But let me just go ahead and spoil it here: this is not a bad movie. It's your standard Marvel fare. Whether you like them or not, Marvel Cinematic Universe films are well produced and have wide mass appeal. Disney can cast a wide net and catch a lot of people in it (unless the project head is named Rian Johnson) who will then give them a lot of money. Will Captain Marvel do well? More than likely. Is it going to be some kind of wunderkind film that will redefine films for the rest of eternity, like some sort of Silver Screen form of Jesus?
No.
Just like Black Panther was not that either.
You know what they both were? Fairly solidly made.
Both of them have their issues, but then all the MCU films have issues that can be picked out and examined if one looks hard enough. The only one who came dangerously close to being troublesome would be Age of Ultron, but that's a film for another day. Here, I want to go over Captain Marvel and I'm going to forewarn both the pro- and anti- people for this film, you're likely all going to be very disappointed with me.
Captain Marvel tells us the story of Vers (Brie Larson), a member of the Kree Starforce with the flying brick variety of superpowers - that is to say, very strong, flies, and shoots energy blasts. She doesn't remember her past before joining the Kree, and is perfectly happy to fight alongside her commanding officer (Jude Law) and their team until she gets herself kidnapped by the Skrulls and ends up crashlanding on Earth, where she meets Nicholas Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) and starts to piece together that she's not who she thinks she is while battling the Skrulls...who are not what she expects.
Obviously she's not a Kree, she's Carol Danvers, although the film seems to be going with a sort of unhealthy mix of the original version of Carol where she got her powers through exposure to Kree DNA and technology and the newest retcon of her where she was always half-Kree anyway (which I'm sure will be likewise retconned out when Marvel decides to pull their head out of their collective anus) and it's...fine, I guess?
Less obviously, the Skrulls actually aren't the bad guys. Not entirely, anyway. The MCU decided to go for a more sympathetic view of them, namely that they're refugees trying to escape from the Kree. The war between the Skrulls and the Kree has always been a big deal in the Marvel Cosmic canon, so it is finally nice to see the Skrulls represented here and it does actually provide an explanation for why they're not seen more often - the Kree have gotten the upperhand in the war and are picking them off wherever they can be found.
Works for me, really.
And, of course, because we have the shared universe, we get the Tesseract running around again as the source of Carol's powers - her mentor Mar-Vell (now a woman, Annette Bening) having built an engine with it as a power source. Given the placement here puts it between its appearances in Captain America: The First Avenger and Thor's post-credits scene, it doesn't break continuity. Nice to see the MCU still adhering to that. We also get to see SHIELD and particularly Fury and Coulson again, this time in their younger days thanks to the miracle of post-production CGI. It doesn't look too bad, really, I'm happy to say.
What doesn't really come across well is some of the fight scenes, particularly in the beginning where the Starforce takes on some Skrulls and then later when Danvers fights to escape the Skrull ship after being captured. It's almost an Alien vs. Predator-esque situation where all the scenes are shot too close or too dark, obscuring most of the action. Pretty much all we know for certain is that asses are being handed to someone that isn't the main character. This would be fine, except for there being a large amount of close-quarters combat and Carol primarily being a brawler (see "flying brick" above). Brie Larson apparently went through quite a bit of training for this role, and it's kind of a shame that the scenes using it were not shot well.
The CGI on Carol's suit, once it takes its red/blue/yellow color scheme is a little wonky as well. The film wants you to cheer in triumph as Carol manages to control her emotions (somehow) and literally fly off to save the day...and I'm too busy noticing that her suit doesn't quite match the environment. It has that weird effect almost like fuzzy felt clothes over a human figure. You know that the person is there, but it's very obviously a phony cover. This same problem cropped up in Thor: Raganarok with the scenes with Odin, showing us definitely stock footage Sweden/Norway.
C'mon, Marvel. You're a multi-billion dollar franchise by now, chuck a little more into making sure your CGI is spick and span if you're going to use it so liberally.
The acting is pretty good as well. I'm happy to say the "why doesn't she smile?" memes can finally be put to bed, since Brie Larson does actually show emotion and actually has some really good chemistry with Samuel L. Jackson in their scenes together.
The only major issues I have with it crop up in two particular scenes that I know a lot of people have been talking about - namely how Nick Fury loses his eye and the naming of the Avenger Initiative.
Yeah, I'm firmly on the side of the antis on this one. Nick Fury has basically lost all the coolness he'd gotten from Winter Soldier in one go in this film, knowing that he loses his eye because of being scratched by a cat of all things. Yes, I know it's an alien cat, but that isn't going to keep me from now having Cat Scratch Fever playing in my head for any scene that Nick Fury is in forever.
The second scene, as I said...is that Fury gets the idea to name the Avenger Initiative off of Danvers' old Air Force call sign...which is revealed to us in a photograph at the very end of the film. I said before one Twitter, I wouldn't mind this if it weren't for two things - one, this comes right the hell out of nowhere and only serves to make this film seem even more like "Avengers: Endgame trailer - Two Hour Edition" and Marvel already had the impetus for the Avengers to be named, namely Captain America: The First Avenger.
Did you forget that Marvel? I know it's been about eight years. Tends to slip the mind.
I'm not even getting into how that further puts down Wasp, who originally named the Avengers in the comics. Although the trade-off is, when she finally did show up, she got to be played by Michelle Pfieffer (that white gold), so hush my mouth, I guess.
Also, the pager that Fury uses at the end of Infinity War shows up and WHY DIDN'T HE USE IT AT ANY POINT BETWEEN THIS FILM AND INFINITY WAR?! LIKE WHEN LOKI WAS ATTACKING NEW YORK OR ULTRON POPPED UP IN SOKOVIA? OR WHEN SHIELD FELL?! WHY DID IT TAKE THANOS SNAPPING HALF THE UNIVERSE OUT OF EXISTENCE FOR YOU TO USE IT, NICK AND HOW DID YOU EVEN KNOW SHE WOULDN'T BE DUSTED WHEN YOU SENT THE MESSAGE AND AHHHHHHHH!!!!
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| This is the part where I take my crazy pills. |
Also, the finale is a wee bit over the top as Carol has to stop a barrage of missiles from hitting the Earth. Not exactly the most uncommon feat in superhero comics, but it's a bit ridiculous even by the standards of comic books. But on the whole, no, these are not enough to call this film 'bad', and if you're going into this film wanting to hate it because you disagree with Brie Larson's politics, you're doing it for the wrong reasons.
I'll be frank here...I'm not a fan of how Brie Larson has spouted her views during the press tour for Captain Marvel. Several people have called her brave or trailblazing or whatever have you during it, but she's really not any of those things. She comes off as rather arrogant. But that is a critique of her as a person, not an actress. And no, for the record, I wouldn't be doing anything differently if it were say...Ted Nugent using a role to spout his gospel about the NRA or Jesus, love, and pick up trucks or whatever have you.
The point is, standing for or against either view should not be affecting your decision to see or enjoy this film. Actually viewing it and deciding for yourself is the way to do that. While I do think Rotten Tomatoes was incredibly stupid to take out the "Want to See" feature and pretty much deserve to have it backfire on them with the review bombing they've been getting...I don't think Captain Marvel really deserves it. As I've stated here, it's got minor issues but is overall not terrible. It's not great, but then no one was expecting it to be. Not even Marvel, honestly.
It's the middle child, wedged between the first and the third, always acknowledged but to be overshadowed. It's the meal that comes right before the main course, in this case being Endgame. The appetizer might be good, you might even remember it fondly and think it's delicious, but that's not what you're here for.
Is it good? I'll leave that up to you to decide, though I personally say there are worse films and indeed are indeed worse MCU films. It is certainly not Marvel's The Last Jedi at any rate. It's worst crimes are a little wonky CGI, some subpar fight scenes, and a rather ridiculous finale topped off with a retcon..and making Fury look ridiculous. None of which really make it "OMG! SO TERRIBLE!" in my mind. Whether you think it's good or not, is it worth all the controversy and review bombing?
No.
I'm all for giving foaming at the mouth hate when it's deserved (you can fine plenty of instances of it on this very blog), but c'mon people - save the tactical nuclear strikes for when you really need them.
Captain Marvel is now in theaters from Walt Disney Motion Pictures and Marvel Studios.
For the latest from the MadCapMunchkin, be sure to follow him on Twitter @MadCapMunchkin.
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