Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers for “Captain America: Brave New World.” 

It’s a shame that grounded, realistic, hand-to-hand combat fight scenes are more entertaining than a red Hulk completely destroying the White House. With such a grand story on display, you’d think the excitement levels would be through the roof.

While there is much to enjoy in the 35th entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s unfortunate to report that “Captain America: Brave New World” doesn’t pack the action splendor of past Marvel projects. 

The fourth “Captain America” outing leads Sam Wilson / Captain America (Anthony Mackie) down at least three avenues of conflict. For one, there’s a web of mercenaries led by Sidewinder (Giancarlo Esposito) stealing international property supposedly with America’s compliance. Cap, along with the new Falcon Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez), also begin to track down a conspiracy against the MCU-timeline’s president of the United States, putting them at odds with a dangerous mastermind. 

Most dangerous of all, perhaps, is the fact that that very president, Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (Harrison Ford), has a bit of pent-up aggression that may prove just as devastating as any criminal conspiracy or mercenary threat. 

The action in “Brave New World” is largely either extremely exciting or visually unimpressive. The film’s most exciting action moments are grounded, choreographed hand-to-hand combat scenes. In an opening sequence, Cap and Falcon attack Sidewinder’s forces in Oaxaca, Mexico. Watching Mackie and co.’s fight choreography is extremely entertaining; the same can be said for a later fight scene in a hallway, where we watch an assortment of government soldiers lose to both Cap and Falcon and Ruth Bat-Seraph (Shira Haas), one of Ross’ officials. 

In line with that more positive attribute, this Marvel film also excels at getting us to love these characters. There’s true joy to be found in the camaraderie between Cap, Falcon and Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly), returning from his last MCU appearance in Disney+’s “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.” There’s so much joy, in fact, that when Bradley is arrested for a brainwashed assassination attempt on Ross, it’s genuinely heartbreaking. 

Much of Ross’ motivations revolve around truly wanting to change as a person, to move on from his actions that have affected many characters in this universe on and off-screen. He often talks of his daughter Betty (Liv Tyler) and his desire to reconnect with her. At least two scenes with Ross where he explains that desire are truly moving, making you empathize with that goal. Sidewinder is just as interesting a character, truly evoking fear because of his sheer violent tactics alone. He comes across as so ruthless that I was actually scared for Cap — an impressive feat, considering you probably know that he will be just fine by the end of his own movie.

On the negative side, though, the most elaborate action setpieces of “Brave New World” feel a little lackluster visually. Backgrounds, character models and visual designs just look too fake to get behind. Nitpicks they may be, but I made mental notes of computer-generated imagery (CGI) characters that didn’t look to scale and actors that looked like they were performing in front of green screens. They don’t necessarily make the film not entertaining, but they absolutely stand out. 

This lackluster extends to character, too. While some of the film’s most emotional moments attach themselves to Ross, moments in which the character hints at anger, or acts like a blatant antagonist, conversely came across as hard to get behind. 

Immediately turning on Sam after the assassination attempt, after inviting Sam to the White House to propose working together, seemed like too quick a 180, like a beat contrived purely because the script needed it to. White House officials pushing and shoving him and yelling so much that he turns into a red Hulk? That’s what makes him so angry? These moments made me feel a little disappointed in the story or, at least, raised my eyebrows. 

Despite these problems, at the end of the day, I’d recommend “Captain America: Brave New World” to any casual or even die-hard Marvel fan; I can’t confidently say that it’s a “bad” film. It has touching characters and cool fight scenes — I just wish its visuals were a little more brave.