Movie News Net Review: Captain Marvel

Captain Marvel
In a world where Marvel fans can barely contain themselves while they wait desperately for the next Avengers film, it takes some guts for Marvel to push out Captain Marvel barely two months before Endgame‘s release.

 

But here’s the kicker; Captain Marvel is the strongest of the bunch, beating even Thor and Vision in terms of superpower levels. On top of that, Captain Marvel is a woman, so it goes without saying that Marvel fans will flock to go see the studio’s first female superhero film in their droves.

 

Fortunately, Captain Marvel is a very good film. Brie Larson is on fine form here as she brings just the right amount of sass and playfulness to the role, while also making it perfectly clear that she’s a walking badass. Samuel L. Jackson makes for a hilarious sidekick as he plays a younger Nick Fury, and the de-aging technology used to make him look like a 90s Samuel L. Jackson is nothing short of incredible. Plus, the CGI done on Goose in certain scenes is particularly impressive (the cute feline nearly steals the show in the third act, proving that he deserves his own poster).

 

To be honest, the main cast as a whole tend to knock it out the park. Ben Mendelsohn has a surprisingly relatable turn as Talos, while Jude Law gives a typically charming performance as Carol Danvers’ mentor Yon-Rogg. While Law is not billed as the film’s villain, he’s a bit of a jerk and uses his role as mentor to constantly put Carol down, putting her in her place so that she won’t outdo him. I’m sure plenty of women watching this film will be all too familiar with his holier than thou comments, telling Carol to keep her emotions in check.

 

Captain Marvel

It’s a nice touch then that a key moment for the film comes when Carol learns that her emotions are in fact a strength, not something to be pushed down and ignored. It comes served with a fantastic scene that is sure to inspire countless young women across the world as they watch Carol finally turn her perceived shortcomings into her biggest strengths and produce a superhero display far more impressive than heroes like Iron Man or even Captain America have managed.

 

The writing for Carol Danvers’ character is generally well done. It’s a relief to watch a superhero origin story where there’s no love interest involved whatsoever. It’s fine when you have well-developed dynamics between two characters, like Tony Stark and Pepper Potts or Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter, but sometimes you can get forced love interests like the one in Doctor Strange, where Rachel McAdams gets nothing to do and is kind of just there while the hero runs around doing all the fun and interesting stuff. Carol must be the first female Marvel character not to get a love interest (though I guess we’ll see what happens come Captain Marvel 2) and it’s nice to see.

 

Captain Marvel doesn’t come without flaws, however. The film decides not to begin with Carol Danvers’ origins as an airforce pilot and drops us straight into her time with the Kree starforce. That means we get to see her pre-Kree life on Earth entirely via flashback. It’s a welcome twist on the decade-old Marvel origin formula, but it can become muddled at times, to the point where I found myself wishing Carol could regain her memories sooner rather than later, so that the film could just get on with the story already. Thankfully it does click into gear around the halfway point, and I suspect that the first act will be much more enjoyable on a second viewing.

 

While the dialogue is generally well written and the film offers plenty of laughs, I did find myself that the constant ‘Wasn’t 90s technology hilarious?” gags started to run out of steam after the fourth or fifth time. Perhaps viewers who grew up in the 00s will appreciate the gags, but there was only so many times I could laugh at how bad the internet was 20 years ago.

 

While the action scenes are generally impressive, I found some of the close quarter combat a bit lacking. A lot of the hand-to-hand stuff is up close and shots can cut off too quickly. I found myself failing to piece together what exactly was happening at times, which I don’t remember ever having to do in Infinity War, or even Marvel’s Netflix series like Daredevil or Iron Fist.

 

Nick Fury in Captain Marvel

This isn’t helped by the fact that a surprising amount of Captain Marvel‘s fight scenes are poorly lit. One takes place on dark and foggy planet, so much that I was having to squint to see what was going on in my 2D screening (I’d hate to think what it looks like in 3D), while much of the third act takes place in poorly lit corridors and hangars. It doesn’t ruin the film, but I couldn’t help but wonder why directors Boden and Fleck had decided that this was a good idea. It was clearly intentional decision on their part, but I can’t figure out why for the life of me.

 

Ultimately, these nitpicks don’t ruin what is a very entertaining and inspiring film. What Marvel have done here is create a better Superman movie than DC have ever managed, as Captain Marvel‘s warm and light tone is sure to work well in tandem with her incredible powers and badassery to inspire so many children across the world.

 

I can’t wait to see her take on Thanos.