Captain Marvel (B or 3/4 stars)
'Captain Marvel' (directed by Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck) is the 1st female-led superhero movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and, well, it's about time!! One of the most powerful superheroes around ... what have they been waiting for!? The year is 1995 and 'Vers' (Brie Larson) is a member of the powerful, peace-loving Kree Starforce on the planet Hala. Vers' commander, Col. Yon-Rogg (Jude Law), is teaching her the proper usage of her ability to shoot bursts of power from her glowing hands. During a mission, Vers is captured by the Skrulls, a nefarious race of green shape-shifters led by Gen. Talos (Ben Mendelsohn). A note of interest: Vers has no memory prior to her arrival on Kree 6 yrs. ago, but dreams bring visions of her past.
Evading them, she ultimately crashes on Planet C-53 (Earth, to us) into a Blockbuster Video store in L.A. & teams-up with Nick Fury (a de-aged Samuel L. Jackson), just a regular agent at the time {not yet S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Director}. Vers & Nick Fury learn that she was a U.S. Air Force fighter pilot named Carol Danvers in 1989, along with her mentor, Tesseract inventor Dr. Wendy Lawson (a sly Annette Bening), when they crashed while testing Lawson's light-speed engine. As Carol regains lost memories & pieces together her background - like a meaningful friendship with Maria (Lashana Lynch) - she realizes that the Kree Starforce was controlling her by limiting her abundance of powers. After regaining her full force, learning about her destiny & uncovering secrets about the war she's been entangled in ... she becomes the seemingly unstoppable Captain Marvel.
I was not blown away by 'Captain Marvel', but it is a solid entry in the Marvel superhero movie canon. It's not 'basic', but it doesn't really 'sing', either - and really - it SHOULD have been an OMG type of movie; kinda like Wonder Woman was for the DC Cinematic Universe. But I digress for now. This movie is fun, engaging & rewarding on several levels. The plot for this film is pretty paint-by-the-numbers, but that doesn't necessarily lessen its impact. I enjoy Avengers origin stories. There are humorous quips aplenty. Watching Carol unleash the full extent of her powers is wonderful. I loved the introduction of young Nick Fury. And the character of Goose the Cat provides many moments of 'awww', ' LOL', & 'damnnn!'.
Carol Danvers is a great female heroine: confident, smart, full of self-worth, not sexualized, morally-centered, & bad-ass. Furthermore, there's an 'everywoman' quality about her {perhaps, because of her amnesiac human component}. And to that, Brie Larson does a stellar job, here. I also enjoyed her camaraderie with Samuel L. Jackson {who is aways a delight}. I liked Jude Law's Col. Yon-Rogg and, he is part of a memorably humorous face-off with Captain Marvel. It's great to see Annette Bening in a Marvel film and, shocker, she brings gravitas to her role. Gemma Chan kicks butt as Kree soldier, Minerva. And supporting actors Djimon Hounsou, Clark Gregg {yay} & Lee Pace add to the proceedings.
'CM' impresses visually, yet didn't 'blow me away' as a spectacular extravaganza, either. The sets (other planets & on Earth ... Blockbuster Video!} are stellar. The CGI is good, if not overly unique. The obligatory action sequences are standard, if well-choreographed. And in another first, Pinar Toprak composed the music here, making her the 1st female to score an MCU movie. Having said that, while it's good, it's doesn't have an earworm quality. So overall, 'Captain Marvel' checks all the boxes. I like how strong a role model Carol Danvers is for women. I'd put the film somewhere in the middle of the voluminous Marvel film pantheon. But boy, did I hope it'd be near the TOP; especially ahead of Avengers: Endgame, and when Wonder Woman immersed us in such rich back story & mythology.
Evading them, she ultimately crashes on Planet C-53 (Earth, to us) into a Blockbuster Video store in L.A. & teams-up with Nick Fury (a de-aged Samuel L. Jackson), just a regular agent at the time {not yet S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Director}. Vers & Nick Fury learn that she was a U.S. Air Force fighter pilot named Carol Danvers in 1989, along with her mentor, Tesseract inventor Dr. Wendy Lawson (a sly Annette Bening), when they crashed while testing Lawson's light-speed engine. As Carol regains lost memories & pieces together her background - like a meaningful friendship with Maria (Lashana Lynch) - she realizes that the Kree Starforce was controlling her by limiting her abundance of powers. After regaining her full force, learning about her destiny & uncovering secrets about the war she's been entangled in ... she becomes the seemingly unstoppable Captain Marvel.
I was not blown away by 'Captain Marvel', but it is a solid entry in the Marvel superhero movie canon. It's not 'basic', but it doesn't really 'sing', either - and really - it SHOULD have been an OMG type of movie; kinda like Wonder Woman was for the DC Cinematic Universe. But I digress for now. This movie is fun, engaging & rewarding on several levels. The plot for this film is pretty paint-by-the-numbers, but that doesn't necessarily lessen its impact. I enjoy Avengers origin stories. There are humorous quips aplenty. Watching Carol unleash the full extent of her powers is wonderful. I loved the introduction of young Nick Fury. And the character of Goose the Cat provides many moments of 'awww', ' LOL', & 'damnnn!'.
Carol Danvers is a great female heroine: confident, smart, full of self-worth, not sexualized, morally-centered, & bad-ass. Furthermore, there's an 'everywoman' quality about her {perhaps, because of her amnesiac human component}. And to that, Brie Larson does a stellar job, here. I also enjoyed her camaraderie with Samuel L. Jackson {who is aways a delight}. I liked Jude Law's Col. Yon-Rogg and, he is part of a memorably humorous face-off with Captain Marvel. It's great to see Annette Bening in a Marvel film and, shocker, she brings gravitas to her role. Gemma Chan kicks butt as Kree soldier, Minerva. And supporting actors Djimon Hounsou, Clark Gregg {yay} & Lee Pace add to the proceedings.
'CM' impresses visually, yet didn't 'blow me away' as a spectacular extravaganza, either. The sets (other planets & on Earth ... Blockbuster Video!} are stellar. The CGI is good, if not overly unique. The obligatory action sequences are standard, if well-choreographed. And in another first, Pinar Toprak composed the music here, making her the 1st female to score an MCU movie. Having said that, while it's good, it's doesn't have an earworm quality. So overall, 'Captain Marvel' checks all the boxes. I like how strong a role model Carol Danvers is for women. I'd put the film somewhere in the middle of the voluminous Marvel film pantheon. But boy, did I hope it'd be near the TOP; especially ahead of Avengers: Endgame, and when Wonder Woman immersed us in such rich back story & mythology.