The film seems keen to prove that Sam is a worthy successor to the shield, so we get images of him wielding a brick, smashing his way through enemies and taking down anybody who tells him he’s not up to the task (“The Captain America I dreamt of killing was bigger than you,” one guy tells him – before getting his arm broken).
On paper, the premise for the brand-new Captain America film certainly sounds like a juicy one: Anthony Mackie, wielding the iconic shield, facing off against the Red Hulk, aka Harrison Ford with a mountain of CGI added to his face.
Through them, the film really leans into and explores what it means for a Black man to take on the role of Captain America, especially when his mentor Isaiah (one of the first to get the super-soldier serum) was robbed of the opportunity back in the days after the Korean War.
Though the plot isn’t massively complex, it’s dense, involving multiple references to previous Marvel shows (including the unloved Captain America and the Winter Soldier), while also shoehorning in a series of last-minute plot twists that don’t quite make sense.
Countries around the world are starting to scrap over it, and a tenuous alliance between them is thrust into chaos when Sam’s mentor figure Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly) goes rogue and attempts to kill the President – aka Thaddeus Ross, played here by Ford with maximum gruffness.
