2019’s Captain Marvel,
directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck.
Starring Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn,
Jude Law, Clark Gregg, Annette Benning,
Lashana Lynch, Djimon Hounsou, Gemma Chan, Algenis Perez Soto, and Lee
Pace.
What is it about?
Captain Marvel is
the origin story of Marvel’s 1990’s based super heroine. We first meet Marvel
(Brie Larson), living on the alien Kree race’s planet of Hala. Mentored by
Yon-Rogg (Jude Law), they belong to a super soldier collective united in their
war against the shape shifting Skrulls. Suffering from amnesia, Marvel is
haunted by visions of a past that she does not understand. Marvel is kidnapped
by the Skrulls’ head leader, Talos (Ben Mendelsohn), but escapes to earth.
While continuing to battle with the Skrulls, she runs into S.H.I.E.L.D. agents
Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg). With their help,
she can attempt to learn about her past- where she comes from, whom she should
fight for, and the full extent of her mysterious powers.
Why is it worth seeing?
The 21st film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe
(MCU), Captain Marvel is the origin
story of the first female lead for Marvel’s team of super heroes. With its
setting of 1995, it’s also an origin story of sorts for Nick Fury (and Agent
Coulson). While Marvel’s attempts to explain the Captain we saw a teasing of in
Avengers: Infinity War is meant to
stoke excitement for Avengers: Endgame,
it forgets to get us excited about the Captain Marvel we’re seeing.
I’m typically wowed at the consistency of the MCU- rarely home runs, but also rarely strike outs. They’re pretty good at origin stories too. That’s why Marvel is so disappointing. It’s certainly not Brie Larson’s fault (yet another casting coup from the MCU)- it’s her character that’s lacking. Oh, she doesn’t want for spunk, ass kicking, or unparalleled powers (a welcome change from a MCU that has a surprisingly high amount of characters who don’t actually have super powers). It’s just finding out where it all comes from, that elusive emotional geography, lost amongst facial smoothing and Blockbuster Video. Incidentally, the character that has all of that mojo, is Ben Mendelsohn’s sympathetic alien. He comes from a realistic place, has people he cares for that we can see, and changes his arc throughout the movie.
Larson’s Marvel doesn’t really have an arc. She basically starts out a superhero, and then dials it up to 11. There’s reasons for it- but we never really find out why she wakes up in the morning- or felt like enlisting in the military. It’s almost like the army of writers who collaborated on this project were more interested in showing us how Nick Fury loses his eye, than the more substantial journeys that Tony Stark and Steve Rogers took to their respective places on the Avengers team. It even features a cat that is much less interesting than another companion piece in the MCU that features a raccoon.
I’m typically wowed at the consistency of the MCU- rarely home runs, but also rarely strike outs. They’re pretty good at origin stories too. That’s why Marvel is so disappointing. It’s certainly not Brie Larson’s fault (yet another casting coup from the MCU)- it’s her character that’s lacking. Oh, she doesn’t want for spunk, ass kicking, or unparalleled powers (a welcome change from a MCU that has a surprisingly high amount of characters who don’t actually have super powers). It’s just finding out where it all comes from, that elusive emotional geography, lost amongst facial smoothing and Blockbuster Video. Incidentally, the character that has all of that mojo, is Ben Mendelsohn’s sympathetic alien. He comes from a realistic place, has people he cares for that we can see, and changes his arc throughout the movie.
Larson’s Marvel doesn’t really have an arc. She basically starts out a superhero, and then dials it up to 11. There’s reasons for it- but we never really find out why she wakes up in the morning- or felt like enlisting in the military. It’s almost like the army of writers who collaborated on this project were more interested in showing us how Nick Fury loses his eye, than the more substantial journeys that Tony Stark and Steve Rogers took to their respective places on the Avengers team. It even features a cat that is much less interesting than another companion piece in the MCU that features a raccoon.
As noted, the film takes place in the 1990’s. That’s not illegal, but it feels
like an awfully arbitrary attempt to have the setting stand out as much as the
characters. With none of the musical needle drops really working as well as
they could/should, what makes the attempt to jump around in pop culture all the
more disposable is the knowledge that Marvel doesn’t know and hasn’t
experienced any of that culture. In fact, it’s Peter’s Quill’s connection to
his tunes that makes the soundtrack to Guardiansof the Galaxy so successful. It’s for Marvel
where everybody gets to play a game of Where’s Waldo- I too, remember when custom contact lenses
and NIN T-shirts were considered cool.
Captain Marvel is the ultimate in girl power, features solid performances, shows a younger side to the agents that go on to start the Avengers Initiative, and has the usual Marvel style that makes (almost) everything that they do palatable. It just would have been nice if it had served as anything more than a corporate rest stop on the way to the next MCU super event.
Captain Marvel is the ultimate in girl power, features solid performances, shows a younger side to the agents that go on to start the Avengers Initiative, and has the usual Marvel style that makes (almost) everything that they do palatable. It just would have been nice if it had served as anything more than a corporate rest stop on the way to the next MCU super event.
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