What I didn’t like about Cap 4

Holden Kodish Published: June 28, 2025 | Updated: June 28, 2025 3 min read

Hey, y’all! Quick rant about Captain America 4. I’d give you all an introduction, but this movie felt phoned in, so I feel like I can phone this review in too.
I do feel bad for Anthony Mackie (or as I call him, Clarence). With a better script, this really
would be a great movie to flex his acting muscles as Sam Wilson, the new Cap. However, it
suffers from the same writing issues as Falcon and Winter Soldier. There’s a lot of grandstanding in his dialogue, telling people to be better, that we need to be a better country,
yada yada yada. But it’s not directed at any specific issue. It’d be like me going “This Country Needs to Be Good!” And not expanding on it. His first fight scene in the church was great, but no fight scenes past that point really live up to that level of entertainment.
Weirdly enough, Joaquin Torres, played by Danny Ramirez, nailed it. I was expecting his
character to take a backseat to all the other major characters, but not only is he front and center, but he’s one of the more engaging characters to watch! He’s got good banter with Mackie, and does a good job showing why he deserves the new title of Falcon to Sam’s Captain America.
There’s also Issiah Bradley, played by Carl Lumbly, who, while not in the movie very often, really is the heart and emotional center of the film. Both of these actors deserve tremendous props, as well as Anthony Mackie.
Giancarlo Esposito’s Sidewinder sure was there. And that’s about all the impact he made in this film.Now, the two real problems. Gonna get this outta the way, yes, the Israeli Super-Soldier is in it.
Yes, she’s in it way too much. Yes, she’s terrible. Buuuut, not because she’s Israeli. Not gonna talk about the political and economic state of the world in this review (I’m no Jaden Smith, after all), but in terms of acting, Shira Haas is on par, if not somehow worse, than Gal Gadot in anything outside of the first Wonder Woman. She’s flat, annoying, and barely does anything.
Overall, they could have had her be replaced by Sharon Carter, and nobody would have been disappointed.
Finally, the Leader and Red Hulk. First off, they should not have changed the Leaders design. In what world is a big forehead less appealing that whatever broccoli brain thing he had going on in the actual movie. So gross, and not in a good way. As well, his writing was all over the place.
At one point, he even refers to himself as “The Hero [of the story]” despite never taking a single heroic (or even anti-heroic) action. Just pure villian, in the laziest way possible. This leads us to the other lazily written character. Gen. Thunderbolt Ross, AKA Red Hulk.

Now, I was very excited to see Red Hulk. I wanted to see what an actor like Harrison Ford could bring to the MCU. Answer? Not much. Just kinda a boring performance. He doesn’t feel like a political leader succumbing to paranoia, but instead, Harrison Ford was told “be angry” and he did that. Even the Red Hulk fight, short as it was, felt lacking in any emotional stakes.
Overall, not a fan of this one. But I am excited for Thunderbolts and Fantastic Four (And
Superman!!!!)
4.5/10: Here’s a picture of Bald Anthony Mackie!