It's been about seven months since the last MCU movie (the longest gap we've had in a while), so I've been chomping at the bit to watch its latest entry. The painful wait is over, because Captain Marvel is here! I went to see it at the earliest screening I could, and I spent the commute home itching to talk/write about it. Without further ado, here are my spoiler-free thoughts. We first meet Carol as member of Starforce, the sort of Navy SEAL equivalent for the Kree Empire. She starts out not able to recall her past on Earth, but as the events of the movie go by, she (and the audience) piece it together. It's not a revolutionary story by any means, but the non-linear manner in which it's told is at least different (though this comes at the cost of more focused storytelling). Once Carol ends up on Earth, she stumbles upon Nick Fury, who is still a normal SHIELD agent at this point in time. Between Carol's snarky demeanor and Fury being, well, Fury, they make for an entertaining duo. We also get a sense of who Fury used to be before he became the more cynical Fury we've become accustomed to, and we see how his encounter with Carol changes his outlook on SHIELD's role in protecting the world. Aside from Fury, other returning characters from previous movies like Agent Coulson, Korath (a member of Starforce here), and Ronan (who is an Accuser like he usually is, plus he sports his classic look) also make appearances, helping connect this film to the greater MCU. Unfortunately, they weren't as fleshed out as much as I would have liked, but they're not the focus of this movie, so it's not that big of a deal. The members of Starforce likewise don't get much in the way of character moments, other than Minn-Erva (who gets to be cool, but otherwise doesn't do much), Korath (who gets to be funny once, and that's it), and the commander (Jude Law's character), who is integral to Carol's story. The commander in particular (whose name I can't divulge in the off chance a fellow comic fan is reading this) doesn't quite hit the mark for me as a character, but I've yet to figure out why. Perhaps when I watch this movie again, I'll have answered this question. You also get other characters such as Maria Rambeau (Carol's best friend in the Air Force), who's awesome in her own right, Maria's daughter Monica, who is both wonderful and a possible setup for a future MCU hero, and Annette Bening's mysterious mentor character whose name I also cannot divulge, because who she turns out to be blew my fucking comic fan mind. In terms of characters, the biggest highlight for me were the Skrulls (in particular, their leader Talos). I had been waiting a long time to see these guys in the movies, and holy shit, they did an amazing job with them. Not only do they get to do a bit of Secret Invasion bullshit (nothing too major, though), they actually end up being compelling characters (as opposed to being "evil alien race #256"). I think I like the MCU Skrulls better than the comic ones, honestly. The events of the movie have the Kree-Skrull war (classic comic event right there) as their backdrop, and while you don't see how far-reaching and vast it is, you get more than enough to know what each race's deal is. They even do an amazing job subverting expectations, to the point that I (a big comic reader) was immensely surprised at certain points. The time period between the end of WWII and the events of Iron Man is uncharted territory for the MCU, with minor world-building strewn about sporadically across multiple movies (e.g. Hank Pym's time as Ant-Man, the Stark assassination, etc.), so I was happy to have a movie set somewhere in that Goldilocks zone of storytelling potential. There are tie-ins like the aforementioned returning characters, which are minor but appreciated, but there are a lot of connections, big and small alike, that go all the way back to Phase 1 and end up being major to the overarching MCU narrative. Apart from maybe one thing that I predict will be a polarizing development, I think longtime followers of the MCU will enjoy these world-building nuggets. Sadly, there's no references to the Agents of SHIELD TV show, but I knew it was wishful thinking to hope for anything. Maybe someday.... I was curious as to how they'd tackle Carol's origin and the Kree and Skrull at large, and I was quite pleased to see all sorts of comic references covering these aspects throughout the movie. There's one in particular that I really want to scream about, but it's a huge spoiler, so I must refrain from doing so. Speaking of references, Carol's cat (named Goose here) steals the goddamn show in more ways than one. Look out for the guy. Every time Carol used her powers, I couldn't help but smile, nod, and say "hell yeah". Even before she took on the Captain Marvel name in the comics, I thought she was awesome, and I couldn't be happier to finally see her badassery on the big screen. The action's solid for most of the movie, but it's easily at its best near the end. The last, big action set piece alone is worth the price of admission. All I'm gonna say about that is: Captain Marvel is gonna tear Thanos's asshole into a million fucking pieces. Holy shit. If you listened to a lot of '90s songs (like I do) or grew up in the '90s, you may get a kick out of the song selection in this movie. I caught myself singing at least twice (if you've already watched the movie, take a few guesses as to which two songs I'm talking about). This movie's got two after-credits stingers. The first (which comes at the middle) is a must-see and got me even more fucking hyped to see Avengers: Endgame next month (for reference, I'm already unbelievably hyped for that movie, and this scene pushed that hype up to an uncountable infinity). The second one comes all the way at the end, and it's more a cheeky scene that'll get a chuckle or two than something ridiculously important. Lastly, there's an amazing tribute to Stan Lee somewhere in the movie. You can't miss it. I almost felt like giving a standing ovation because of how great it was (it would've been discourteous to do that in a movie theater, so I didn't do it). Is Captain Marvel a perfect movie? I don't think so; there are some things here and there I felt could've been done better (mostly with some storytelling aspects and character stuff). That said, this movie does a lot right, and it does it quite well. Between good to great characters, clever misdirection, amazing references and MCU world-building, and sick as fuck Carol Danvers bullshit, I found more than enough to enjoy. It's not quite on the level of some Phase 3 favorites, but it doesn't have to be; Captain Marvel is a more than worthy inclusion into the already-massive MCU pantheon on its own merit. P.S. (because this is starting to piss me off):
Ignore the review bombers and other such online abominations. Forget about "owning" those people with unproductive name-calling (and justifying it with sanctimonious diatribes). Don't worry about what critics have to say (good or bad, doesn't matter; be better than giving into confirmation bias). Hell, don't even think about what I'm saying here now. Go out there, watch Captain Marvel for yourself, make your own judgment (free of any influence from preconceived notions, hopefully). Not before watching. After. Don't be that guy. More importantly, have some goddamn fun while you're at it. Are you seriously paying out of your pocket looking to get mad at what's on the screen, or what anybody else has to say about it (again, good or bad)? It's a fucking movie. Jesus Christ. And they tell me I'm the angry one. - end -
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June 2024
Derryck
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