Captain Marvel (2019)

 

For the completely wrong reason, this one will always be a bit of a dark sheep in the Marvel library. This film got lambasted even before its release, thus changing the policy of a site like Rotten Tomatoes to never accept ratings before a film was in theatres, as people flocked to berate the 'feminist agenda' this film supposedly had. 

Sounds a lot more like way too many folks on the Interwebz have vagina-envy, but what do I know? 

No really, this film suffered massively because of this, and in truth: it is fun. Sure, not the best in the series and it does have its flaws, but for 90s nostalgia alone, this gets a pass. And some other things as well. 

We start off on Hala, where Vers is trained by Yon-Rogg (Jude Law). She is part of a Kree Special Ops team, but she doesn't feel as though she fits in and she has weird dreams about a life she feels she has never known. Things go south during a mission where they were sent to find a spy and to see if their enemies, the Skrulls, had already discovered this guy. There Vers gets captured by Talos, a high honcho Skrull and it is discovered that the MacGuffin they want is on Earth. Vers escapes and lands, waiting for her Kree compagnons to come find her. But Shield is first. Along the way, Vers discovers she is actually an Earth pilot called Carol Danvers and that there is more to the Kree-Skrull conflict than she first thought. The plot especially thickens when she runs into Talos again and with some help from a young Nick Fury and her pilot friend Maria Rambeau, it's on. 

I've always like the character of Ms Marvel, or Captain Marvel or however you want to call her. I am sure her comic book outfit never had anything to do with it, no sirree. But in all honesty: the character was always a lot of fun and even if she felt rather invincible at times, she was usually interesting enough. I see where they went with this origin story, but they should have told Brie Larson to play it with a little more emotion. She doesn't do a horrendous job, but her demeanour sometimes screams disinterest and I'm not convinced this was the way to go with the character. 

Samuel Jackson is a lot of fun as a young Nick Fury, which also means that they de-aged him and holy fuckballs: it really looks good on him. You know how they tried the technology before and it never felt quite real or convincing enough? Well, you can be damn sure it worked on mr Jackson. Maybe he just has the perfect facial features for this to work, but I was convinced. 

The antagonists are nothing special, especially as you can smell the twist coming a mile away. But that's what you get with comic book adaptations. Stunning reveals aren't always their forté. 

You know who steals the show in literally every scene he's in? Ben Mendelsohn as Talos. Not only does it work with his native Aussie accent, you can tell he's having a blast with it, even under layers of Skrull make-up. He's just so captivating, I wish there was a whole film just dedicated to him.

You can always call me for more suggestions, mr Feige. I'm open to offers. 

The action can be a bit choppy and at times, it does devolve into a simple slugfest, but I must admit I laughed out loud when the Kree bombers, led by Ronan the Accuser, discover Carol is decimating their fleet, how they decide to run after having been stared down. I don't know why, that part always cracks me up. 

'Captain Marvel' is a fun ride with flaws. The story is a little disjointed and the twists are too obvious from the go, but it is a very nice addition to the cinematic universe and you would be best to ignore the raving haters that this is awful. It's not, not even close.