The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) finally catching up and giving female superhero characters their own front and center movies is long overdue…. (Cannot wait for Black Widow, 2020).
Captain Marvel is essentially the precursor to Avengers Endgame, putting the last piece of the marvel cinematic universe puzzle together — I confess that I waited until most of the Avengers movies were available on streaming to catch up… (thanks Disney+).
I am not a massive expert on MCU or DC Extended Universe (DCEU), but I consider myself to be a fanboy of some of the individual characters like Captain America, Winter Soldier, and Thor. I have been reading this excellent comic series: Red Skull by Joshua Williamson and Hail Hydra by Rick Remender — I highly recommend them. The Captain America movie trilogy is fantastic, by the way —watch all three in one seating if you can.
I have some mixed feelings regarding Captain Marvel — there were a bunch of things I liked, and a few I did not: The Stan Lee appreciation opening logo was awesome. Everyone should stand and clap whenever this new logo hits the screen. Sam Jackson’s de-aging CGI was impressive. Jude Law is always fantastic in whatever he is in, and he is exceptional here again. Ben Mendelsohn, as Talos, is pure joy to watch. The twist with The Skrulls storyline was my favorite part, and the end credits easter eggs/spoilers are also pretty cool.
However, it was hard for me to connect with Captain Marvel as much as I connected with other marvel characters or even Wonder Woman. Trying to turn Captain Marvel into MCU’s version of Wonder Woman was not a success, which is what this movie attempted to accomplish — Simply put, she is not as charismatic as Wonder Woman. I saw a bunch of online criticism surrounding Brie Larson’s performance, but I cannot entirely agree; I think Brie Larson is an outstanding actress… the hell with it; she is an Academy Award-winning actor. So If you want to blame anything, blame the script.
We all know where Captain Marvel fits within the hierarchy of Superheroes. We all know she is the most powerful Avenger in the MCU, so we know the stakes are low as far as danger or vulnerability is concerned. Plus, we know where she and the rest of the superheroes will end up — which makes this movie just a simple origins story and, in a way, an introduction to Carol Danvers/Vers AKA Captain Marvel to a casual and more extensive audience. Even as an origin story, this movie rushes in and comes off as flat and unoriginal.
There was way too much military jargon and overplayed military terminology being used. Even the friendship between Rambeau and Danvers was not compelling enough for me. Annette Bening was terrific, but I felt like her Supreme Intelligence/Dr. Wendy Lawson’s character needed more screen time.
By far, Captain Marvel is the least impressive of all the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero movies; nonetheless, some interesting and compelling parts make this movie worth watching a couple of times.
Two out of Five Popcorn Bags 🍿🍿
Captain Marvel (2019).
Rod Rioja 