For as long as the series has existed,
fans have been clamoring for a female lead superhero movie in the Marvel
Cinematic Universe. Whether it is Black Widow or one of their unused
characters, fans definitely want a woman to have a solo film in Marvel’s every
growing series of movies. Now the time has finally come as Marvel’s first
female lead film is here in the form of Captain
Marvel. Unfortunately, the film does fall short from being one of the best
films in the MCU despite being one of the more highly anticipated movies. By no
means a bad movie, Captain Marvel is
a solid enough film at points, but is one of those films that will leave you
wanting more and not always in the best of ways in terms of how it is made,
handles its characters and over-all story structure.
Not
as Strong Story Wise as a film like Wonder
Woman
The story of Captain Marvel centers around a woman named Carol Denvers, who is a
part of a space force team known as The Kree. When an unknown threat call the
Skrulls come to threaten their world, Carol ends up following them to Earth
where they invade. Along the way she discovers more about her past life and
with the help of a familiar face known as Nick Fury, she discovers how she a
Hero that the world needs. On the surface the film does tend to have a good
basic set-up for a Marvel movie, and luckily the film does have a decent start.
There are some basic level origin story elements such as a training montage and
some neat action sequences within the first 45 minutes of the film are a solid
adventure to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As the film goes on however, it
doesn’t do anything to truly impress as a narrative, with a story that is
nothing more than a simple Marvel movie origin story. That would not be a bad
thing if this was a film out of Phase One; however with so much creativity and
emotion narrative wise with future MCU Films, it seems like a huge step back
that Captain Marvel doesn’t do
anything worthwhile. In comparison to something like DC’s own Wonder Woman, that film did it’s best to
have some good set up and ended strongly with epic moments that not only looked
bad-ass but felt bad-ass with the character. Captain Marvel never has that moment on the level of No Man’s Land
in Wonder Woman and lacks some of the
personality that film had to offer. Being set in the 90s does give for some
neat time period elements and some interesting set-ups to future Marvel films,
but some feel rather rush especially one big mystery to one of the big Marvel
characters over the years finally revealed only to have that conclusion be
rather lame. The film is still entertaining enough to not be a complete bore
with some of those fun moments still being around in the film’s second half,
but it’s not enough to make it truly stand out as a great Marvel movie.
Amusing
Chemistry between Jackson and Larson
Marvel is known for having a colorful cast
of characters though oddly enough, the one named Marvel ends up being one of
the weaker leads. Brie Larson at points gives it her all with the material she
is given, as she can be expressive and fun when she needs to be, but she
doesn’t have nearly enough to work with to make the character her own. The
character of Denvers doesn’t have much of a presence when it comes to her being
a superhero and it’s not so much a fault of Larson’s performance as she is a
very talented actress as it is the writing of the character. There is some
development to her and it’s commendable but it’s nothing that has yet to be seen
in other Marvel movies of this Caliber. That’s not to say the character is a
complete bore to watch as there are aspects of her character that are worth
noticing, most particularly how she works off Nick Fury played by Samuel L.
Jackson. Nick Fury is an enjoyable Marvel character on his own, but the dynamic
between Jackson and Larson’s performance is great to watch as all of the films
best action, dramatic and comedic moments come from them. Every moment between
them is a joy to watch and is easily the highlight of the movie for sure. As
for the rest of the supporting cast, they do a decent job with what they are
given, but the downside is they aren’t really given that much to do writing
wise. Especially the main antagonist while has an interesting twist behind his
character, is a bland one-dimensional villain with no real motivation behind
his character. It all makes for a film that has some actors giving good
performances but over-all characters aren’t as satisfying when it comes to
their writing.
Lacking
the Style of the Best of the MCU
One big detriment to Captain Marvel as a movie is that where more recent affairs in the
MCU have gotten a lot personality in their filmmaking techniques, this one
feels surprisingly limited. Films like Guardians
of the Galaxy, Black Panther and Thor
Ragnarok all feel like their director has full control and gives their addition
to the MCU a distinctive stamp that really make them stand out among other
Marvel movies. The directing in this movie feels very flat as there’s not
nearly as much impressive cinematography, editing or production design choices
that give Captain Marvel a definitive look and feel. The
film feels rather standard making it feels more like an earlier Marvel movie
than most current ones. That’s not to say the film making is all around bad as
there are some unique moments from certain action set pieces and even some
designs of characters or set that are impressive to look at, most notably the CGI to help make Samuel L. Jackson look younger. Though it is
lacking compared to some of the creativity seen in something like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and with
the weaker CGI and editing at point for some action sequences does not help
either. There are moments where the film does try to feel like a current Marvel
movie by taking certain elements like licensed music and utilizing them for
certain set pieces but it doesn’t flow nearly as well as it should. The film
making and all around direction this movie has isn’t quite bad or atrocious on
the level of other comic book movies but falls short compared to what this
movie is and other Marvel movies prior to it.
Captain Marvel
is an entertaining watch for what it is, but it is a movie that really could
have been more. It’s by no means a terrible movie in the way many would claim
it could be, it’s honestly not even close to being one of the worst movies in
the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, given how far we have come with Comic
Book movies, whether it be DC and especially Marvel, it feels like a small step
bad to what we have been used to. Still it has enough entertainment value and
decent story and character moments that make it not so much a drag to witness.
The worst crime this movie has is that with all the potential it had with it
being a part of one of the biggest film franchises of all time and having some
major talent behind it, it’s just a decent film that could have been a great one.
