Recently voted into office, former General 'Thunderbolt' Ross, now President Thaddeus Ross, (Harrison Ford) has set up a summit in The White House hosting world leaders to discuss a treaty on sharing the new element and has cordially invited Wilson, Torres and his old friend and mentor, former super soldier, Isaiah Bradley, (Carl Lumley). During the President's presentation, Isaiah and a handful of other random military men in the room suddenly go berserk and only by the quick intervention of Wilson, Torres and the Secret Service, does an international incident and the possible assassination of multiple World premiers not take place. Isaiah makes a run for it!
In the aftermath, Bradley and all the would-be assassins are taken into custody but after some detailed investigations into the video footage of the arrival of guests and the summit, it's discovered that all the potential assassins had been manipulated by flashing lights on their mobile phones. Upon this revelation, Wilson is determined to clear his friend's name but is initially hampered by Ross who post-summit is visibly shaken and partially blames Cap for bringing Bradley to the Summit as a guest. Also, we find out that the President has been secretly unwell for some time and is regularly taking a small white pill.
Later he tries to make amends with the Japanese premier who contests ownership of the Adamantium but he is not convinced. The discord ultimately leads to both nations sending a Carrier group to the contested part of the Indian Ocean and with two airborne US Air force F-18 pilots falling under the influence of the returning mind control, the danger of all out war may be imminent.
Now, I'm a pretty big fan of MCU films, as I was of the comics in the 1970's & 80's, have all the releases involving the Captain America & Falcon characters, (of which Anthony Mackie formally played) and know that there's a lot of Marvel Lore leading up to this particular storyline. There's one character in particular, Samuel Sterns, who reprises his role after a nearly twenty year gap by Tim Blake Nelson as the villain behind the mind manipulations and also the architect of another revelation involving Thaddeus Ross that should really have been an on screen surprise but is all over the trailers and posters.
I personally found this latest offering a bit tame in comparison to those MCU releases of the pre-pandemic era. I understand that this is an early chapter in the building of the latest phase of their multi film story arc, but having less than a handful of main protagonists left me wanting for more. The fighting action scenes are solid and not too relentless. Due to our main superheroes being of the flying variety, the mid-film arial acrobatics are pretty spectacular and on a par with the likes of Top Gun.
It has a surprisingly short runtime of 120 minutes by MCU standards, including nearly fifteen minutes of scrolling credits and a short post-credit scene. Overall I was fairly satisfied and feel Mackie is definitely making the iconic role his own. Together with Ramirez, I feel that they'll both be worthy of continuing the Avengers mantle in future MCU films.
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