I try to enter a movie with little to no expectations. But the hype and controversy surrounding Captain Marvel leading up to its release has kind of muddied the waters for me.
The hype involved this being the last movie before Avengers Endgame, where we were told that this will not only expand on the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but will introduce a character that will turn the tide in the heroes favor when going up against Thanos. The controversy involved a poorly phrased and almost clickbait ready request for more representation and diversity with film critics.
Those upset over a female lead and expecting this movie to be some flagship for feminist propaganda: I didn't see that in Captain Marvel. Those like me looking forward to this as an expansion to the MCU and to provide hope for Endgame and future Marvel films, I didn't see that either.
So the basic summary of Captain Marvel is that it's about a soldier named Carol Danvers who is fighting a war amongst the Kree, who we've seen several times throughout the MCU in Guardians of the Galaxy and Agents of SHIELD. Here, they fight the Skrull, alien shapeshifters finally making their MCU debut. Their battle spills onto earth where Carol encounters Nick Fury and SHIELD and tries to find out who she is and what her connections are to the human race.
In my opinion, the best Marvel movies and shows have a certain genre at the core with a superhero coating. The first Captain America reminded me a lot of Indiana Jones if he suddenly became a super soldier while fighting Nazis. The Winter Soldier was a Political Thriller, the first Ant-Man was a heist film, Season 1 of Jessica Jones was Neo Noir, the first half of season 1 of Luke Cage was modern blaxploitation. All of them just happened to have superheroes in them.
Based on some of the trailers and Carol's fighter pilot background, I was expecting a superhero version of Top Gun,with Danvers being an arrogant pilot who literally and figuratively gets grounded and humbled as she learns to become a hero. Or a superhero version of GI Jane as she starts as some underdog type that had to fight her way to the ranks of the military on earth and later on an alien planet. Unfortunately, the military bits were sprinkled in the film, almost to the point where they felt irrelevant to most of the story.
Another expectation came about when the movie was said to take place in 1995. There’s music from the 90s thrown in, though the timeline doesn’t completely match up with all of the songs used. Visually, nothing about this movie really screamed 90s to me. Granted there were a few whispers of "hey remember Blockbuster? What about Radio Shack? or Dial up?". The only 90s outfit i saw was when Carol had on a leather jacket, flannel shirt tied around her waist, and a Nine Inch Nails shirt, which honestly, you could've mistaken it for an outfit for today.
As far as things I enjoyed from the movie, it has to be the chemistry between Brie Larson and Samuel L. Jackson. Seeing a lighter toned, almost naive Nick Fury was charming until it overstayed its welcome, almost running the risk of ruining the cool factor of his older character. Brie Larson was fine in the role, but was given next to nothing to build on as a character or come across like a badass until the CGI came in.
I don't want to be overall negative towards the film, as there were moments here and there that made me laugh. But overall, this has so far been the weakest MCU origin movie, due to the lack of actual character development and no real sense of identity. Why do we care to root for Carol, or the Kree, or care about the Skrulls. It felt like so much tell rather than show when it came to what i assume were supposed to be emotional moments.
In chronological order, this is supposed to be the second movie to watch in the MCU timeline. So if you wanna wait to rent or stream it so you can do a marathon, I couldn't blame you.
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