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mini reaction to Captain America: Brave New World
I liked it!
Nice brisk pace. Kept the twists coming fast enough to be engaging, without going so fast you lose track of the plot. Torres really came into his own, his enthusiasm was adorable. The fight scenes were fun, and I appreciate that they were about Sam going “dammit, we need to DE-escalate this” half the time, not just “which side can do the most effective beating-up of the other side?”
This version of Ruth’s character was great. (The baggage of her comics counterpart is undeniable, but it was a relief to see them not replicating it here.) I really do like the idea of more ex-Black-Widows just hanging around the MCU’s secondary cast. Although, missed opportunity to give this one some very personal feelings about mind-control — at least Sam got to mention that he’s sympathetic to the victims because of Bucky.
There were bits of the plot that don’t hold up to scrutiny…but not in a way that I’m actively mad about. Which puts it far ahead of several other Marvel movies.
They didn’t kill any of the characters I would’ve hated to see die! Always a plus.
Only two notable women in the cast, but I appreciate that neither of them got shoehorned into being A Love Interest. The closest we get is Ruth mentioning to Sam how attractive Bucky is, and it’s not played like deep romantic foreshadowing, just a casual observation. (tbh, since we don’t see Ruth reacting to Bucky directly at all, you could easily read it as just something Ruth is saying to test Sam’s reaction…)
And on that note: the Sam-Bucky scene was everything I could’ve asked for. Makes it clear that, even though they’re not working side-by-side on every mission, they have a solid ongoing friendship. They’ll show up for each other in the darkest moments! They’ll let down their guards and be emotionally real with each other! The loss of Steve is still practically its own physical presence in their relationship, but that’s not the reason they love and support each other. The good stuff.
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