In a
distant galaxy far away, we follow an intergalactic peace keeping force known
as the Starforce, and headed up by team leader/Commander Yon-Rogg (Jude Law)
with Vers (Brie Larson) being his newest member and prodigy along with Korath
as second in command (Djimon Hounsou), Minn-Erva as Team Sniper (Gemma Chan), Att-Lass
as Point-Man (Algenis Pérez Soto), and Bron Char, the strongman of the team (Rune
Temte). They are tasked by Supreme Intelligence
(Annette Bening) to track down a shapeshifting alien race known as the Skrulls
with the small band of terrorists led by Talos (Ben Mendelsen) causing havoc
around the galaxy. The two groups get
into a battle that causes the Skrulls to seek refuge in Sector EC-37 also known
as Earth, with Vers separated from her team to crash land on Earth alone. She discovers that not only is she in her
planet of origins, but that it is the year 1995 on Earth.
As she
reorients to her new surroundings, she becomes overwhelmed by the memories that
are coming back to the surface of her life on Earth as the hot shot pilot Carol
Danvers, who flew with her best friend, wingman Maria Rambeau (Lashana Lynch)
known as ‘Photon’ with hints that she has been brainwashed and her memories
were suppressed to be more susceptible to the training for the Starforce and
Kree culture. While she is learning of
her past, she encounters a younger, idealistic Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) as
a S.H.I.E.L.D. liaison agent, along with Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) as a
rookie field agent in her adventure to find her true identity and reason for
having these powers. It becomes a
mystery adventure through Earth as Vers discovers and becomes Carol Danvers as
well as a superhero that could very well be the key to keeping the galactic war
of the Kree and Skrull at bay from ravaging Earth.
First off,
this is an origin story with a mix of sci-fi thriller and mystery driven
adventure, making for a reliably fun and intriguing introduction to the
character and her cast/setting. With
that stated, it does start off a bit slow and sluggish with the introduction of
the Starforce and a ton of side characters on the cosmic side of the series
that either serve a perfunctory role or pay lip service to their connection in
other Marvel films. Carol Danvers story
is of discovery with identity and self as the overall themes/conflict for her
to overcome. It is that universal
conflict in the story that shines the strongest thankfully, in spite of how
easy this could have been diluted or pandered to certain agendas, other than
the few spots where it does happen for a badly done joke or reinforcing her
character arc. When she is given the
chance to shine on her own as a character and interact with Fury, she comes
across relatively well if a bit sarcastic and overly confident at times that
makes it difficult to be drawn to the character or build interest to see more
of her adventures in future installments with team ups and solo outings. At its core, the story works in establishing
a new hero into the MCU series as a whole and establishes some interesting new
changes to the established storylines that provides interesting wrinkles to the
world building of the series.
The most
interesting and strongest elements revolve around the supporting cast on Earth,
even though it starts cosmically at the Kree Homeworld Hala and a rescue
mission being very meh and uninteresting for the first act. The interaction and seeing a younger Fury
does a great job providing some humanity to the character and gives a different
side to the character we have not seen at all throughout his tenure as
S.H.I.E.L.D and Rogue Agent. We also get
some great, emotional anchoring moments with Danvers best friend Maria Rambeau played
by Lashana Lynch, providing much of the emotional arc for Danvers. The story picks up as soon as Danvers lands
on Earth and it keeps the story flowing naturally and never truly feels
sluggish for its runtime in a positive way, despite some odd editing and
ultimately an anticlimax of a finale.
There are times when the flashbacks with Danver’s past as well as her
journey to learn and reclaim her true identity is cleverly done and really resonates
the strongest to make her an interesting character to develop in future
installments. There is also a twist that
changes the very foundation of an established species and that was refreshing
to see, even though the real villains are kind of generic and ultimately cookie
cutter zealots for the hero to punch hard in the face. However, there are problematic issues with
the story in regards to consistency and its structure of story/character arcs.
The term
inconsistencies describes this film perfectly, as it shifts from a space-faring
adventure to a road trip mystery adventure from the first act to the next,
making for some odd shifts in humor and drama at times. Danvers is really inconsistent as a character
too, one minute she is very sassy or snarky, the next all stoic and strong with
very little nuance in those character changes, which could be attributed to the
numerous rewrites and lack of focus in direction to shape her character or
provide Larsen enough material to make the character her own. She plays well off of the supporting cast but
has not established her mark on the character unlike the other actors but has
the potential to do so. It also has
humor that either works or lands flatly and painfully, as well as retconning
key plot elements from other Marvel films to give this one importance when all
it does is just provide an unnecessary answer to a question that might not have
needed a jokey response to it (as unexpected and funny it was personally), as
well as a very awkward plug-in that could ruffle some hardcore fans of the
cinematic/comic series. Despite all
these problems, the story succeeds where it counts in establishing the lead
hero that can grow into a more interested and developed lead, a great supporting cast to play off of, and ultimately
provides a good starting point for more creatively driven entries for Danvers
to be in, with a different talented and focused direction/writing team behind it hopefully.
Let’s get
into the cast, starting with the lead herself, Carol Danvers played by Brie
Larsen. She is both charming and a bit
of a blank slate at the same time, which is an interesting way to kick off the
critique on her character. The positive
is that Larsen does the best with what she has to work off of, to make the
character likable enough to at least see character change and growth for later
stories. Which is a shame that we learn
about her character and life during flashbacks in intervals, providing a
different spin on the origin story structure but it does muddle the story a bit
for her character at times. Ultimately,
Larsen does seem to really be game for the role but needed a more cohesive
story with a better written script that plays to her strengths as an actress to
really make Danvers just as enjoyable and iconic as the other notable heroes
established in this series. For what we
got as a result, was a lead performance that was suitably good but does not
quite feel properly crafted and comfortable with the character just yet but has
the potential in the next film to be given the time needed to make the
character feel properly established in the MCU.
For most of
the film, Samuel L. Jackson tags along as a younger, open minded S.H.I.E.L.D.
liaison agent Nick Fury and he provides not just a grounded, familiar presence
to the story but also showcasing a different side to the character that is
refreshing to see of this character. It
must be mentioned in conjunction to this performance, that the CGI de-aging is
frighteningly well used and makes him look appropriately aged for the
setting. He also provides some levity
and good-natured humor to the story in the right spots and yet still be a well
thought out and integrated side character for this adventure. There is an answer to one of his visual
characteristics that might split audiences regarding its execution and joke
that personally works in the moment but might be seen as relatively lame and
disservice to the core traits of the character in general. Despite being a bit of a second fiddle in the
second half of the film for Danver’s actual friend and partner in her story
universe, he provides some sense of familiarity and enjoyment to be had
throughout the film in delightfully fun ways.
We also
have the supposed villain, Talos played by Ben Mendelsen that provides much of
the goofy, sci-fi elements of the film.
Pretty much playing his usual villainy role to over the top, hammy
Australian ways, he definitely provides a bit of fun to the role as always and
even uses his natural accent for the character.
The twist revolves around this character and his species, which does
diminish his presences a bit as a serious character but it provides the
humanity of the conflict that the heroes are fighting for. He also serves as a memorable introduction to
the shape-shifting aliens and the prospect of a larger role for this alien
species is left open and could change if a certain event story arc is made into
a reality. Anyway, a fun “villain” for
the first half of the film that was always a pleasure to watch whenever he was
in a scene.
The other
standout of the cast happens to be Maria Rambeau played by Lashana Lynch, who
unexpectedly provides the emotional anchor for Carol Danvers later in the
film. She makes the later character
defining monologues have weight to them and truly provides the most compelling dramatic performance of the cast. The
two monologues given to her upon reflecting on the past and inspiring Carol
Danvers to reclaim who she is and allow that identity to define her actions as
a hero really provides the beating heart and soul of Danver’s journey (despite
the writing/direction from the filmmakers not quite conveying this through Larsen’s performance strongly enough). Despite only really serving the story near
the second half to finale of the film, she makes for a remarkable supporting
character for Larsen to play off of in the later parts of the film.
The rest
of the supporting cast all fit within the context of the story to provide some
scene stealing moments or just fit right into the path they end up for this
kind of story. There is also the
Starforce team that all serve a pivotal role in the story later, but are
essentially Danver’s squad with Yon-Rogg leading them. They are perfectly fine in the roles and
ultimately only serve to be a formidable force later and they fit right into
forgettable characters played by notable actors in the roles. As for Supreme Intelligence played by Annette Bening, she was decent in the role as a sage for Marvel to develop from and is tied to the major change to the actual comic lore for the story told here in cinematic form. However, the scene stealer of the supporting
cast is the cat named Goose, who provides the most unexpected and darkly
humorous moments of the film as well as a cutely comical joke backstory for a
certain iconic look. There is also the
surprise return of Clark Gregg in the iconic character Agent Coulson once more
but only for a small bit and is unfortunately underutilized along with Sam
Jackson at times (despite Jackson still factoring in the story as a reason for
Danvers to return to Earth and motivation to fight in the upcoming Avengers: Endgame). Monica Rambeau played by Akira Akbar was a
decent and likable character for the young kids to enjoy seeing and she has a
few cute, endearing moments with Danvers that works rather well to establish
the character change she goes through by the end of the story. Despite the script and direction letting down
the lead character a bit, the supporting characters truly provide the
foundation for that character to grow naturally into the MCU as a whole as well
as providing some great dramatic and humorous moments.
Now on the
technical side, the film is proficiently made in many departments as it has
been in numerous Marvel films, starting with the cinematography and art
direction for the film. It was shot by Ben
Davis (Marvel Alumni for 3-4 other films in the series) and the film is
relatively filled with enough bright, natural colors and worldly tones to look
relatively fine, if a bit bland and uninspired in its composition at
times. The consistent positive and flaw
of this aspect of filmmaking comes from having to keep a consistent look for
the series to maintain with each film, despite one or two that slip through and
define their own style (Guardians of The
Galaxy is still a good example of this).
That being stated, everything looks appropriately cosmic and grounded in
the designs of the worlds and settings for the time period, even if it does the
visual and audio nostalgia of the 90’s in both cute yet awkward times
throughout the film. So, in that regard,
the film is shot relatively well and fits with the visual style of the series,
despite not really standing out from the more inspired and creatively
remarkable entries in the MCU.
Captain Marvel - Main Theme By Pinar Toprak (To Listen To A Sample Of The Music)
With the
dawn of new female voices in media rising to the occasion in acting, writing,
and directing, this one proves to be more than capable of delivering on a fun
if formulaic adventure that does suffer tremendous from a mismatch of narrative tones and
character writing for the lead hero specifically. Marvel’s
Captain Marvel is held together by the strong second half of the film that
better establishes Danvers’ as a hero and delivers the inspired visual
spectacle we have come to expect from these films, outside of a one-sided,
anticlimactic finale with a fantastic supporting cast, and a wonderful sound
design to boot. This means, it falls
right into the average entries in the series that serves yet another origin
story with a slightly different approach via fragmented flashbacks and focused
on a female driven character, even if Carol Danvers proved to be the least
interesting character in the whole film ironic enough. Now the hope lies with the talented legacy
writers of the series and directors of the next entry to really solidify and
make her character better defined than what we got from her own film.
Score: ***
out of *****
Marvel’s Captain Marvel is a reliably fun but generic
origin story for a new hero that could play a major role in the upcoming entry
with a fantastic supporting cast, well-crafted sound design, and visually
awe-inspiring action beats in the second half that make it worth a view on the
big screen. However, the whiplash in
character attitude and development with Carol Danvers in this story makes it
hard for viewers to click with throughout the entire film unfortunately and feels like the fault of an unfocused
direction and script to nail down her character properly. It is a shame the rest of the cast
outperforms her tremendously, especially Samuel L. Jackson, Lashana Lynch, and
even a cat in humor and great character moments that add to them personally
instead of detracting from the film. In
a way, it does feel like a filler entry in the series that would have been
better served as an opening for the next phase of films than a middle act break
before the big finale takes place. So,
not quite the agenda driven film people were fearing but not quite as
creatively inspired or crafted as some of the strongest entries in the
MCU. Worth a view for fans but for
anyone not a fan, following the MCU series, this can be skipped over.
