clamped platforms. I didn't need to see it (even if only through implication) in a sleek, superhero flick that should have been just a lean, focused, Cap-vs-Hulk escapade, with, yes, some welcomed, Manchurian Candidate espionage in it, but more so, plenty of good-hearted, unapologetic, "Pledge of Allegiance" content.    

The bottom line: Captain America IV feels like it has something up its sleeve, intending to scorn the old-school, Marvel fanbase to make way for one that, quite frankly, doesn't wish to exist. It smacks of that Disney/Lucasfilm, Star Wars, reinvention nonsense again, but hey, so be it. 

I wonder, though, how successful this one will be, and how its success might shape what's on the horizon. In this respect, with Thunderbolts* and The Fantastic Four redux already in the can, will the anticipated set also pull something fishy (with here-and-there jabs at current events) or propel a path that returns to a nostalgic, square one? To rephrase, will they opt to please those who care, as opposed to those who'd just as well revisit the jingoistic-bashing of The Boys?