Movie Review--Captain Marvel

"Without us, you're only human."
--Supreme Intelligence, Captain Marvel


Far from being the misandrist and gratuitous movie some fallaciously expected, Captain Marvel is a largely excellent film that both stands well on its own and integrates well into other MCU entries.  With connections to the first Avengers film, Infinity War, and Endgame, Captain Marvel definitely ties into important franchise plot points--but never in ways that detract from its own script.  Its tone is far more consistent than that of many other fairly recent MCU offerings, despite featuring plenty of comedy, drama, and action, and it becomes clear early on that the relationships and development of the central characters are its greatest strength.  It only took 14 years for Marvel to release another female-led superhero film following Elektra, but the results are fantastic.


Production Values

The occasional strange CGI shot (like when Carol is falling before she triggers her flight ability) fails to poison the usual effectiveness of the colorful visuals.  After the use of some duller aesthetics near the beginning, vibrant colors become more and more prominent, especially once Carol Danvers learns the full extent of her powers.  As for Danvers, internet trolls who expected Brie Larson to be incapable of giving a fitting performance were mistaken in their assumptions (when the hell are people going to stop pretending like they can know a film's quality before its release?).  Her demeanor naturally changes from stoic to comedic to depressed when needed.  Danvers' arc isn't about a significant transformation of her character, like with Wonder Woman or Iron Man, but is instead one about self-discovery.

Many of Brie's greatest moments, though, are not the ones where she displays her incredible powers or learns crucial information about herself; her greatest moments are the ones where she interacts with Samuel L. Jackson.  The best aspect of the movie by far is the relationship between Carol and Nick, which is realized with superb writing and with great acting on the parts of both Larson and Jackson.  In fact, Fury's lines give him the opportunity to show a side of the character that is more playful and friendly than anything he has revealed elsewhere in the MCU. 

Offering a great performance of his own, Ben Mendelsohn proves himself to be a standout actor, playing the Skrull representative Talos with a gravity that still allows for instances of humor.  Many of the supporting characters are utilized excellently, and the imbecilic fears that Captain Marvel would use its titular hero in a way that degrades the male characters were completely unfounded.  The script incorporates multiple strong male and female characters without ever pitting one gender against the other.  Lastly, the soundtrack for the film is superior to many of the mediocre, generic scores for other MCU movies.  With exceptions like The Incredible Hulk, most Marvel movies from 2008 onward have been accompanied by very lackluster soundtracks, but Captain Marvel's sets itself apart from the others, with an appropriate emphasis on the techno genre that fits into the science fiction atmosphere very well.  The use of actual songs is also noteworthy!


Story

Spoilers!

After being captured by a shapeshifting alien race known as the Skrulls, Vers, a member of warrior society called the Kree, escapes her confinement only to struggle with seemingly suppressed memories.  Her escape leads her to Earth, where a young Nick Fury works on behalf of S.H.I.E.L.D.  Vers hopes to return to her fellow Kree soldiers, who hope to prevent a Skrull takeover of the earth.

The Skrull already have a presence on the planet, however, and the true nature of the Kree-Skrull war is far more morally ambiguous than Vers initially thinks.  Vers discovers that she actually was a native of Earth, Carol Danvers, before she was taken by the Kree and trained to be a talented warrior, forced to question her allegiance to her faction in light of the new information.  The Tesseract and Ronan the Accuser make appearances, all of which provide context for later events of the MCU.


Intellectual Content

The script lightly touches upon epistemic issues involving memory, but no philosophical theme is developed beyond a superficial level, unlike with Doctor Strange.


Conclusion

Captain Marvel is one of the MCU's best "origin" stories--it is more of a partial origin story, since the movie opens long after Carol obtains her powers--blending comedy, characterization, and lore significance into a mostly coherent whole.  It has some sporadic flaws, but the overall product is exactly what the MCU should be delivering at this point.  There is a sense in which Captain Marvel is intended to excite fans for Endgame, yet it also remains a great standalone film that celebrates the rich cinematic history of the MCU--plus, it stands alongside Wonder Woman as one of the only superhero movies directed or, in this case, co-directed by a woman!  I eagerly await the return of Carol Danvers in Endgame!  Thanos' days are numbered.


Content:
1. Violence:  There are plenty of fights involving fists, energy blasts, and weaponry, though blood is only seen on some occasions.  Nothing shown onscreen is graphic.
2. Profanity:  Variations of "shit" are used twice, with other minor expletives scattered throughout.