Sunday, March 10, 2019

‘Captain Marvel’: One of the Less Marvelous Recent MCU Movies



     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.

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