section_path: Reception/Critical response
section_name: Critical response
paragraph_text: Critical response
  
  Captain America: Brave New World received mixed reviews from critics, who were divided on the film's story, connections to other MCU projects, and visual effects. The overall reception was also described as unfavorable, negative, and mixed-to-negative. The performances, particularly those of Mackie and Ford, received praise. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 47% of 344 critics gave Brave New World a positive review. The critics consensus reads, "Anthony Mackie capably takes up Cap's mantle and shield, but Brave New World is too routine and overstuffed with uninteresting Easter eggs to feel like a worthy standalone adventure for this new Avengers leader." Metacritic summarized the critical response as "mixed or average", based on a weighted average score of 42 out of 100 from 56 critics. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B–" on an A+ to F scale, the lowest grade for an MCU film so far, and PostTrak reported a "mixed bag" average rating of three stars out of five.
  
  The political subject matter was a subject of critical commentary. Frank Scheck at The Hollywood Reporter remarked that the scene where Ross transformed into Red Hulk and caused havoc across Washington, D.C. seemed like a fantasy of real-world United States president Donald Trump; David Ehrlich of IndieWire agreed with parallels between Ross and Trump's " Make America Great Again " rhetoric, citing both being gruff old men elevated to office based on the promise of facilitating unity based on dealing with an "alien" threat. The Independent ' s Adam White said that while Ross / Red Hulk could be interpreted as a Trump pastiche, this was ultimately unlikely as the film refused to establish a political stance, with subplots regarding politics remaining underused. Rolling Stone ' s David Fear joked that Ross was "somehow still only the second-most destructive, rage-filled commander in chief to ever hold office", and Entertainment Weekly writer Maureen Lee Lenker joked that "the most unbelievable part is a U.S. president with empathy, a sense of responsibility for his actions, and a capacity for change". Brandon Yu of The New York Times wrote that "the only wisps of tangible political intrigue to be found" were either unintended, or from allusions to previous subject matter in Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Other commentary concerned the controversial Bat-Seraph character, with PJ Grisar at The Forward writing that the controversy about the character relating to Israel and Gaza did not matter because the film overall was "honestly such a dog's breakfast" in terms of politics and presentation, while /Film ' s Devin Meenan opined that the character's debut could not have been timed more poorly because of the divisiveness of public opinion inherent in the ongoing conflict.
  
  The characterization and narrative were criticized. Molly Freeman, writing for Screen Rant, claimed that the only purpose of Sam's suit switch from white to blue was to sell more toys, pointing this out as an example of the film featuring elements without "flare" nor concern for furthering its story or characters; Yu likewise wrote that it amounted to the genre of the "action-figure commercial". Vulture ' s Bilge Ebiri wrote that the film marked Marvel's turn into a "giant slop machine", opining that the film's bid to create sincerity came off as phony and that the jokes to cut this up were "lame", while Scheck agreed that humor was "in severely short supply" and that Mackie's "reliable" charisma was lacking. TheWrap ' s William Bibbiani wrote that the film was unoriginal and without emotional depth, even in the "few" moments where Wilson made an emotional connection to the film, as these moments only "rehashed" the plot of Falcon and the Winter Soldier "briefly" and without impact. It said that Brave New World ' s "steadfast refusal to engage with its own ideas, either by artistic design or corporate mandate, reeks of timidity". Writing for RogerEbert.com, Robert Daniels said Wilson was turned into the Magical Negro for the film, and that "in an effort to soothe white America's anger and hurt", the film "also asks its hero to grin and figuratively tap dance off screen".
  
  Collider ' s Aidan Kelley said the dialogue was among the worst present in the whole of the MCU, and criticized the boringness of Wilson, Sidewinder, and Bat-Seraph, though it praised Ford's empathy. They pointed out the non-cohesive nature of the film, mentioning the reshoots the film underwent as resulting in this. In agreement on the topic of Ford, Lee said Ford was the main attraction, lauding his gravitas and "twinkle in his eye and a merry warmth". White called the character development "an afterthought", feeling Mackie had "little to play with" emotionally, and criticized his relegation to "a functional, blandly heroic punching machine" despite his acting talent. The Wall Street Journal ' s Kyle Smith said that the film is "competently executed, without resorting to played-out gimmickry such as skipping across the multiverse", adding that it "gives the audience plenty of analogues for real-world problems". He also wrote that the MCU "draws on The Manchurian Candidate to produce one of its better recent movies", while Katie Walsh of the Los Angeles Times described the film as "a decent political thriller with something culturally resonant to say that exceeds mere comic-book particulars".
  
  Critics were polarized on the visuals. For the New York Post, Johnny Oleksinski felt the animation of the White House fight scene was "so cheap and cheesy" that it was unable to be taken seriously, and the reveal of the mutated Sterns caused a "hearty guffaw" because of the poor makeup and prosthetics. Kelley wrote that the CGI in the film was worse than The Incredible Hulk (2008), released nearly two decades earlier, and concluded it was unconvincing. Ebiri wrote that the "VFX-heavy sequences are so lifeless and tiresome that I felt my eyes drifting closed a couple of times". Daniels and Freeman both praised the VFX on Red Hulk, though Freeman felt the cherry blossoms were "a green screen mess". Yu wrote that the visuals were "garish" and "slapdash", while Bibbiani called the visuals "drab" and unfinished, criticizing Wilson's CGI wings as a " proof of concept that proves nothing"; they wrote that the film looked "so clean it looks completely fake". Scheck wrote the CGI was "underwhelming" and at other times even worse, but were amused from recognizing Ford's features in Red Hulk. Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three of four stars and called it a "far better work than recent missteps".
  
  Captain America: Brave New World received mixed reviews from critics, who were divided on the film's story, connections to other MCU projects, and visual effects. The overall reception was also described as unfavorable, negative, and mixed-to-negative. The performances, particularly those of Mackie and Ford, received praise. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 47% of 344 critics gave Brave New World a positive review. The critics consensus reads, "Anthony Mackie capably takes up Cap's mantle and shield, but Brave New World is too routine and overstuffed with uninteresting Easter eggs to feel like a worthy standalone adventure for this new Avengers leader." Metacritic summarized the critical response as "mixed or average", based on a weighted average score of 42 out of 100 from 56 critics. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B–" on an A+ to F scale, the lowest grade for an MCU film so far, and PostTrak reported a "mixed bag" average rating of three stars out of five.
  
  The political subject matter was a subject of critical commentary. Frank Scheck at The Hollywood Reporter remarked that the scene where Ross transformed into Red Hulk and caused havoc across Washington, D.C. seemed like a fantasy of real-world United States president Donald Trump; David Ehrlich of IndieWire agreed with parallels between Ross and Trump's " Make America Great Again " rhetoric, citing both being gruff old men elevated to office based on the promise of facilitating unity based on dealing with an "alien" threat. The Independent ' s Adam White said that while Ross / Red Hulk could be interpreted as a Trump pastiche, this was ultimately unlikely as the film refused to establish a political stance, with subplots regarding politics remaining underused. Rolling Stone ' s David Fear joked that Ross was "somehow still only the second-most destructive, rage-filled commander in chief to ever hold office", and Entertainment Weekly writer Maureen Lee Lenker joked that "the most unbelievable part is a U.S. president with empathy, a sense of responsibility for his actions, and a capacity for change". Brandon Yu of The New York Times wrote that "the only wisps of tangible political intrigue to be found" were either unintended, or from allusions to previous subject matter in Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Other commentary concerned the controversial Bat-Seraph character, with PJ Grisar at The Forward writing that the controversy about the character relating to Israel and Gaza did not matter because the film overall was "honestly such a dog's breakfast" in terms of politics and presentation, while /Film ' s Devin Meenan opined that the character's debut could not have been timed more poorly because of the divisiveness of public opinion inherent in the ongoing conflict.
  
  The characterization and narrative were criticized. Molly Freeman, writing for Screen Rant, claimed that the only purpose of Sam's suit switch from white to blue was to sell more toys, pointing this out as an example of the film featuring elements without "flare" nor concern for furthering its story or characters; Yu likewise wrote that it amounted to the genre of the "action-figure commercial". Vulture ' s Bilge Ebiri wrote that the film marked Marvel's turn into a "giant slop machine", opining that the film's bid to create sincerity came off as phony and that the jokes to cut this up were "lame", while Scheck agreed that humor was "in severely short supply" and that Mackie's "reliable" charisma was lacking. TheWrap ' s William Bibbiani wrote that the film was unoriginal and without emotional depth, even in the "few" moments where Wilson made an emotional connection to the film, as these moments only "rehashed" the plot of Falcon and the Winter Soldier "briefly" and without impact. It said that Brave New World ' s "steadfast refusal to engage with its own ideas, either by artistic design or corporate mandate, reeks of timidity". Writing for RogerEbert.com, Robert Daniels said Wilson was turned into the Magical Negro for the film, and that "in an effort to soothe white America's anger and hurt", the film "also asks its hero to grin and figuratively tap dance off screen".
  
  Collider ' s Aidan Kelley said the dialogue was among the worst present in the whole of the MCU, and criticized the boringness of Wilson, Sidewinder, and Bat-Seraph, though it praised Ford's empathy. They pointed out the non-cohesive nature of the film, mentioning the reshoots the film underwent as resulting in this. In agreement on the topic of Ford, Lee said Ford was the main attraction, lauding his gravitas and "twinkle in his eye and a merry warmth". White called the character development "an afterthought", feeling Mackie had "little to play with" emotionally, and criticized his relegation to "a functional, blandly heroic punching machine" despite his acting talent. The Wall Street Journal ' s Kyle Smith said that the film is "competently executed, without resorting to played-out gimmickry such as skipping across the multiverse", adding that it "gives the audience plenty of analogues for real-world problems". He also wrote that the MCU "draws on The Manchurian Candidate to produce one of its better recent movies", while Katie Walsh of the Los Angeles Times described the film as "a decent political thriller with something culturally resonant to say that exceeds mere comic-book particulars".
  
  Critics were polarized on the visuals. For the New York Post, Johnny Oleksinski felt the animation of the White House fight scene was "so cheap and cheesy" that it was unable to be taken seriously, and the reveal of the mutated Sterns caused a "hearty guffaw" because of the poor makeup and prosthetics. Kelley wrote that the CGI in the film was worse than The Incredible Hulk (2008), released nearly two decades earlier, and concluded it was unconvincing. Ebiri wrote that the "VFX-heavy sequences are so lifeless and tiresome that I felt my eyes drifting closed a couple of times". Daniels and Freeman both praised the VFX on Red Hulk, though Freeman felt the cherry blossoms were "a green screen mess". Yu wrote that the visuals were "garish" and "slapdash", while Bibbiani called the visuals "drab" and unfinished, criticizing Wilson's CGI wings as a " proof of concept that proves nothing"; they wrote that the film looked "so clean it looks completely fake". Scheck wrote the CGI was "underwhelming" and at other times even worse, but were amused from recognizing Ford's features in Red Hulk. Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three of four stars and called it a "far better work than recent missteps".