Is Captain America Brave New World a good airplane movie?
Picking the right movie for an airplane ride is a high-stakes decision—one wrong choice, and you’re either awkwardly-sobbing next to a stranger or awkwardly shielding your screen from a totally unnecessary nude scene at full brightness praying nobody sees you.
- Tried to keep this spoiler free but still read at your own risk -
I’ll have to write a full blog diving into the science behind a good airplane movie but for the purpose of this column, I’ll lay out some of the basics at a top level.
First rule: No devastating emotional rollercoasters. This is not the time for Marley & Me, The Green Mile, or anything where a beloved character meets a tragic fate while soft piano music plays. Speaking from personal experience, I watched The Green Mile and it was brutal. I’ve heard it’s considered a great movie but my experience was skewed! Do you really want to be the person dabbing at your face with a crumpled napkin that contains some dried coffee on it while the guy next to you aggressively pretends not to notice? Didn’t think so.
Second, avoid thrillers. Sure, thrillers are a great genre in a theater or the comfort of your own home but anxiously sitting on the edge of you seat while you’re 30,000 feet in a metal tube is rough. I thought re-watching Uncut Gems on a flight would be fun. It was not.
Thirds, careful with the comedies. We all love a good comedy, but there’s something truly unsettling about someone silently convulsing with laughter in a dimly lit cabin while everyone else is trying to sleep. You will look unhinged. And when your seatmate wakes up to you aggressively trying to suppress laughter during Grown Ups 2, they will judge you.
Forth, keep your expectations in check. You are watching this movie on a tiny, questionably maintained screen with washed-out colors, terrible sound, and possibly a sticky spot where the last passenger drooled. This is not the place to finally watch that cinematic masterpiece you’ve been saving for the perfect moment. Anything visually stunning, meticulously shot, or dependent on an immersive experience (Dune, anything by Christopher Nolan) will be absolutely butchered by the low-res screen and that $2 airline-issued headset. Choose something fun, light, and not ruined by subpar quality.
Now to the ultimate question.
Is Captain America Brave New World a good airplane movie?
Enough action to keep you engaged, but not so much that it feels like a sensory overload on a tiny, glitchy screen. It’s got a solid underlying plot—structured enough to hold your attention but simple enough that you won’t give yourself a migraine trying to keep up. No one wants to be mentally assembling a conspiracy board mid-flight just to understand what’s happening.
The humor? It’s there, but in moderation. A few well-placed one-liners to keep things light, but nothing that will have you shaking with suppressed laughter while your seatmate tries to sleep.
And as for the emotions—sure, there are a fewwww moments, but nothing that will leave you with glassy, red-rimmed eyes as the flight attendant hands you a napkin.
It’s filled with actors you’ll recognize - Harrison Ford, Anthony Mackie, Giancarlo Esposito and few other familiar faces that provides some comfort for your mid-flight viewing experience.
Clocking in at a tight two hours, this movie flows smoothly—engaging enough that even when the pilot interrupts with an announcement about turbulence over Nebraska, you’re still locked in. You won’t need to keep rewinding because you missed a crucial detail, nor will you feel like you wasted your time when the credits roll. It’s the kind of film that leaves you feeling entertained but not emotionally or intellectually drained—exactly what you need when you’re trapped in a metal tube hurtling through the sky with a bunch of strangers.
Is Captain America Brave New World a good airplane movie? Yes!
The kicker in all of this is it’s not yet on the Big Small Screen. But when the day comes and you skipped the theater, hit play on the seat-back and enjoy the ride.