Captain Marvel

Captain Marvel

By James Davidson

“Captain Marvel” is the latest chapter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), as well as the first Marvel film with a female lead. Carol Danvers (played by Brie Larson) is a Kree warrior who has no memory of her past or how she came to have her powerful ionic abilities. The Kree are an alien race locked in a bitter war with the evil, shape-shifting Skrulls. The Skrulls use their shape-shifting abilities to infiltrate other governments and bring them down from within.

After being captured by the Skrulls, Carol escapes and crash lands on Planet Earth in 1995, where she meets young S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Nicholas Fury (played by Samuel L. Jackson). Carol must convince Fury that the Skrulls are not only real, but also currently invading Earth. Along the way, she discovers proof that she had a life on this planet which she has supposedly never been to before. Throughout the film, Carol must not only fight the Skrulls but also discover why she has flashes of memories from this strange alien planet.

It shouldn’t be a surprise to anybody at this point, that I love the MCU. I have a huge comic book collection and love anything to do with superheroes and comics. I have to admit I didn’t know much about Captain Marvel before this movie came out, other than she was the most powerful hero in the Marvel Universe. I was hoping that this movie would tell me all I wanted to know about this new (to me) hero, as well as answer some questions left at the end of the last Avengers movie, Infinity War.

While this movie did a fantastic job at introducing this new character to me, I was still left with a lot of questions about what is going on in the MCU after Infinity War. This film did loosely answer a few small questions, but it was mostly the origin story of Captain Marvel. Unfortunately it looks like we will have to wait until “Avengers: Endgame” comes out before we get any definitive answers about the future of the MCU.

As an origin story, this movie was great. It introduced a fairly unknown character, and made her interesting. I was definitely invested in the character from the beginning and I can’t wait to check out a few comics to learn more about her. The movie was a little confusing in the first act. It introduced a lot of characters and information suddenly and without explanation. I think this was by design, since Carol herself was confused about her past and had no memories. But by the second act, everything was clear and there was no confusion at all. The filmmaker did a great job at bringing everything together in the end and making the entire movie cohesive.

The special effects were very well done. There is a lot of Computer Generated Images (CGI) in the film, which I am normally not a big fan of, but it is done well and I almost didn’t even notice it. The fight scenes were amazing, Carol’s ionic powers are extremely powerful and a lot of fun to watch in action. I almost wish that there were more fight scenes in the movie to showcase her powers.

If I had one criticism of this movie it is that the bad guy just wasn’t up to snuff. There is a great plot twist in the final act, so the bad guy is not who you originally think it is. But none of the people represented as the big foe seems evil or powerful enough to rival Captain Marvel. I think the filmmaker wanted to represent that Captain Marvel’s biggest opposition was herself. But I wish that was better presented that way if that was the case. The lack of a big bad guy doesn’t really take away anything from the movie for me though. It just could have been even better with a more formidable foe in my opinion.

“Captain Marvel” is rated PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi violence and action, and brief suggestive language. It is not anything ratings-wise that we haven’t seen in a Marvel movie. If you have seen other movies in the MCU this is appropriate for you.

“Captain Marvel” is a fantastic origin story full of adventure, action, and great 90’s references. It could benefit from a better bad guy, but is a must see for any MCU fan and, of course, don’t forget to stay after the credits to see what is coming next for the MCU. I give “Captain Marvel” 4.5 out of 5 stars.