'Captain Marvel' A Review

Captain Marvel is a superhero movie, the latest in the MCU, the first with a female lead. The movie opens on a nightmare/flashback of Vers(Brie Larson) a seemingly Kree solider on the Kree capital Hala. Vers trains with commander Yon-Rogg(Jude Law) and is given a mission by the Supreme Intelligence an AI to investigate a possible Skrull(Kree sworn enemy) trap. On the mission Vers is separated from her team and crashes on 1995 Los Angeles. On the tail of some renegade Skrulls, lead by Talos(Ben Mendelsohn) Vers hooks up with Nick Fury(Samuel L. Jackson) and the two work together to uncover her past as well as what the Skrulls are looking for on Earth.

Larson does well as the titular hero Vers aka Carol Danvers, pairing a solid competent physical presence with a streak of sarcasm and an unflappable attitude. Her performance does fall a bit short in some ways as far as the range, she maintains a relatively steady center which prevents a big pop of catharsis. This fault mostly resides not with her but with the script, with two credited screenwriters, three credited with story and probably another dozen uncredited the script sacrifices possible emotional moments and character development for plot propulsion. The story hurtles forward with mostly thrilling effect but the brief flashbacks hint at how much more fully formed the character could have been had we taken the time to move through the journey of the character prior to her being empowered. Mendelsohn clearly has fun with this softer, more bizarre role, usually cast as a heavy or something realistically dramatic. Jackson, given his largest role in an MCU installment to date, no surprise flourishes. Him and Larson have excellent chemistry and humor. And he is one of the rare actors portraying a "younger version of himself", becoming more and more popular by the year, who actually reaches an acceptable level of believability. The supporting cast are all solid Law and Lashana Lynch as Maria, Carol's best friend, especially.

Visually the movie is somewhat uneven. A lot of the more "real" action scenes, done by actual humans and a mix of CGI and practical effects, are stellar. Larson is clearly doing many of her own stunts which is thrilling. The moments it falls short though are in the full on 100% CGI sequences when the laser beams and spaceships can help but look somewhat cartoony. The 90's inspired soundtrack is stellar and the nods to and jokes about the decade all help to build out a fun engaging world.

Fun, funny, and faced paced with a couple stirring ass-kicking moments the movie falls short perhaps only slightly under the burden of expectation, massive build up, and Marvels refusal to wait this long to produce a female lead film.

See It.