CAPTAIN MARVEL - O CAPTAIN! WHY CAPTAIN?

In the weeks leading up to its release, Captain Marvel was in the news for less than stellar reasons. Spurred by seemingly innocuous comments made by Captain Marvel herself; actor and  gender equality activist Brie Larson, online trolls attacked the film in hopes of making it anything but attractive for its would-be audience; putting up fake reviews on social media and downvoting the film on popular critic website Rotten Tomatoes. Two weeks have passed now since its release, and Larson is clearly having the last laugh as the film continues to do extremely well in the box office. Being a part of the wonderfully crafted Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), it was always going to be a fool’s errand to believe it would be a financial failure, however the film has garnered many mixed reviews from the critical audience since its release and I figured I’d throw in mine as well. Better late than never right?

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS

Noble Social Justice Warrior Hero?

It was quite worrisome to see Captain Marvel being dragged into the socio-gender politics of our time, and like many viewers I wanted to see this movie for what it was; not Marvel’s first female-led superhero movie, not a female superhero movie, but simply a superhero movie to be judged on its own merits or otherwise. I only think it’s fair that a movie does good or bad based on its content, rather than being influenced by external agendas. I can’t say Captain Marvel was on the list of my most anticipated films for the year, but I was always going to see it, because you know ‘MCU’. Ever since her appearance was teased at the end of Avengers: Infinity War, fans of the MCU have been curious to see how Carol Danvers’ story would fit in the blueprint of the universe. Her insignia showing up on Nick Fury’s pager hinted that this was going to be prerequisite viewing for the Avengers sequel, especially if you pride yourself on being a human MCU compendium.

Like her jacket, Carol Danvers' origin movie is hardly befitting

 Set in 1995, Captain Marvel tells the story of how Carol Danvers became one of the more powerful characters in the Marvel Universe. It’s pretty much everything we’ve come to expect from the MCU; great visuals, action, interwoven plots and tongue in cheek one-liners, albeit failing to meet its full potential. For a movie made about the 90s, it actually felt like one, with a plot which had a semblance to the simpler sci-fi and superhero films of that era. At the end of its 2 hour, 5 minute run-time I mostly felt indifferent about the character, while not exactly underdeveloped, Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers didn’t exactly scream “intriguing or charismatic leader of the next phase of the MCU!” Larson’s acting chops can’t be denied, but she’s let down by average character development and an average script which led to an overall underwhelming portrayal of the titular character. Hopefully she gets a better go at it, going forward.

You eyeballin' me soldier?

The Kree-Skrull war which is pivotal to the plot is used to underwhelming effect, considering the available source material. The Skrulls have been portrayed as a peace loving race who have been victimized by the Kree (yeah right), they are also victims of the Directors’ need for comedic relief, providing most of the amusing scenes in the  movie. Ben Mendelsohn’s Talos was quite a letdown for me, as I would have loved to see a character closer to the source material, I mean the man is already adept at playing the villain, just unleash him! Speaking of villains, the lack of an actual villain is one of the film’s more obvious omissions, for what is a superhero, without an able antagonist? Jude Law's Yon Drogg is essentially no match for Danvers. He and the Starforce team ultimately come off as stooges of the Supreme Intelligence who also posed no serious or real threat, even Ronan the Accuser is overly underutilized as it would have been great to see him begin to show his extremist Kree beliefs here, and maybe step up to the plate.

Hello Nicholas!

Samuel L. Jackson’s portrayal of a younger naive Nick Fury was kind of fun, considering the hard-assed manipulator we know he will become, although this is overplayed and subsequently ridiculous when we find out how he lost his left, an event which is now undoubtedly the biggest anti-climactic mystery of the MCU - making that tense scene in Captain America: Civil War seem quite silly in retrospect, it is essentially a bad joke.

Despite possessing some of the more exciting powers in the MCU, Captain Marvel’s action scenes never really got into the next gear, even her final face off with the kree was quite underwhelming, although I will admit that her one man destruction of a Kree warship was a fine display of the enormity of the power she wields.

The Binary Light show

Carol Danvers’ debut appearance isn’t the most exciting thing to come out of the Disney owned studios in recent times, and being that it is the movie before she makes her appearance in Avengers: Endgame, I found it quite disenchanting. It comes across as a film that was passively made out of necessity rather than interest, mostly thriving on an already established universe rather than, on its own would-be strengths. The source origin is slightly tweaked to offer something new, and although there are fine moments in-between, it ultimately comes out as ordinary and feels all done before. Morally, Captain Marvel drives home a message in self-belief and self-worth, messages most people will appreciate and can relate to, and although it’s certainly not a terrible movie, it fails to reach the heights that some other superhero characters achieved with their origin stories. Given that Avengers: Endgame is only a couple of weeks away, the mediocrity of Captain Marvel can easily be forgotten, but if this Captain is going to lead us into the new phase of the MCU I must say, it may be hard to follow.

 Reject Rating: 6/10