Captain Marvel is the latest installment of Marvel’s epic MCU run of movies. It comes to us through some controversy added by comments made by Brie Larsen during her press tour, but ignore that because it’s a good movie.
Brought to the silver screen this time is the story of Carol Danvers. Air Force fighter pilot turned cosmic superhero, Carol is known in the comics world as being tough as nails. The movie version does this toughness justice.
The only thing I’ll say about Brie in regards to her controversial comments is that I think anyone would enjoy the movie. One negative that I did see in the movie was that Brie walked around the entire movie with her hands balled up in fists. I get that she’s playing tough, but that toughness doesn’t need to be displayed in every action. It came across as robotic. Brie is a great actress, I loved Room. So, I’m not sure why she did this to show how tough she was. Honestly, it seemed a bit silly.
Ignoring that, though it was hard to unsee it once I noticed, Brie was spot on as the live-action Carol.
It was also really cool to see the Skrulls and the Krees come to life on the big screen.
Spoilers from here on out.
There were a couple things I didn’t like.
Skrulls are bad, 99% of the time. In this movie? Not so much. I was excited to see them finally be the big bads. I assumed we’d see the Skrull Invasion storyline. It seemed that’s where the movie was going, but it shifted.
This may surprise some audience members.
However, Skrulls aren’t bad 100% of the time, remember? Just 99%. Johnny Storm was once even married to a Skrull, though it started under false pretenses. So, it is possible to run across a good Skrull.
Bad Krees? Also possible.
These guys are hard-nosed, militaristic people who are often closed-minded and very angry when things aren’t as they believe they should be. Just look at Ronan in Guardians of the Galaxy. While the Kree are batting about 50/50 on whether they are good or not, that percentage plummets towards the bad when they’re being led by the Supreme Intelligence. This baddie was a problem during the Kree/Skrull War storyline and the Galactic Storm storyline, which led to a schism in the ranks of the Avengers.
So, while the twists of good and bad make sense to an extent, I felt a bit let down that the Skrulls weren’t all they could have been.
Not to get into too many spoilers, but young Nick Fury’s reason to have lost an eye was just plain silly. Nick is super cool and super tough, always. Samuel Jackson embodies this personality, always. So, his reason to have just the one eye should have been a super cool, super tough reason. Sadly, it was not.
Another disappointment was the gender swap for Mar-Vell, the original Captain Marvel. Not to be too confusing, but Carol wasn’t the original Captain Marvel, a Kree warrior named Mar-Vell was. In the comics, while he was “Captain”, Carol was “Ms. Marvel.” After Mar-Vell died in the 80’s from cancer, and Carol went through a few name changes, she eventually became Captain Marvel.
The original though? He is also a classic Marvel character that shouldn’t have undergone changes. I get that the movie was a “girl power” movie, but Brie had that covered.
Balled up fists, constantly, remember?
Changing Mar-Vell was unnecessary and felt unfaithful to longtime comic fans.
Mar-Vell was portrayed by the always great Annette Bening, though, so that helped.
Now, let's talk about possibly the greatest parts of Captain Marvel, and they all involve the great Stan Lee. The initial Marvel credits roll through scenes of all their movies is replaced by many of Stan Lee's cameos in honor of the king of comic's passing! To a long time comic fan, this will bring tears to the eye.
The amazing thing, though, is his cameo in this movie. He's rehearsing lines for a movie. This is weird when you think about his cameos not starting until 2000's X-Men, because Captain Marvel is set in the 90s at this point. That's where this cameo is genius. In 1995, Stan Lee had a cameo in Kevin Smith's Mallrats! So, likely, he's practicing for that part. Running across Lee is one of the only times in the movie where Brie smiles.
All in all, the movie is a solid addition to the MCU. Personally, I don’t think it’s comparable to Captain America 1 or 2, Iron Man 1, Avengers 3, or Guardians 1, as I think these are the best Marvel has made thus far. Tier 2, for me, would be Avengers 2, Thor 3, Antman, Cap 3. and maybe Black Panther. However, this movie is more on par with Antman & Wasp and Doctor Strange, so still very worth watching. It's miles above Iron Man 3!
I’m looking forward to seeing what Carol adds to the Avengers 4 story.
I rate Captain Marvel 3 out 5.
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