Captain America: Brave New World (Julius Onah, 2025) & Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy (Michael Morris, 2025)
Today I’ve got: two new reviews (for you). Captain America: Brave New World, that is part of an important franchise within the MCU and Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy, a franchise that is still a big deal in the UK and Europe.
CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD (Julius Onah, 2025)
Captain America: Brave New World is the competent new entry in this particular Marvel-franchise, with Anthony Mackie convincing as Cap, and Harrison Ford almost stealing the movie as President Thaddeus Ross.
Directed by Julius Onah (Luce), working from a script by himself and no less than four others, this cleanly shot and edited movie nevertheless finds a unified tone, setting itself up as the first Captain America movie in a new series, after three movies starring Chris Evans as Cap and one Falcon and the Winter Soldier series in which Mackie took over. (It’s almost like looking at James Bond and saying: yes, it can be done! A black 007 can lead your franchise too!)
It’s like this: Sam Wilson (Mackie) has been Captain America for three years when former Secretary of State, General Thaddeus Ross (played by the late William Hurt in the earlier movies and now by Harrison Ford) is elected president and decides he wants to work more closely with the Captain.
When Sam is invited to attend a summit at the White House, he not only brings along his new Falcon, Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez from Stars at Noon) but also the recently released Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly), who still has a bone (or two) to pick with his old adversary Ross, but who is also happy to get his glad rags on.
During a private conversation President Ross tells Sam that he wants him to get back the gang together. (Yes, he is talking about the Avengers which makes total sense as they have a new movie coming out in 2026, so they’d better get cracking anyway).
Still, any sort of pre-production is interrupted when later that evening Isaiah suddenly tries to shoot the president. And he isn’t even the only assassin.
Did Isaiah want some form of revenge after all or is there something more sinister going on? Something that maybe has to do with mind control plus another one of Ross’s old enemies returning to the fray, threatening world peace while also trying to divide and conquer.
I won’t spoil much more - if you want to, there is some stuff in the trailers - but let me tell you that what follows is a pretty good political thriller, with a fair bit of intrigue, some excellent action scenes and even some fine special effects, especially on (but not limited to) a Red Hulk.
It’s a grounded, mostly real world movie, that’s reminiscent of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, without exactly scaling those dizzy heights.
Story wise, it does have a (double) episode of the week feel, with a possible war with Japan over adamantium coming across like a minor threat, while the idea that the creation of monsters leads to more monsters simply isn’t very original anymore, even when it is used effectively, as it is here.
Captain America 4 also doesn’t have the momentum of Golden Age MCU, when you felt like every new Marvel movie had something essential to offer, while they also couldn’t go wrong commercially.
However, Captain America: Brave New World does point to a brave new world, where Marvel can still make good looking big movies that make big bucks, without being the all-conquering behemoth in the room that kneecaps all other potential blockbusters that dare to stand in its way.
As said, the movie is mostly fine, and at the very least it gives Harrison Ford a chance to be president once again - he does at times seem to channel his character from Air Force One (1997) - which seems especially fitting since we’re living in a time when all American presidents seem to be older than necessary.
Ford is impressive as a complicated character, while Mackie is quietly dignified as a very human Captain America who doesn’t need super serum to save the world and kick some righteous ass.
I give it 3 stars.
BRIDGET JONES: MAD ABOUT THE BOY (Michael Morris, 2025)
Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy signals a modest return to form for the femme-centric franchise, that has struggled artistically since the first movie successfully launched the series way back in 2001.
Mad About The Boy (named after the classic song that is of course featured in the movie) is basically a reboot, as it finds our Bridget (Renée Zellweger) once again a singleton, juggling two men in her life: there is twenty something Roxter (Leo Goodall) who isn’t shy bedding a woman almost (over?) twice his age, but then suffers from commitment phobia.
There is also the fabulously named Scott Wallaker (Chiwetel Ejiofor), who is a science teacher at the school Bridget’s children go to. He is, like Mark Darcy before him, the stern and upright type, who has a tendency to repeatedly blow his school whistle quite loudly, much to Bridget’s dismay. But even though she feels more than a little intimidated by him, we the audience know that in the end he will be good for her.
In Mad About The Boy, like in every Bridget Jones movie, it’s all about the men. Even when they are absent, like husband Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), who died during a humanitarian mission in Africa four years ago, and whose memory adds a layer of grief and seriousness over a movie that would otherwise probably be too bright and bubbly.
There is also good old Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant, still chasing after twenty-year olds, but also discovering he has a heart, and also serving as a surrogate uncle to Bridget’s daughter and son, the latter taking his father’s death the hardest, leading to his eventual bonding with Mr. Wallaker.
In comparison, most of the female characters (except of course Bridget herself) come across as underwritten stereotypes, who basically serve two functions: to get Bridget back to work - which after four years doesn’t seem a moment too soon - and to help Bridget get laid again, which yes, obviously, is basically the point of the whole movie.
Directed by Michael Morris, from a script by Helen Fielding, Dan Mazer and Abi Morgan, Renée Zellweger is once again in fine fettle as the titular heroine: a hyper neurotic mixture of pratfalls and witticisms, full of ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ reaction shots. She’s a cringe comedy legend for the ages, with the actress being once again better than the movie she’s in, although fortunately this time around, the movie is almost as good as the character.
I give it 3 stars.
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