Captain Marvel is the newest movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and chronicles the origins of the superhero “Carol Danvers,” a.k.a. “Captain Marvel,” as well as other characters established in the universe thus far. The movie is the 21st in the MCU and introduces the character of Captain Marvel before Avengers: Endgame hits the scene.
I tend to dabble in comics from here to there (mainly sticking to DC Comics’s Superman and The Flash), but Captain Marvel was never really one to catch my interest. Captain Marvel has had a pretty rough publication history.
The character was created by Roy Thomas and artist Gene Colan and debuted in Marvel Super-Heroes #12 in December of 1967 and started out as an alien named “Mar-Vell.”
The character was given his own comic book series, starting with Captain Marvel #1, and was not very successful. The character was rewritten and revamped throughout the years but never seemed to stick with readers. But, after winning a lawsuit against DC over the rights to the name, “Captain Marvel,” Marvel couldn’t exactly not use the name, so they had to come up with a plan.
Enter “Ms. Marvel.”
“Ms. Marvel” was a spinoff character of “Captain Marvel” that is the now well-known Carol Danvers. Ms. Marvel was a very socially progressive comic for its time, notably popularizing the term “Miss” into the mainstream, as well as creating a strong female character that could fight the baddies just as well as the men. “Ms. Marvel” was an obvious candidate to take up the mantle of “Captain Marvel” in the comics, and in 2012, she successfully became “Captain Marvel.”
But the character of Carol Danvers has not always been fully realized and usually lacked identity. So, does Captain Marvel successfully translate to the big screen?
Sadly, not really.
The performances in Captain Marvel range from fine to wooden. Samuel L. Jackson reprises his role as “Nick Fury,” but since the movie takes place in the 90s, he is more naive and ignorant. The performance he gives is solid as per usual.
Brie Larson, playing the titular Captain Marvel, gives a stiff and wooden performance, although the poor performance may be caused by rough writing and directing.
The actors and actresses playing the “Skrulls” perform well, although they are caked in makeup. Other than that, no other performance really stood out to me.
The movie’s script is dull, predictable and done-to-death. The whole, “the character’s powers are directly related to their emotions” plot has been done better in so many films. And, honestly, it would not bother me so much if it wasn’t done so poorly in this movie.
Paired with Larson’s wooden acting, the “emotions” subplot does not conclude in any sort of satisfying way. The first act assaults the audience with exposition that goes by so fast and leaves you wondering “What did they just say? What did any of that mean?”
The movie tries to get you to feel for the main character by telling you reasons why the characters have a good relationship, but never truly show their relationship in any of the scenes. The movie feels like an onslaught of bad jokes, rough acting and mediocre dialogue.
There were a couple of action scenes in the first half of the movie that felt really fun and exciting. All of the makeup in the movie looked real, and the actors sold the realism well. And… that’s about all I can give it.
I’m going to say it; DC did it first and better with Wonder Woman.
Captain Marvel is uninspired at best and a huge waste of potential at worst. If you want to get ready for Avenger: Endgame, watch it, but Captain Marvel is a mistake of galactic proportions.
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