Genre:
Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Superhero
Produced by:
Kevin Feige
Directed by:
Ryan Fleck, Anna Boden
Written by:
Meg
Lefauve, Nicole Perlman, Geneva Robertson-Dworet, Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck
Production Company: Walt Disney Pictures, Marvel Studios
Starring: Brie
Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Djimon Hounsou, Lee Pace, Lashana
Lynch, Gemma Chan, Annette Bening, Clark Gregg, Jude Law
Runtime: 124 minutes
SYNOPSIS:
A mission gone wrong forces
intergalactic warrior Carol Danvers a.k.a. Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) to crash land into planet Earth during the 1990’s.
Left on her own in what is an unfamiliar territory, Carol must team up with young
S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Nick Fury (Samuel L.
Jackson) to help her get back home, while also dealing with other
intergalactic foes coming to get her as well as a new personal truth that
maybe, just maybe, she might once had a life on Earth.
REVIEW:
There’s no denying the Marvel Cinematic
Universe’s (MCU) critical success, one which culminates with Black Panther (2018) notching a historic
first Best Picture nomination for the superhero movie genre. There’s also no
denying the MCU’s financial success, with Avengers:
Infinity War (2018) becoming the first superhero movie ever to cross the 2
billion dollar mark at the worldwide box office. Yet there’s still something
missing amongst the studio’s vast repertoire, best expressed by this question:
when will they have a female-led superhero movie?
The MCU has no shortage of female
superheroes, but in most of their movies, they’re used rather sparingly as part
of an ensemble. In other words, they’re one of the faces, but not the face. Considering MCU’s cultural
impact, that is a surprise. And it’s not a question that’s only been asked as
of late. It’s one that’s been bandied around ever since the early days of Phase
Two. And the studio’s producer Kevin
Feige always responds that an
MCU female-led superhero movie is “in the works”. Furthermore, if there is ever
going to be one, it is going to revolve around a new character, not the MCU
veterans.
After more than a decade, fans and
filmgoers will finally get their first glimpse of MCU’s maiden female-led
superhero movie in Captain Marvel. Or
to be more precise, after its rival the DC Extended Universe struck gold with
the feminist formula in Wonder Woman
(2017). And in this day and age of superhero movie rivalry, it is about a show
of one-upmanship, with Marvel trying to overthrow DC and vice versa. But it’s
difficult to argue that Captain Marvel
has much more to juggle than the Patty
Jenkins-directed pic.
On the one hand, the filmmaking duo Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck needs to make a compelling case for this character to
stand on its own merit, regardless of the MCU banner. On the other, Captain Marvel faces the unique
situation of being the movie that’s sandwiched in between two of the studio’s
biggest movies, Infinity War and Avengers Endgame (2019). Like it or not,
Captain Marvel is given the added pressure
of having to succeed as both a separate origin story as well as a set-up movie
for Endgame. With that, can it juggle
all those extra responsibilities? Or is it going to crack under such pressure?
In typical MCU fashion, Captain Marvel sweetly bridges the gap
between the movies that came before it and the movie that is about to come. It
provides answers to some of the questions laid out in Infinity War and even the other movies before it (some of which may
be satisfying, some of it may not), while at the same time raising interesting
questions heading into Endgame.
Despite all that, Boden and Fleck never lose sight on what they set
out to do in the first place: tell Captain Marvel’s story.
Since this is the character’s first ever
cinematic foray, Captain Marvel doesn’t
really have that much choice but to revert to the origin story basics. It
follows the standard procedure: the hero gains his/her power and for the rest
of the story, he/she fights crimes to truly earn his/her superhero status. Told
in chronological order, Captain Marvel
would have felt formulaic. With a non-linear narrative structure though, this
movie succeeds in breathing new life to the superhero origin story’s stale
formula.
Imagine if the Bourne Identity (2002) and Memento
(2000) are superhero movies. That’s the best way to describe Captain Marvel’s origin story style of
storytelling. The writers take what’s familiar about these superhero origin
story conventions and shift them around a bit, which give them the liberty to sidestep
the strict three-act rule, jumping forward or backward from time to time at
will. Sometimes the end is the beginning, and the beginning is the middle. Its
non-linear structure allows the audience to get a sense of what Carol is going
through as she struggles to remember her past. As Carol gets these quick flashes
of memory and tries to piece together the puzzle, it adds an element of mystery
to the movie that’s rarely found in other superhero movies these days.
On a deeper level, those quick flashes
represent the tiny breadcrumbs that Carol has to follow to regain her humanity,
which relates to its central theme. Captain
Marvel might be a female-led superhero movie, but it concerns less about
feminism, and more about something that’s much more universal: one’s pursuit of
one’s own humanity. And that has always been the most intriguing aspect of
every superhero story. The strongest hero in the world isn’t determined by his/her
superpower, but rather by his/her humanity, similar to Carol’s arc here as her human
encounter contributes to her being able to control her power and be a better
individual. It helps that Captain Marvel takes
a more character-driven focus, which enables such a simple, yet noble message
to get through.
On a mysterious level, it opens Carol’s
eyes, a narrow-minded character at the beginning of the movie, to the true
meaning of war. Captain Marvel doesn’t
take the easy way out in portraying the good and bad characters, particularly
the Kree v. Skrull conflict. It’s not as straightforward as black and white. It’s
not as straightforward as the good guy being a complete saint or the bad guy
being a moustache twirling baddie. It’s much more complicated than that. In
this movie, Kree thinks they fight for the good the same way that the Skrull
thinks they fight for the good. At the end of the day, it’s about Carol, who’s
in the middle of it all, taking the time to understand their plight, their
definition of good, which helps her decide whose side to fight for.
All of those aside, Captain Marvel can also be enjoyed as a nostalgia trip and a CGI
masterclass.
Set in the 90’s, this movie doesn’t
hesitate to insert as many references as possible.
It cannot get any more 90’s
than the sight of Carol Danvers falling through the roof of a Blockbuster video
store. From then on, the 90’s references show no signs of stopping, with cool cameos
from techs like a phone booth to a pager.
Fortunately, the writers manage to correlate
the 90’s technology with Carol’s earth adventure. As a result, certain aspects
of Carol’s story feels relatable in a sense that it unknowingly yet accurately
depicts what the Gen-Z kids are, a generation that doesn’t know a time when
technology doesn’t exist. It puts them in such scenario: what would happen when
Carol is forced to deal with the limitations of an old tech? Can she survive
with it? Or will she revert back to modern tech? And so often, Carol’s
difficulty with this old tech and the many times she reverts to modern tech to
get out of trouble produce the movie’s funnier moments.
Beyond that, Captain Marvel takes the nostalgia level up a notch with a wide
selection of 90’s bands and hits, ranging from the likes of Nirvana, TLC,
Garbage and No Doubt. And most of the songs aren’t just there for mere
decoration. There’s a fast-paced song for instance that’s used brilliantly for the
movie’s equally fast-paced climactic fight.
But Captain
Marvel isn’t just about looking back at the past. In terms of CGI, it is also
about looking into the future, marvelously displayed through the de-aging
technology applied to Samuel L. Jackson’s
and Clark Gregg’s faces. The MCU is
no stranger to the de-aging technology, usually relying on it only for brief flashback
sequences. Captain Marvel though takes
one step further and applies it throughout its entire runtime. Somehow, this
movie finds a way to make it look so seamless. One of the magic of watching CGI
imagery is when one forgets that what they’re watching is CGI, and that is the
case when de-aged versions of Nick Fury and Phil Coulson show up onscreen for
the first time. Whatever computer elements left in their faces become hardly
noticeable, such is its smooth integration to the live-action environment.
Captain
Marvel
is not a perfect movie though. It doesn’t quite grab the audience’s attention
right away, which goes down to its underlying issue: the space sequences just
aren’t as engaging as the Earth sequences.
It is by no means saying that it’s a
slog. In fact, the space sequences are the most action-packed part of the movie.
In Carol Danvers’ first appearance as a space dweller, Captain Marvel skips the traditional exposition and goes straight
into an intense, masterfully choreographed training sequence between her and
her mentor/Starforce commander Yon-Rogg (Jude
Law), which sets up a nonstop barrage of Star Trek-like space action.
Despite the action overload, there’s a
generic, go-through-the-motion feel about the space action that make them less
enduring if compared to the Earth story.
Even visually, what’s missing about Captain Marvel’s space landscape is its
own style. Sure, other MCU movies like the two Guardians of the Galaxy movies and Thor movies take place in the same universe, same solar system, but
still, there’s a distinctive visual style that sets the former apart from the
latter. Captain Marvel’s version of
space is assembled like a pastiche of those two movies’ aesthetics, which is a
disappointment considering the brand’s stylistic diversity. Here, it is really
hard to distinguish the Kree civilization in Captain Marvel to the one in, say, Guardians of the Galaxy, such is its likeness.
Also, the Starforce team is wasted in
this movie. As far as design goes, they’re cool-looking, but as far as
characterization goes, there’s really not much on paper. They’re only given as
much characterization as the Warrior Three in the Thor movies, which translates to no characterization. They feel
sort of like action movie extras, sliding into frame to land a punch or fire a
rifle to then make the swift exit when it’s character development time.
It’s not as if there’s nothing to
explore. The movie hints at a potentially strong internal conflict that’s worth
some digging between other Starforce personnel and Carol as they are forced to see
Carol, an outsider, steal their thunder. But the moment the story becomes
earthbound, the Starforce gradually vanishes into the background. Besides one
decent action sequence, they’re just kind of there.
And this extends to what should have
been the most compelling aspect of the story: the teacher-student relationship
between Yon-Rogg and Carol Danvers. After all, it is a movie about a student
who is struggling to control her power, and the teacher Yon-Rogg should have
been more influential in her emotional journey, guiding her every step of the
way. It’s an arc that would have benefitted from more character bonding moments
between the two that suggest that they have a long history together and that
their relationship runs much deeper than the ordinary teacher-student
relationship to make what’s to come more meaningful. That is not the case as
the movie is too busy with the Earth stuff that this arc gets lost in the
shuffle. Like the other Starforce members, Yon-Rogg spends almost the entirety
of this movie separated from Carol Danvers, appearing occasionally until all of
a sudden, he plays a huge part in its biggest plot twist, which ends up being
unearned and less meaningful.
Talking about Captain Marvel would not be fitting without mentioning Brie Larson, who stars as Carol Danvers
a.k.a. Captain Marvel. In a way, a huge part of what is going to make Captain Marvel work rests on Larson’s interpretation of the
character. As far as the trailer goes though, she does very little to win people’s
heart, with her performance being described by many as “lacking personality”. Having
seen the whole movie, if there is anyone to blame for her personality-free
portrayal in the trailer, it’s the marketing. Throughout the movie, Larson leads by example, combining
steeliness and, undoubtedly the most important word of the day, personality to bring
one of MCU’s most powerful, yet compelling superheroes into life. True, it does
take a while to get used to Larson’s
portrayal Carol Danvers, especially in the early scenes since she does come off
a bit flat and robotic. But there’s no doubt that she gets better as the movie
progresses, successfully grounding such a larger-than-life, godlike character. She’s
simply a fierce fighter, with a sense of humor and girl-next-door charm to boot.
Captain
Marvel
marks the ninth appearance of Samuel L.
Jackson in the MCU as S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Nick Fury. There’s no doubt that
he’s tailor-made for this role. There’s no doubt that he’s charismatic as Fury
in a specific way. Jackson steals
the show as the agent once more, albeit in an unexpected way. A fresh, atypical
take on the Nick Fury of yesteryears, the actor deconstructs everything fans know
about him. Here, he’s a looser, innocent version of Nick Fury who reacts to all
the alien weirdness and cats with childlike excitement, a complete opposite from
his typical world-weary, mysterious persona. With his chameleon acting ability,
Jackson proves that he can be as
charismatic as Fury the jokester, making all the jokes land and the chemistry
between Larson’s Carol Danvers and
Goose the Cat flow so breezily. It’s a portrayal that may work or not (particularly
with the movie’s controversial choice to reveal how Fury lost his eye).
One of the two acting surprises here
comes from Ben Mendelsohn, who takes
on the dual role as the shape-shifting Skrull Talos and his human disguise in
Fury’s boss Keller. In theory, his acting style and alien character rarely work
in the MCU. Buried under the alien’s heavy creature make-up and the Australian’s
over-the-top acting, Talos should have been a one-time MCU character meant to
be quickly forgotten. However, Mendelsohn
proves with Talos that over-the-top aliens do have a place in the MCU, to the
point that one would not mind seeing more of him in the future. His portrayal
of Talos is the right mixture between over-the-top and nuanced, as he functions
well as both a funny and sympathetic character. Talos can go from drawing
effective laughter with his antics to moving people with his unexpected humanity.
Also, he beautifully plays with American and Australian accents to distinguish
Talos’ two differing personalities.
Another acting surprise comes from the
relative unknown Lashana Lynch, who
portrays Carol’s former air force colleague Maria Rambeau. She is not in the
movie a lot, and there’s probably a good chance that there’s not much on the
page in terms of Maria’s character depth. But one thing’s for certain, she
makes every second counts. Lynch doesn’t
care if it’s only a small part in a tent-pole movie. She seems really dedicated to this role, giving more dramatic, almost
Oscar-level weight and back story to Maria than perhaps what the scriptwriters
might have imagined. She instills so much believability and raw emotions to
Carol’s sidekick that the movie doesn’t need too many scenes to be convinced
that Maria had a long history as well as a strong emotional bond with Carol. Maria,
aided by Lynch’s performance, is
part of the reason why most of the earth sequence work, why Carol’s search for
her own humanity feels a bit more accessible.
But perhaps the biggest delight in
seeing Captain Marvel is Goose the
Cat. Animal acting don’t usually get much credit, but the cats’ (played by four
different cats in Reggie, Archie, Rizzo and Gonzo) performances
here suggests that they might have a future in film career. Goose is a
character that requires versatility, and the casting director hits the jackpot
with these four cats, as evident from their ability to bring the one cat’s
dynamic personality to life. Sometimes, one cat does what a regular cat does so
authentically: be all cuddly and cute. In other times, a cat can serve as a
compatible comic/romantic pairing to Jackson’s
Fury, providing the movie and their relationship with its most tender, wackiest
moments. In other times, a cat exudes badassery at every pounce, the type that
sees Goose being one of the most powerful forces in the MCU.
CONCLUSION:
Part space odyssey, part a personal
drama about a woman’s search for her own humanity, Captain Marvel perfectly mixes old-fashioned fun superhero action,
head bopping 90’s music with plenty of heart, made merrier by its charismatic
ensemble (Brie Larson included).
Score: 9/10
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