Captain Marvel Review
Captain Marvel The Official Jack Review
"I'm going to complicate this wall with your alien brains"
Captain Marvel from directing duo Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck is probably the most "Marvel" movie in a long while. I don't mean that in a very good way. I'll never forget on the Winter Soldier press tour, Marvel described all of their movies as existing in unique genres while maintaining the superhero action. That movie was a political thriller, Ant-Man is a heist movie, Thor Ragnorak being an off the walls comedy, and so many other examples. These movies all feel different, but with their connective tissue of the Marvel signature style. That's where I felt like Captain Marvel was just all that Marvel style and had nothing really unique. It's defining feature is that it is the first solo female-driven Marvel movie, and since it takes place in the 1990s, we get a lot of connections to the future films.
Brie Larson's portrayal is part of the reason that I feel the way I do about this film. She feels so stiff throughout the movie. We are constantly told that she is meant to be emotionless because she is constantly throwing out quips, but it never felt like she had a lot of emotion there at all. I hope as she grows into the character, and the character evolves from her roots that she becomes more fun. It seems like they were pulling Brie back from going all in feeling natural in her role like Chris Evans, RDJ, or Chris Pratt are in theirs. I'm sure they made the character they wanted to make, but it just didn't jive with me.
I loved most of the supporting cast in this. Samuel L Jackson, Clark Gregg, Lee Pace, and Djimon Hounsou all returning to the MCU to reprise their roles. Jackson and Gregg, in particular, were great to see and dominated the time they were on screen. Both of them were deaged the entire film through CGI and it is actually insane that there is never once an uncanny valley feel. The fact that we now have this technology means that we will be able to take actors and put them into any period piece in a franchise and it opens up a whole new can of worms. Jude Law is in this film as the commander of Carol's Kree unit whilst also being her mentor. He gives a solid performance and has some great interactions with Carol. Ben Mendelsohn plays the main Skrull antagonist and chews up every scene he is in. He is one of the most well-rounded villains in the MCU thus far, with just as many touching and heartfelt scenes as Carol, but then also has a lot better delivery of his lines that are funny. His character just oozed personality, which is even more impressive when you take into account he spends most of his screen time in 10 pounds of makeup and prosthetic. Then you have Goose, who is easily the best part of the movie because not only is he a reference to Top Gun (being the only reference to Top Gun which is a cardinal sin as far as I'm concerned) but he is a cat that purrs and meows and gets into so many adorable antics. Goose is not overused, which is for the best because I'm sure some people would have got annoyed if he was playing there any longer (but not me because I could watch a 4 hours movie just about Goose).
The heart of this film lies in Carol Danvers struggling to remember her past and the war between the Skrull and the Kree. I found the latter to be the more fascinating throughline as the former is very straightforward and by the numbers. Getting into the weeds of who is good and who is bad in an intergalactic war was very interesting to see how these two groups with an ideological difference fight. It was more interesting than Thanos just being an empathetic bad guy because everyone was operating in the grey area. I hope these ideas are further explored in an eventual sequel because so much of the film is spent with us learning about the main character of the movie and her personal journey.
I've seen a lot of tweets praising the 90s soundtrack, but I didn't think it was all it was cracked up to be. I loved just about every song that was played but it was always just 30 seconds of it on in the background, save for a handful of moments. The tweets made me think that it would be thematically connected and a grand fun time like in Guardians of the Galaxy, but it was far from that. I really did love the 90s setting though, with all the other references throughout. It wasn't completely blown out of proportion, it felt very natural and I'm sure people that don't get the references won't feel left out. It's weird knowing kids will watch this and not laugh at a Radio Shack existing though.
I thought the score was another really strong point of the movie. I don't know if they quite nailed the recurring theme that I could hum along to both in the theater and the next morning, but it really enhanced the experience and added the level of intensity that was needed for some of the fight scenes and in the tender emotional moments. The cinematography was something that I was looking for to be interesting, but it never really stood out to me as a new standard or anything. There were a couple shots that were interesting, and some that were masterfully framed and made me want to hang these stills on my walls at home, but it reminded more of Ant-Man and the Wasp as one of the more generic parts of the film. Which is a real bummer, because there is a lot of potential when you have a character with all the abilities that Captain Marvel has.
Lastly, I gotta talk about the mohawk. My lord was the mohawk badass. Every time it transitioned on and off I would audibly gasp. It was incredible to see this transition from the comic page to the big screen because I never expected it to happen in my wildest dreams and it just upset every second she didn't have the mask and mohawk on. The costume itself is really cool and can't wait to see it again in Avengers: Endgame alongside the rest of the gang!
Overall Captain Marvel is a sign that this Marvel machine is fallible, but are they capable of making a movie like Thor 2 again? I really don't know, but this film has its lows and it has it's highs and I recommend all Marvel fans run out to the theaters to see it, but I'm sure most already have. I think it works best on the big screen, but if there was ever a Marvel movie to skip, I think most people would be fine missing this one. It feels like a Phase 1 Marvel story combined with a Phase 3 Marvel universe building. Just a little less than what I have come to expect from the MCU as it has grown over time.
Final Score: 6.5/10