Captain America: Brave New World

Last night I went to a Thursday preview of Captain America: Brave New World and, while it is not the best entry in the MCU, I liked it.  Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford) is elected President of the United States and, because of his problematic behavior in the past, he wants his legacy to be a treaty in which the adamantium discovered on Celestial Island is shared between several nations including Japan.  However, Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson) holds Ross responsible for his incarceration after the events in The Incredible Hulk and uses his superhuman intelligence to disrupt the treaty negotiations.  Sterns uses mind control to compel the veteran and super soldier Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly) to attempt an assassination of the president as he addresses international leaders.  Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) works with Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez) and Ruth Bat-Seraph (Shira Haas), an ex-Widow who is now a government agent, to clear Bradley's name but more manipulation from Sterns forces Captain American and the Falcon to intervene in order to prevent a war with Japan and a threat from Ross.  The story is a bit unwieldy and convoluted (there is also a plot involving Giancarlo Esposito as the Sidewinder and some stolen adamantium) but once it gets going I really enjoyed seeing a president try to be a better man and a new hero grappling with comparisons to an old one before finding his true strength.  I loved Mackie's more stoic performance (it is appropriate and I didn't miss the wisecracking usually found in the MCU at all) and I found his portrayal of Sam's relationships with Isaiah and Joaquin (Lumbly and Ramirez are also great) to be very affecting and a great way forward for the character.  Ford is outstanding as a man trying to reconcile his past mistakes but I feel like Esposito is wasted in role that is not fully realized.  The biggest problem with this movie is the way it looks.  Some of the CGI in the action sequences is really chaotic and the confrontation with the Red Hulk, especially in the cherry trees, is so obviously in front of a green screen that it is laughable.  There are definitely issues but I had fun with it and I am now eager to see more of the character in the upcoming Avengers movies.