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Captain Marvel — Movie Review
8th March, 2019 Share on Twitter
I’m always excited for new Marvel releases, and I excitedly showed up for the midnight opening of Captain Marvel here in the UK. This is actually only the second midnight screening I’ve ever been to, the first one being Star Wars: The Last Jedi back in December 2017.
Captain Marvel tells the origin story for Carol Danvers, a pilot and soldier with mystical powers. Even she’s not sure where these powers came from—nor can she remember much about her past life. All she knows at the start of the movie is that she’s strong, fierce, and a capable soldier.
Right from the opening scenes of the movie we’re shown these key parts of her personality, and I have to say it worked on me—I really liked Brie Larson’s character. Carol Danvers kicks a lot of ass while showing a humorous side at the same time. That’s always a winning combination in any story.
Later in the movie when Carol learns some new things about her past and confronts some people (no spoilers), we’re shown a different side to her character. Carol’s not only good in a fight but also brave and dedicated to helping people. She’s a true Marvel hero in my books.
I can, however, see Brie Larson’s performance being described as slightly wooden. She doesn’t quite carry the same charisma as Chris Hemsworth or Robert Downey Jr, which is slightly disappointing given the hype this film is receiving. I can only hope she grows into this role in later Marvel movies.
Samuel L. Jackson is in this movie for nearly all of its runtime, and he’s on top form. The anti-aging CGI on him is incredible (this movie is set in 1995) and his great personality bursts through. It’s certainly a more jolly interpretation of Nick Fury, which might be a bit jarring for some people.
That is my main issue with the film, that it isn’t too sure of its tone. Fury is funny and jovial one minute, then in the next minute he’s the serious character we’re used to in past Marvel films. One minute it’s a buddy cop film, the next it’s a Hero’s Journey, the next we’re seeing an emotional reconciliation between characters we don’t know too well.
This didn’t affect my enjoyment of the movie though, since I genuinely liked all the characters, including the secondary ones. Ben Mendelsohn starts the film as a kind of generic villain character, but then gets a lot more nuanced and likeable throughout the runtime. I liked seeing a younger Agent Coulson too. Jude Law’s performance is fine, I didn’t think there was anything particularly striking about it.
Without going into spoilers, this film does give some clues about the origins of the Avengers team, and it does have some surprise characters from the Marvel universe that I wasn’t expecting. It ties into the franchise smoothly, and perfectly sets things up for Avengers: Endgame.
Let me just say that Carol’s powers are immense, like I’m surprised at how powerful she really is. We definitely get to see her at full strength in this movie, and it was inspiring. In the comics Carol has always been depicted as the strongest Avenger, and I can’t wait to see her fulfil this role in future stories.
In conclusion, I’m happy to give Captain Marvel a solid 7/10. It’s a really enjoyable Marvel film with likeable characters, though it isn’t quite as ground-breaking as titles like Captain America: Civil War or Avengers: Infinity War which will disappoint some fans given the immense hype this film is receiving.
Definitely go and see Captain Marvel this weekend if you can. If you’ve already seen it, what did you think? Leave your thoughts in the comments and let me know!
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