THIS IS A SPOILER FREE REVIEW. IN THE TIME IT TOOK YOU TO READ THAT SENTENCE, YOU COULD HAVE WATCHED ALL OF RONAN THE ACCUSER’S SCREENTIME IN THIS MOVIE (ADMITTEDLY AN EXAGGERATION, BUT THE POINT STILL STANDS).

Ultimately, the real endgame for Marvel Studios is to usher in a new era of heroes during this third phase of the MCU for them to capitalise on– I mean, for us to enjoy. Black Panther was box office gold. Spider-Man has been welcomed home by fans with open arms. Doctor Strange is… pretty great too. Captain Marvel was a chance to see whether the newest addition to the next generation of MCU Heroes could win us over. Does she win us over, and is her origin story refreshing and game-changing? The answer is subjective, which is why I urge you to go and see the movie and make up your own mind. I know my opinion on Captain Marvel is distinct from my friends, and I can respect and understand their opinions on this movie. All I encourage people to do is to be accepting of different perspectives, because I feel this will inevitably be a divisive film.

Captain Marvel is the 21st movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, directed by Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden based on a screenplay they wrote. The movie features an ensemble cast, including Brie Larson in the title role, as well as Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn (everyone’s favourite broadly villainous actor, whose real-life Australian accent has spawned numerous delightful impressions amongst my friendship group), Jude Law, Lashana Lynch, Clark Gregg and Annette Bening. The story focuses on Carol Danvers, member of the Kree Starforce, who is forced to confront her mysterious past as an airforce pilot as she fights the shape-shifting Skrulls and becomes Captain Marvel. Cutting any and all pretences, this movie is on a fundamental level enjoyable. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the production values of the movie, and in many ways it is a nostalgic echo back to the origin movies we used to get in phase one. However, in my humble (snobby and overly-critical) opinion, it can never escape its own sense of blandness and pretentiousness in thinking its breaking new ground. At the end of the day, it’s a mixed bag, which is unfortunate, as I was cautiously optimistic going into the movie, even going so far as defending it against some people who had already passed judgement on the movie prior to seeing it.

Obviously, many people will be considering the extent of feminist marketing which has attracted much media attention and angered many of those unhappy with political pandering in their entertainment whilst watching this movie. To those people upset about the politicizing of the movie, it is not overly political, and it doesn’t compromise the story. What does do so however is the lack of an emotional centre. I couldn’t empathise with any of the emotional stakes at hand, because they weren’t there. There’s a relationship between Carol Danvers and her female co-pilot who I couldn’t name with a gun to my head, and it’s sweet, but as the emotional core of Captain Marvel, I simply don’t care about it. Come to think of it, none of the characters really display broad emotions in this movie. There are some terrific actors, and some strong performances, but there isn’t really a broadly emotional scene in the script. In many ways, many of the characters come off as quite cynical, much to my disappointment, which effects significantly the tension and stakes at hand in the movie. I wish the relationships felt more real, more human.

This is an enjoyable, lower-stakes romp, and Fleck and Boden can evidently direct, or at least possess cinematic craft. They understand the genre of movie they’re making, which is great, but it does result in something somewhat cliché. What I’m trying to say in my own relentlessly pessimistic way is that the movie doesn’t really push any boundaries: it’s playing it very safe. The script I don’t have a major issue with: it’s a simple story, something I feel worked well with Ant-Man and the Wasp, and despite a lack of emotion at the centre of the plot, and the overpowering of the protagonist totally killing the stakes in Act three (more on that momentarily), it’s coherent and moves at a good pace.

(A few gently implied spoilers ahead. I’m too polite to not warn you. I don’t directly refer to anything, but I do infer certain plot details. Read on, at your peril… I guess).

Now, Captain Marvel could affect Endgame considerably, something I shall now elaborate on, along with a theory I’ve devised/noticed and given a name, that being, ‘Saviour of the Justice League’. Why, you may ask, is this relevant to Captain Marvel? To put it concisely, in the movie Justice League (Spoilers for that by the way), the League are working together to defeat Steppenwolf. Then they resurrect Superman, and essentially during the climactic fight sequence of the movie, he pretty much defeats Steppenwolf without the help of the other heroes in the League, because he’s simply so powerful. Captain Marvel gives us a hero with unparalleled power, similarly to Superman. If she shows up in Endgame, it will sort of make the other Avengers somewhat redundant, and that could affect the coherency and emotional poignancy of that story. I’ll probably do an article on this in the near future, but in terms on the way her seemingly limitless power affects the Captain Marvel movie, it drains Act three of any and all suspense: she’s unstoppable. I won’t delve into spoilers, and I’ve probably already given too much away, but you get what I’m saying.

Let’s talk performances, folks. Brie Larson can act. I have no doubt of that. In this movie she’s… ok, and it’s fair to say her performance was somewhat betrayed by the marketing. However, it was accurate in portraying her lack of emotional range. It sort of goes from stoic to smirking, with very little in-between. It’s semi-hilarious that characters routinely refer to her as being ’emotional’ and ‘funny’, because unfortunately she’s neither of these things. Larson can act, but there’s a difference between that and being a comic actor. I feel we just need to give her time to settle into her role rather than broadly criticizing her straight away for not putting a definitive spin on it. In some scenes, particularly towards the end of the movie, she does seem to be doing an RDJ as Tony Stark impression (watch it again and you can’t un-see it), although you could argue the same is true of Benedict Cumberbatch, and everyone loves him as Doctor Strange. Be patient, and I’m sure she’ll win us over.

Larson included, the rest of the cast is compiled of talented actors. Ben Mendelsohn is great as Talos, and I generally enjoyed the Skrulls in this movie. I hope to see them in an awesome Fantastic Four movie in future. Samuel L. Jackson doesn’t give a bad performance, and this is no exception (he can make any line of dialogue feel authentic, I attest), although without getting into spoilers, his character is completely butchered in this movie. Let’s just say that when you listen to his “Last time I trusted someone, I lost an eye” line again, it will never feel quite the same, nor will he when he appears in Far From Home later this year. I must commend however the excellent de-aging on both Fury and Coulson in this movie. It’s truly heading into that uncanny valley of CGI. Djimon Hounsou and Lee Pace are criminally underuse in here, but they make up a similarly strong ensemble, which also features stellar turns from Jude Law (who I’ve been giving a hard time recently, particularly after Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald) and Annette Bening.

Oh yeah. Goose the cat is now my everything. 🙂

To conclude, I’ve been harsh on this movie, and I must reinforce that it’s entertaining enough as a piece of passive escapism. I just wish it was instilled with a little more humanity. Consequently, I can’t rate it any higher than middle-lower tier MCU. Which is a hard blow to stomach for me this far down the line.

VERDICT: MEH

Well, we’re another movie closer to Endgame. Feel free to leave your own opinions on Captain Marvel in the comments below (no email submission required anymore). I encourage lively discussion: having opinions on movies will benefit this industry with better movies going forwards I feel.

Otherwise, thank you all for reading, don’t forget to like this post and if you feel like it, follow my website for a range of delightful articles. One last note that Cinema Vault discourages the punching of old women to check that they’re Skrulls, and that just leaves one thing left to say – I bid you adieu! 🙂