Film Review Double Feature: "Captain America: Brave New World" and "Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy"
These two films--a superhero movie and a rom-com--explore what it's like to move through a world that isn't quite what you thought it was.
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Warning: Full spoilers for the films follow.
This week’s double feature focuses on two films–Captain America: Brave New World and Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy–that, in their very different ways, address the thorny issue of moving on in the shadow of grief, loss, and an increasingly unsettled world.
Of all of the stories that take place within the MCU, I’ve always thought that those focused on Captain America were the most compelling and the most thought-provoking. In one way or another, these films have addressed some of the most pressing issues in American society, and to this day The Winter Soldier remains tied with Black Panther as my favorite, a testament to that the MCU can be when it opts to be brave instead of risk-averse. I really enjoyed The Falcon and the Winter Soldier because, once again, it was willing to use Sam’s journey to becoming the new Captain America to address the world that we all live in.
I was therefore very much looking forward to Captain America: Brave New World, which is the first major film to star the character since Anthony Mackie’s Sam took over from Steve Rogers. This film sees him reconnecting with Isaiah Bradley (an always-excellent Carl Lumbly), only for things to go awry when Bradely tries to assassinate newly-elected President Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford). Sam, along with the new Falcon, Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez) attempt to find out who is responsible, leading them to Tim Blake Nelson’s sinister Samuel Sterns, who has his own reasons for hating Ross. The world comes dangerously close to war but, thanks to Sam and Joaquin, all-out disaster is averted, though not before Ross’ alter-ego, Red Hulk, demolishes the White House and swathes of DC.
Don’t listen to the haters. The film is much better than they seem to want us to think, even if it never quite attains the heights of some of its predecessors.
Stylistically, Brave New World is very much a political thriller. Like Winter Soldier and Civil War, it’s all about hidden agendas and secrets, political leaders who hide their true motivations and investments, leaving the superheroes to navigate fraught territory that rarely comes into full view. I’ve loved what Anthony Mackie has been doing with the character since he took center stage in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and he’s in fine form here, too. He ably captures the complexities of a Black man asked to fill a role that has traditionally been associated with Whiteness and from whom information is constantly withheld. Ramirez is likewise a welcome addition to the fold, and I’m sure that I’m not the only one who picked up on a bit of erotic tension between the Falcon and Captain America (the slash practically writes itself). Their banter provides some of this dour and grim film’s few moments of levity. Shira Haas is serviceable though not really remarkable as Ruth Bat-Seraph, the security adviser.
Harrison Ford is, unsurprisingly, powerful to watch as Ross, a weary old lion who still wants to throw around his weight and that of the country he leads. There’s more than a little Trump to him, in ways both obvious and explicit. The fact that he turns into a giant red monster who destroys the White House is probably the most in-your-face of these parallels, though his stubbornness and his willingness to admit his past mistakes–as well as his love for his daughter–echoes the personality of President Biden.
As other reviews have noted, the film moves along at a nice, fast pace (it clocks in at under two hours, a modern miracle), and I for one was riveted. There are some nice action set pieces, with lots of the kinetic pleasures that one associates with the best MCU productions. Giancarlo Esposito also features prominently as the sinister and utterly ruthless Sidewinder, showing once again why he is almost always the go-to when you’re in need of someone who just exudes menace.
All of this isn’t to say that Brave New World doesn’t have its flaws, because it does, and there are times when these really pull the film down and threaten to undermine its coherence. Most of these problems revolve around its villain, Samuel Sterns, whose motives and backstory remain frustratingly opaque. I know that it’s not popular these days to want to overburden the viewer with exposition, but sometimes a little of that can go a long way. If you want your viewer to really buy into why the villain is doing what they’re doing and why we should care about them, then the least you can do is give the audience a bit of backstory.
Now, I know what you’re going to say. Some of these questions of motivation were explained by the events of The Incredible Hulk, but I think it’s a lot to ask audiences going into this film to know that film or the mythology that it establishes. This “homework problem” was always going to be an issue for the MCU writ large as each new installment required more and more knowledge of what preceded it, but given that the first Hulk film was released in–checks notes, 2008–I find it hard to believe that any but the die-hard fans would have either seen the film in the first place or seen it recently enough for these plots to make sense. It doesn’t help that most of Sterns’ actions are motivated more by what the plot needs him to do than any character-driven considerations.
Of course, there’s also the question of politics, and while I don’t think that every film needs to be read through the films of ideology, as I told a friend recently, the Captain America films seem to beg for these kinds of readings, and Brave New World is no exception. The film clearly wants to ask some pressing questions about the nature of Black excellence in the fraught world in which we live, just as it wants to address the nature of political corruption and international conflict in the age of mineral extraction. Unfortunately, the limits of the MCU and Disney in general mitigate its own purposes and, in the end, Brave New World proposes that Sam, as the new epitome of America, must go along to get along, even when he has no real reason to fight for a nation that continues to incarcerate and disbelieve Black men (as the whole Isaiah Bradley storyline makes clear). Still, I give the film a lot of credit for being willing to address these issues at all, even if its own limitations keep it from ever achieving true greatness.
By the time that Mad About the Boy Begins, Bridget has lost Colin Firth’s Mark Darcy, the love of her life, who has been killed in Africa, leaving her the mother of two young children. Though she clearly loves them, she finds herself yearning for something else in her life, and this leads her back to work and also into the arms of a handsome young man, Roxster (Leo Woodall). However, the age difference ultimately works against them, and so Bridget ends up in yet another courtship, this time with the science teacher Dr. Scott Wallaker (Chiwetel Ejiofor), which turns out to be the relationship she needed all along.
Zellweger gives her usual dynamite performance as Bridget, as she has from the very beginning. Her voice has lost none of its sweet whisper, and it’s always a delight to see the world through her very clumsy and strikingly self-aware point of view. Say what you will about Bridget Jones, but she’s no fool. Once she realizes that she’s missing something in her life, she makes a change. What’s more, Zellweger also digs deep, showing us Bridget at her best and at her worst, and I was particularly moved by those moments in which she has to grapple with the continuing specter of Mark’s death and what his passing means for their children, the younger of whom only barely remembers him.
It’s also a pleasure to see Hugh Grant, and he’s once again in fine form as the rakish but charming Daniel Cleaver. Though Bridget and Daniel have their own romantic history, they’ve now settled into a lovely friendship, and while he hasn’t given up his womanizing ways, it’s clear that he’s mellowed a bit in his old age. There’s even a sly little subplot focusing on his efforts to reconnect with his estranged son.
The rest of the supporting cast, both old and new, are uniformly excellent. Gemma Jones is her usual self as Bridget’s mum, and the trio of Shazzer (Sally Phillips), Jude (Shirley Henderson), and Tom (James Callis) all make welcome appearances. Emma Thompson is also delicious as Doctor Rawlings, the gynecologist who’s always ready to give Bridget a good (metaphorical) kick in the pants when she needs it.
Newcomers Woodall and Ejiofor are also perfectly cast. Roxster is the kind of role that Woodall was essentially born to play, at once one of the lads and yet with a sweetness to him that’s irresistible. And yet, for all that he strikes sparks with Bridget, the truth is that he really can’t get over the age difference and, when it comes down to it, neither can she. Her chemistry with Ejiofor’s Wallaker is a bit more of a slow burn–especially considering his rigidly scientific way of looking at the world–but for this reason it’s all the more satisfying. There’s also a softer side to him that Ejiofor is quite adept at capturing.
There’s more than a little melancholy in this film. The characters have aged, and they’ve had extraordinary lives. It’s clear that Bridge still mourns Mark’s passing, and at several early moments in the film his shade moves through the house. Indeed, Bridget carries quite a grief, since a flashback reveals that her father has also passed away. Maybe it’s because my own parents are growing older, but I found their last scene together remarkably moving. There’s also something just remarkably poignant about seeing Jim Broadbent making one last outing as Bridget’s somewhat addled but strangely wise and loving father, one of the few people in her life–other than, at times, Mark–who’s been willing to take her for who she is and love her on her own terms.
In the end, of course, Bridget manages to find love and joy again, with a man who, it is safe to say, has more than a little in common with her dearly departed Mark. I daresay that anyone familiar with either the rom-com formula or this franchise in general could have seen this coming from a mile away, but I still found myself swept away by the late-blooming romance between Wallaker and Bridget. Because we love Bridget so much and have seen her at her best and at her worst, it’s incredibly satisfying to see them celebrating New Year’s together with all of their loved ones, poised on the cusp of a bright and happy future together.
It seems safe to say that this is the end of the line for Bridget Jones and, loath as I am to say goodbye to any character that I truly love, I was quite satisfied with this ending. She might not have had her happy-ever-after with Mark Darcy for as long as she (and we) would have wanted, but there’s hope that the future is brighter. In these dark and uncertain times, a film like Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy is true balm for the soul.