3 stars
Preceding the release of the highly anticipated Avengers: Endgame, Captain Marvel, the twenty-first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), hits cinemas this weekend.
Set in 1995, Captain Marvel follows Carol Danvers, a former U.S. Air Force fighter pilot and current member of Starforce, an elite Kree military team. In the film, she returns home with questions about her past and identity right as Earth is caught in the center of a galactic conflict between two alien worlds.
Directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck collaborated to construct, without a doubt, the most misguided Marvel origin films to date.
Despite a rough first half, full of poor world-building and expository dialogue, the film, thankfully, manages to find itself in the second half, when it turns into a fun space adventure. In an attempt to separate itself from the oversaturated market of superhero flicks, Captain Marvel has plenty of twists and turns to keep you entertained, and it strays away (just a tad) from the traditional superhero movie formula. My biggest complaint about the film is it lacks the much-needed emotion to engage you with the title character.
Academy Award-winner Brie Larson (Room) takes on the title heroine with the right amount of charm and determination. She is fearless, but never to the point of unrealism. Considering Carol Danvers has no recollection of her past, I wish the filmmakers took time to let the audience empathize with the character more. She never feels any sorrow when looking through photographs and documents of her forgotten past. As an audience member, we only get access to short bursts of life. When Danvers inevitability leaps into Avengers: Endgame this summer, they wonâ(TM)t have time for any further development, so they missed their only opportunity to do it now.
In a supporting role, Samuel L. Jackson plays an eyepatch-less Nick Fury. Per usual, Jacksonâ(TM)s natural charisma shines through. De-aging VFX are applied to Jackson to make the character appear about 24-years younger, and the results are absolutely astonishing. We do get to find out how Fury lost his eye towards the end, in one of the most pathetic ways possible; I really wish they would have left that a secret or shown it in a subsequent film.
When the two leading stars work together, their chemistry explodes onscreen. They work so naturally off of each other, and it never feels forced or like they are reading from a script. We get plenty of moments between Danvers and Fury, and I hope they build their relationship some more in a sequel.
Ben Mendelsohn (Ready Player One) portrays the shapeshifting leader of the Skrulls, referred to as Talos. As weâ(TM)ve seen from Mendelsohnâ(TM)s countless villainous roles in the past, heâ(TM)s extremely good at what he does. Though, in this film, he does something we havenâ(TM)t quite seen from him before, and I thought it was absolutely genius what they did with his character.
My favorite action sequence in the entire movie takes place towards the middle. I donâ(TM)t want to give away any specifics, but seeing Larson, Jackson, and Mendelsohn in combat together was super fun! Itâ(TM)s unfortunate this visceral excitement didnâ(TM)t translate over to the final act battle, which was poorly shot and inadequately edited; I really expect more from Marvel after last summerâ(TM)s Avengers: Infinity War.
Marvel Studiosâ(TM) producer, Kevin Feige, finally decided to put one of their female superheroes in her own film, on the big screen. Larson absolutely kills it in the perfectly-cast role, and sheâ(TM)s more than capable of delivering a solid performance; itâ(TM)s just a damn shame they never gave us a chance to connect with her character, and thatâ(TM)s what really matters.
For all of its shortcomings, the film is very charming at times. Technically speaking, this is my least favorite Marvel origin film, but to be fair, thatâ(TM)s a pretty high standard. Regardless of my criticisms, I didnâ(TM)t hate Captain Marvel; I just wanted it to be better, and thereâ(TM)s still fun to be had.
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Good one 
