In Review: 'Captain America: Brave New World,' 'Paddington in Peru'

Franchise fatigue is a theme in this week's reviews, but one series proves far more exhausted than the other.

Captain America: Brave New World
Dir. Julius Onah
118 min.

It was perhaps inevitable that the Marvel Cinematic Universe would eventually go stale and the bottom would finally drop out of what has been a high-floor/low-ceiling enterprise for 17 years running. But Captain America: Brave New World suggests that Kevin Feige and the MCU braintrust have deeper problems than mere franchise fatigue, which was an inevitable side effect of flooding theaters and Disney+ with multiple movies and TV shows every year. The obsession with “mythology,” that narrative glue that’s been binding the MCU across so many cycles, has become so all-consuming that they’ve lost track of why anyone might care in the first place. Absent a single compelling character, the film is just of bunch that happens, tying together loose threads from some of the worst MCU projects as if that in itself were scratching some long standing itch. 

Do you want to get caught up on everything you need to know before seeing Brave New World? There are recap videos for that, but if you’re a true fan, you’re going to have to re-familiarize yourself with the events of 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, Eternals, and the Disney+ show The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Those who do not have 11 hours to sink into a dead-eyed stupor will be relieved to discover that Brave New World gives you all the information in the first few minutes by having characters say it out loud. “Have you reached Betty, my daughter?” asks newly elected president Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford) just before giving his acceptance speech, a reminder that he has been estranged from her since The Incredible Hulk. (When Ross was played by the late William Hurt.) On stage, he reminds his supporters of the extraordinary challenges the country faces, from losing half the population to the valuable remains of Eternals Celestial Tiamut currently jutting out of the Indian Ocean. 

A cable news broadcast takes care of the rest, including the tension between Thaddeus and Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), the literal wingman to Steve Rogers’ Captain America who spent The Falcon and the Winter Soldier evolving into his official replacement. When Thaddeus extends an invitation to the White House as an olive branch, Sam brings along two of his buddies that also appeared in the series, his eager young sidekick Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez) and maligned Black “super-soldier” Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly). As the president is announcing a new treaty to share the all-purpose miracle resource “adamantium” that can be mined from Tiamut’s remains, Isaiah and a group of co-conspirators attempt to assassinate him. Sam doesn’t believe that Isaiah would ever do anything like that, so he and Joaquin investigate a scheme that leads them to several bad guys, including Serpent Society scientist Seth Voelker a.k.a. “Sidewinder” (Giancarlo Esposito) and blood-poisoned cellular biologist Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson). (You remember Samuel Sterns, right? Your favorite character from the Hulk movie not directed by Ang Lee and starring a guy who never played Hulk again?) 

Brave New World labors to distinguish Sam Wilson’s Captain America from Steve Rogers, who had the benefit of a serum that brought his once-weak body in line with the superpowers of his Avengers cohorts. Sam is just some guy, which means he needed to train hard to earn the shield and that sweet Wakandan vibranium in his wings, but the film suggests his mortal vulnerability makes him nobler and more relatable. Yet Mackie doesn’t have much more to bring to the table than earnestness and his blah Captain America is a reminder how crucial big, jokey personalities like Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Pratt, Chris Hemsworth, and Paul Rudd have been at buoying the MCU. Otherwise, it’s just an interconnected and increasingly unwieldy series of plot points. 

Other than the lively, enigmatic Shira Haas as Ruth Bat-Seraph, a former Black Widow aligned with Thaddeus, personalities are hard to come by in Brave New World. Ford does his typical late-career sleepwalk through the role of Thaddeus, whose redemption arc leads him to rows of tackily rendered cherry blossom trees, and Nelson’s above-average villain too closely resembles the creep-talk of Solomon Lane in the later Mission: Impossible movies. In the end, Brave New World exists to answer all the questions left unanswered by The Incredible Hulk and Eternals. Don’t sprain your arm reaching for your wallet. — Scott Tobias  

Captain America: Brave New World opens today in theaters everywhere.

Paddington in Peru
Dir. Dougal Wilson
106 min.

It probably goes without saying that Paddington in Peru makes good on the promise of its title. The third film in a series adapting Michael Bond’s beloved children’s books about an earnest Peruvian bear finding his place in the bustling city of London, Paddington in Peru sends Paddington (voiced by Ben Whishaw) and his adoptive family the Browns to his native land, where hijinks ensue. The question is whether, like its predecessors, Paddington in Peru makes good on the promise of its predecessors. The first two entries, both directed by Paul King, mix clever visual gags, sweet characters, and lovely production design while letting Paddington serve as a stand-in for all that’s virtuous and true about the traditional, well-mannered English character. (That Paddington, like other characters he encountered, did not originate in England is part of the point.) Happily, the answer is “yes,” though there’s a small asterisk attached to it. Trailing two classics, Paddington in Peru is the least of the three Paddington films, which is to say it’s entertaining and heartfelt comedy, just not a transcendently entertaining, heartfelt comedy.

The film opens with Paddington attempting to take a passport photo with, let’s say, mixed results. It’s a funny bit of business that paves the way for the bear and the Browns to go abroad after Paddington’s Aunt Lucy (Imelda Staunton) disappears from the Home for Retired Bears, seemingly vanishing into the Peruvian jungle with little explanation. Understandably concerned, Paddington and the family head to South America to investigate. There, the retirement home’s cheerful supervisor, a guitar-toting Reverend Mother (Olivia Colman), expresses her concern but doesn’t prove all that helpful in aiding the search. Nonetheless, a series of clues send Paddington and the Browns up river in the company of a ship’s captain named Hunter (Antonio Banderas) and his daughter Gina (Carla Tous).

Veteran music video director Dougal Wilson takes over for King (who has a story credit), but the Paddington style remains much the same. Visually it looks like a storybook brought to life, albeit one filled with setting-appropriate references to Raiders of the Lost Ark and Fitzcarraldo. (Check out Banderas’ wardrobe.) Like Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant before them, Colman and Banderas are great fun playing broad characters who may not have Paddington’s best interests in mind at all times. The film continues the story of the Browns, too, as Henry (Hugh Bonneville) and Mary (Emily Mortimer, taking over for Sally Hawkins) worry over their son Jonathan (Samuel Joslin) having no ambition to leave his room while their daughter Judy (Madeleine Harris) doesn’t even try to hide her desire to not only leave the nest but leave it as far behind as possible. It’s sweet fun, and even if there’s little that sets Paddington in Peru apart from the first two films beyond a change of locale, nothing here suggests it’s time to send the Paddington movies to the Home For Retired Bear Franchises. —Keith Phipps

Paddington in Peru begins asking moviegoers to please look after this bear movie tonight.