My Review of Captain Marvel (2019)

 

Written by Anna Boden And Ryan Fleck And Geneva Robertson-Dworet And Nicole Perlman And Meg LeFauve 

Directed by Anna Boden And Ryan Fleck

Captain Marvel: "I've been fighting with one hand tied behind my back but what happens when I'm finally set free?"

It's been two years since this movie was released and it's amazing that in some respects that it seems to be quite a controversial film within the MCU with extreme groups either declaring it the best or worst of this particular franchise.

I say that because after finally sitting down to watch it, there isn't anything remotely controversial to behold here. I will say however that it took the MCU far too long for a female led property but overall this movie itself is a delight.

Brie Larson is wonderful as pilot turned super powered force of nature Carol Danvers/Vers/Captain Marvel, though she's never called the latter in this movie. Carol's origins are nicely set up, going from her discovery that her mentor Lawson (Annette Bening) was a Kree scientist named Mar-Vell  to being forced into working for the Kree, as somewhat led to an extent by Yon-Rogg (Jude Law), along with some fellow teammates who don't especially care for Carol.

However it's an encounter with the Skrulls in which Carol finds herself questioning the last six years of her life and crash landing back on Earth with Skrull leader, Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) in hot pursuit along with a teaming up with a rather younger Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) is definitely where things get more interesting and Carol finds herself learning a lot more about her past self.

The reunion with her friend and fellow pilot, Maria Rambeau (Lashana Lynch) and the latter's daughter, Monica (Akira Akbar) adds a nice touch of domesticity to proceedings along with the nice twist of Talos being more friend than foe.  Mendelsohn does some brilliant work through this movie as Talos and I really enjoyed his scenes with everyone here.

Also the more said about the Flerkin known as Goose, the better because that character more than justified the character poster it was given for this movie. Goose had some brilliant moments, especially with Fury and how it handled the Tesserect to boot.

Anyways this motley crew make for a good team against Yon-Rogg and the fight between the latter and Carol are especially well done. Of course the movie also ends with there being the plot threads of Carol wanting to end the war, Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace) also wanting Carol as a weapon and of course, whatever the Supreme Intelligence also has planned next.

- Gemma Chan who played Minn-Erva will also play Sersei for Eternals. Clark Gregg's younger Agent Coulson popped up here as well.

- The opening credits were a massive tribute to Stan Lee and he was a train commuter in this movie for his cameo.

- Standout music: Too many 90s goodness but the highlights were Garbage's Only Happy When It Rains, No Doubt's Just A Girl and Hole's Celebrity Skin.

- Chronology: Carol went missing in 1989, most of this movie took place in 1995 and the post credit scene with Natasha, Steve, Bruce and Rhodes was in the present day to set up Avengers: Endgame.

Captain Marvel is an interesting movie to watch. In terms of MCU movies, I'm not sure if it's a Top 10 for me but there's a lot to enjoy here. I loved the 90s and that in a lot of a ways, it's essentially a prequel for a lot of the MCU we know along with being a strong origin movie for Carol Danvers.

Rating: 8 out of 10