Captain Marvel | Review
It’s only taken 11 years and 21 films to get to this point, but Marvel Studios is finally featuring a female superhero as its main attraction. Better late than never, I guess!
Like last year’s ‘Black Panther’, ‘Captain Marvel’ is a momentous occasion for diverse representation in media. The downside to all this attention is the attack from trolls: in the same way the toxic fandom attacked ‘Black Panther’, ‘Wonder Woman’, ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’, and ‘Ghostbusters’ for daring to subvert the heavily white and male-dominated media landscape, the trolls have been ambushing ‘Captain Marvel’ with negative reviews and attacks on its feminist message, all before the film has even been released. Many of these “fans” are expecting the film to underwhelm and not live up to the hype, therefore proving their belief that being a female superhero doesn’t mean you’re better. It should be noted that these trolls represent the worst of fandom. They’re the incel, meninist, mostly white and male types who keep toxic masculinity alive. Their opinions should not, and do not, matter.
Unfortunately, that is the downside to a film that tries to interrupt the diversity drought in cinema. Marvel’s first female superhero film doesn’t just have to be good, it has to be better than good, or else it’ll be deemed a failure. It’s an unfair responsibility to have, and it’s a sentiment I disagree with. Films like ‘Captain Marvel’, ‘Black Panther’, and ‘Wonder Woman’ should be able to fail without attributing these failures to their womanhood or Black-ness. True equality would allow these films to suck while not having to prove any narratives that films featuring faces like theirs won’t work. After all, how many male-driven superhero films have we seen that are subpar or absolute garbage? Too many to count. Yet we still make them. ‘Captain Marvel’ may not be one of Marvel Studios’ best films, but that’s okay. And I’m happy to inform you that it’s still a success!
At the end of ‘Avengers: Infinity War’, Nick Fury sent out a signal to the one and only Captain Marvel before he was dusted away by Thanos. Since then, fans have been left theorizing how Captain Marvel, arguable the most powerful being in the universe, will play into the grand scheme of things. More importantly, where has she been all this time?
Set in the 1990s, ‘Captain Marvel’ eschews the typical MCU origin framework by introducing the title character already in control of her powers. When we first meet Captain Marvel, she’s introduced as “Vers” (Brie Larson), a Starforce member living among the Kree society. She’s tough but brash, and doesn’t like to follow orders. She also suffers from memory loss from six years earlier and frequently dreams of what feels like memories. After a mission gone wrong, Vers crash lands on Earth, which jumpstarts her journey to regaining her memories. That’s all I’ll say about the plot for now in order to avoid spoilers.
‘Captain Marvel’ feels a lot like a Phase One MCU film, so take that how you will. After a string of mostly bold superhero films (‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’, ‘Thor: Ragnarok’, ‘Black Panther’), ‘Captain Marvel’ feels more safe and less inventive. Its style, tone, and look fits right in with the studio’s earlier hits (‘Iron Man’, ‘Thor’, ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’). It’s not necessarily a knock against ‘Captain Marvel’ because those installments were fairly decent films that established the landscape and helped the studio propel into more ambitious films later on. But fans expecting the film to be a culturally groundbreaking feature in the same vein as ‘Black Panther’ will be sorely disappointed.
This film is meant to lead into the studio’s next film ‘Avengers: Endgame’, as Captain Marvel is expected to play a major role in Thanos’s post-snap world. ‘Captain Marvel’ largely avoids the pitfalls of early MCU films like ‘Iron Man 2’ and, to a lesser extent, ‘Thor’ because it doesn’t shoe-horn any connective tissues that feel like they’re solely meant to set up the next Marvel film. There are certain details that do connect to other films and the larger universe, but the film takes the ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’ route by focusing mostly on its own story. These connective tissues support, rather than distract from, the plot.
Another fault ‘Captain Marvel’ thankfully didn’t inherit from the early MCU films is the terrible villain trend. Ben Mendelsohn portrays Talos, leader of the shapeshifting alien race called the Skrulls, who are part of a centuries-long war against the Kree. As the film’s antagonist, Talos was given surprising depth - and he’s funny too! Once his intentions are revealed you sympathize with him and his cause. I’m happy Marvel Studios has been providing us with so many antagonists lately who aren’t just given the cliched world-dominating ambitions (Ghost from ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’, Thanos from ‘Avengers: Infinity War’, Killmonger from ‘Black Panther’, Vulture from ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’).
‘Captain Marvel’ also doesn’t feature a love interest! Thank the lord. Instead, we get Lashana Lynch as Maria Rambeau, who was best friends with Vers in the time before her memory loss (back when Vers was known as Carol Danvers). The chemistry between Larson and Rambeau is strong and you can really get the sense they’ve been friends for a long time. The relationship between the two is the emotional core of the film, and I only wished we got to see more of it. In addition, Samuel L. Jackson returns in his role as Nick Fury as a major supporting player. His scenes with Larson help make the film feel like a buddy comedy, and the chemistry between the two actors is also strong. Considering Larson and Jackson have worked together in a couple films before, this should not come as a surprise.
I’m a fan Brie Larson. She played a minor role in my favorite show ‘Community’, was memorable in other favs like ‘Scott Pilgrim vs. The World’ and ‘21 Jump Street’, and won a much-deserved Academy Award for her performance in ‘Room’. She’s a great actress and perfectly casted as ‘Captain Marvel’. With that being said, I was disappointed with her performance in the film. Her character is supposedly funny in the comics, but her jokes throughout the film fell flat. In fact, most of the jokes I laughed at involved almost every other major character besides Larson’s. And it wasn’t just the jokes that didn’t work for me, it was Larson’s overall wooden performance. When the trailers were first released I was surprised to find myself cringing at Larson’s line deliveries. I figured maybe they’d be better with context but, unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. I don’t necessarily blame Larson for this effect, more so the directing, because her acting capabilities have already been proven before.
Despite having strong supporting characters, I can’t say the same about its story. Directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck have written and directed previous critical darlings like ‘Half Nelson’ and ‘Mississippi Grind’, but their work here feels bland. Combined with the boring cinematography (again, resembling Phase One MCU films), the film itself lacks personality. The same applies to the Captain Marvel character herself, who largely lacks personality due to the constraints of the story. Vers losing her memory means both she and we have no idea who she is. She mostly relies on other people telling her who she is, therefore we never really get invested in the character herself, despite loving the idea of her. Hopefully sequels will allow Captain Marvel to be more fleshed out.
A better movie would have spent more time in the first act showcasing Vers’s life in the Kree society. We got to fall in love with Asgard in ‘Thor’, Wakanda in ‘Black Panther’, and the various planets in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’, yet here the new world introduced seems like an afterthought. Allowing us to view Vers’s Kree life would’ve allowed us to spend more time with her fellow Starforce members - Yon-Rogg (Jude Law), Korath (Djimon Hounsou), Minn-Erva (Gemma Chan), Att-Lass (Algenis Perez Soto), and Bron-Char (Rune Temte). These are the people she supposedly spent the last six years with, so it would’ve been nice to see their team dynamic as well as individual relationships with her, particularly Yon-Rogg and Minn-Erva. Law’s character is the team leader and Vers’s mentor so it makes sense more attention is given to their relationship, though more time could’ve been devoted to it. There’s a point late in the film where Minn-Erva and Vers confront their strained relationship, but the film never cared to even show this before the idea is quickly tossed away.
Despite all of these narrative flaws, ‘Captain Marvel’ mostly soars thanks to its talented cast, memorable supporting characters, strong antagonist, and fun plot. I’m sure others may disagree and feel like the strengths I’ve mentioned aren’t enough to outweigh the film’s shortcomings, which is fair, but I personally really enjoyed the film and left excited to see more of the character. The film may not be as big of a step forward as we wanted it to be, but it’s a step forward for the studio nonetheless. Having a hero like Captain Marvel opens doors to an expanded universe, more ideas, and no matter what, the character is an empowering figure for female superhero fans who’ve been largely shut out of this superhero cinematic renaissance.
Three and a half out of four Kents.
Extra thoughts:
By the end of the film, Captain Marvel grasps her full powers and it’s pretty awesome seeing her in action. However, she feels over-powered, which can cause issues in the story department because an unstoppable superhero doesn’t exactly translate into an interesting character. I look forward to seeing how the filmmakers make her vulnerable and able to face conflict in future films. ‘Avengers: Endgame’ comes out next month and we’ll get to see our first answer to this.
The de-aging technology used on Samuel L. Jackson and Clark Gregg is excellent. It’s so much better than what we’ve previously seen on Robert Downey, Jr. in ‘Captain America: Civil War’ and Kurt Russell in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’.
I jokingly said prior to the film’s release that Talos’s makeup and prosthetics looked like Piccolo from ‘Dragonball: Evolution’. But seeing the character on screen and in action was really convincing. He looked really good!
I was worried the film would rely too much on its 90s references and nostalgia but thankfully that wasn’t the case. It felt like the right balance here. All of the references were fun to witness.
‘Captain Marvel’ doesn’t fare well when compared to the more recent Marvel Studios output, but it’s certainly one of the better origin films in the MCU. I remember watching ‘Doctor Strange’, the first new character introduced in Phase Three, and feeling so bored by it. The film had flashy and cool special effects work, but story-wise I felt like I was watching a film designed by an MCU-based A.I. When it comes to origin films, I can divide the MCU films into two camps: Top Tier installments (‘Iron Man’, ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’, ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’, ‘Black Panther’) and Low Tier ones (‘The Incredible Hulk’, ‘Thor’, ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’, ‘Ant-Man’, ‘Doctor Strange’). I feel confident in placing ‘Captain Marvel’ near the lower end of the Top Tier bracket.
