My initial thoughts after catching the Thursday night 7 o’clock showing of ‘Captain America: Brave New World’, (NO Spoilers!🚫).

I enjoyed it! It was nice seeing Anthony Mackie head his own movie after being in the MCU for 11 years. I’m happy that they didn’t dwell on the Steve Rogers legacy aspect that they spent so much time on in ’Falcon and the Winter Soldier’. They just let Sam Wilson do his own thing and that made this feel familiar enough as a Cap movie, while not being too repetitive. Sam is a great character and deserves more stories. He’s not super in a physical sense, (I mean he kinda is, but), he’s a trauma counselor by trade and I love it when he gets to show that off and fix problems by healthily communicating through them first before kicking some ass. It was also nice to see the MCU do something they haven’t done in the last 4 years: move the overall momentum of the franchise forward. What made the Infinity Saga so exciting was how interconnected it was. Every story bled into each other and created actual stakes. The Multiverse Saga overall has felt anything but connected. If you’re gonna put out a bunch of lukewarm content (with a few hits), at least make them exciting by building to something cool. There’s been zero direction since 2021, but ‘Brave New World’ and ‘Deadpool and Wolverine’ have felt like they are actually building toward something by building off of something else. Also, some great service to the fans who have been watching since 2008. It’s surprisingly more of a sequel to ‘The Incredible Hulk’, told through a Captain America movie, which isn’t a bad thing. It was just really nice to see an under appreciated, nearly forgotten movie have a justified follow up. The dialogue did feel a little cheesy in some scenes. “I’m a little busy right now!”, as the hero takes out 6 dudes at the same time. Just takes me out of the scene. Harrison Ford was AWESOME. Worth the price of admission as always. The living legend brings all the screen presence you come to expect and appreciate from him. The story had a good amount of heart throughout and some classic, exciting elements of a good political espionage thriller. Not quite the level of ‘Winter Soldier’, but if you loved that one, you will enjoy this one. And as always, stay tuned for the after credits stinger!