The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) missed the boat when they refused / delayed the Black Widow movies early on. As a result, Wonder Woman hit the screen and made history. MCU from this point onward was playing catch up. The result was Captain Marvel hitting the cinemas in 2019.
Captain Marvel built up a lot of hype, not only because it is MCU first and only female superhero movie in the 11 years and after over 20 films, but also because of the significance of Carol Danvers in the comics. It is a much-loved character and without the burdening background of Black Widow in the MCU, Marvel Entertainment can really play with their material in an imaginative way.
The movie is an origin story in the 90s explaining where Captain Marvel came from through a bunch of flash back and flash forward scenes. It is a well-known fact that the premise was the Kree-Skrull War and Carol Danvers by the chance of fate sided with the Kree. A green (both experience and uniform colour) operative agent Carol encountered the Skrull and slowly peeled off her history layer by layer. There are lots of time movements in the film, so I would recommend audience members to pay attention to every screen to make sure they did not miss out important information. At times I felt the plot a bit convoluted but probably Marvel wanted to craft a more complicated character for Carol but I do not know whether some audience would find it confusing. There are quite a few moments that delivered nods to previous MCU movies and tied in to the overarching MCU story arc. However, one of the major item plot point in the movie got me scratching my head as it was confusing. Maybe I need to revisit older movies to find out more or maybe Marvel had more to tell about that story I don’t know. But when that plot twist happened, I genuinely had a “Huh?” moment.
Brie Larson in the titular role delivered a solid performance. From fighting scenes to just simple posing for her presence you can see that Brie had put a lot of effort to deliver the grandiose of this important Marvel character. She presented as a rogue agent in a disciplined team and Samuel L Jackson’s Nick Fury did not waste a bit of time to call her out. Her moments of reckoning were well played and sometimes I did wonder how could she make it interesting when the character is so unrivallingly powerful? A ‘young’ Samuel L Jackson reprised his role as Level 3 Agent Fury in SHIELD. I was quite surprise at such a low level he got such high degree of clearance. But you can certainly see the chemistry between Brie’s Carol and Sam’s Fury. As a result, most of their scenes together were the best in the whole movie. Their banter and borderline distrust with each other initially unwittingly made them the best partners in the MCU. Clark Gregg also reprised as a young Agent Coulson being just joining SHIELD but already showed traces of judgement and leadership for his later years in the MCU. There are other famous faces such as Jude Law, Annette Benning etc. who delivered solid performances but they were just not on the screen long enough for me to enjoy them. Also, for me the two scene stealers were Goose and Akira Akbar’s Monica Rambeau. Goose well, is Goose, it is destined for great things. But Akira’s Monica was full of personality. I do not know whether MCU will utilise her further in the future as a character but Akira had certainly created a rich character despite for her minor screen presence.
The film was set in the 90s. So, expect a lot of 90s soundtracks peppered across the whole movie. I also like how they made fun of the technology in the 90s, particularly the scenes about the CD ROM and dialled up Internet. Captain Marvel is the last movie before Avengers End Game. So, expect a lot of hints and scene setting for End Game and some of the other movies (hence making me more confused about one of the plot twists that post a question mark on the time line for me). If you are a fan of mid and end credit scenes, be sure to sit through the whole mid and end credits.
Overall, I enjoyed Captain Marvel a lot. I had never one moment needed to check my watch and when things are funny on screen, I truly laughed out loud. Whether Captain Marvel would make history or MCU history is still a bit too early to say, but it did set up End Game nicely to create the necessary anticipation for all MCU fans.
