Score: 55/100
Twenty-one films into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and they still have yet to make a truly bad film. This time, the film tells the origin story of Carol Danvers, better known as her super-hero alter ego, Captain Marvel.
Brie Larson stars as the titular Captain Marvel and marks her first appearance in the MCU, alongside fellow newcomers Annette Bening, Jude Law and Ben Mendelsohn. However, they are not alone, as MCU favorite Samuel L. Jackson returns to play Nick Fury once again.
This film serves as a prequel of sorts, as it takes place in the mid-90s, whereas every other film except “Captain America: The First Avenger” takes place in the new millennium.
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Make sure you get to the theater right when the movie is starting, because Marvel gives Stan Lee a touching tribute to open the film. From there, the movie starts, and it is a mixed bag until the credits start to roll.
The first half of the movie is the weaker part of the film; it took a while for the movie to hit its stride.
Throughout the movie, as with all Marvel movies, there are a lot of jokes. Unfortunately, the jokes fell completely flat for most of the film; noticeably, there were not a lot of laughs.
The film is also very much like any of the other origin stories in the MCU. It’s like every superhero in the MCU must be a little arrogant and acquire the same sarcastic attitude that Marvel seems to give all its characters. The audience loves Tony Stark, but every hero doesn’t need to have the same personality qualities as him.
If anything, Captain Marvel should have been closer in tone to Captain America, since they have similar backstories having been in the military.
Some of the writing was also a little lazy, as it contradicted some of the previous events that past MCU films had stated. This movie answered some questions that earlier films brought up and might leave the audience unsatisfied, raising some questions that should not be asked.
On the positive side, this film will also leave the audience with questions that will make them excited to come back for answers in future installments. This will prove most true in a month or so with “Avengers: Endgame”, as Captain Marvel will return to help the Avengers take down Thanos.
This movie hits its stride in the second half and ends on a high note that will leave the audience excited for Endgame in order to see Captain Marvel again.
Another thing that this film had going for it was the action. You could see all the hard work that Larson put into the film; it truly showed just as much as when Chris Hemsworth or Chris Evans is on the screen.
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The visual effects in these movies just keep getting better and better. Since this movie took place in the mid-90s and Jackson has appeared in movies as recently in 2018, Marvel had to make him look as he did in the mid-90s. They have done this in other films such as “Ant-Man” and “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2”, but this is the best it has ever looked, especially since Jackson is in almost the entirety of the film.
The biggest thing this film had going for it was the performances. Law and Bening were great in the movie in their limited screen time and left the audience wanting more. Fingers crossed that they are in future installments.
Jackson was great as usual; he got to play a different version of Nick Fury than the audience was used to in the previous MCU installments.
The two standouts in this film were Mendelsohn and Larson. Larson is now Captain Marvel in the eyes of the audience with her outstanding performance. Next Halloween, there will absolutely be a lot of little kids dressed up as her.
Ultimately, the film was ok. The good and the bad were able to balance each other out in order to make this a worthwhile trip to the theater. On top of that, this movie will have a cultural impact since it is the first MCU movie to feature a female lead.
It will open the genre of superheroes to a whole new audience who wasn’t willing to go before, which is awesome, because that is what going to the movies is all about. Everyone will look forward to seeing Captain Marvel in future installments.
All that is left to say is: good luck Thanos, you’ll need it.
