Marvel finally premiered their first female-led full length film on March 8 with the debut of “Captain Marvel.” Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, “Captain Marvel” is becoming the biggest movie of 2019 after having the sixth highest grossing opening for a film worldwide. Following the Marvel Cinematic movie structure, Carol Danvers had all the qualities of a superhero before a fateful event gave her powers. The film is ultimately about the protagonist finding her- self through her three identities of Vers, Carol Danvers and Captain Marvel.
The film begins, as all the company’s films do, with the famous Marvel comics flashing across the screen until they spell out Marvel. This was Marvel’s first release since the death of Stan Lee, the creator of Marvel comics. A tribute of all his cameos was shown before the screening.
Super-powered Vers (Brie Larson) wakes up on the futuristic alien planet Hala, home to the Kree, an advanced, aggressive extraterrestrial species. She cannot remember anything about her life before she reached Hala and wants to know who she was. Vers wakes up from a nightmare and seeks comfort in her mentor, Yon-Rogg (Jude Law), in the form of a training session. Vers is a formidable fighter but has trouble controlling her powers because she can’t remember how to.
The Skrulls, who are enemies of the Kree, ambush Vers and her team on their first mission, leading to her being captured. Vers fights off the Skrulls in one of the coolest close-combat scenes and takes off in an escape pod.
When Vers ends up on Earth during the 1990s, SHIELD arrives at the scene in the form of artificially young Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg). After a classic chase scene and a bit of repartee, Fury and Vers investigate Project Pegasus, which was led by Wendy Lawson, an undercover Kree actually named Mar-Vell. They discover Vers’ past is not what she thought it was and she rethinks everything the Kree have told her.
There was harsh criticism before this movie came out, mainly gender-biased complaints of Captain Marvel being too powerful. However, no one said this about Thor, an Avenger who is a literal god. Critiques about the film should be about the timing since some parts dragged on too long and others were gone in the blink of the eye.
Marvel is known for producing the greatest action movies, with moments in each film where action blends beautifully with the over- arching plot and proves the hero is even greater than the audience could have imagined. Yet, there was no moment like that here because she was already the most powerful and she doesn’t have to prove herself to the audience. Instead, it felt like Marvel was proving the character to the critics.
However, the entire movie is about Captain Marvel’s backstory and there is still so much to understand. By the end, she is still mysterious to the audience because small details about her character are completely glossed over to focus on the flashy action. For example, she doesn’t have a good relationship with her parents, but that’s only shown in a short clip of her dad looking disapprovingly at her. She’s in the Air Force, but why did she join?
This problem is addressed in the comics, where her home life is shown at length. Of course, a story can be fleshed out in greater detail in a comic book but this is supposed to be Captain Marvel’s origin story, are we meant to just ignore her life before she was given powers?
After watching the movie there is no doubt Captain Marvel is posed to be the next powerhouse of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This movie is amazing overall, full of beautiful visuals and an insanely talented cast.
Lashana Lynch’s portrayal of Carol’s best friend, Maria Rambeau, stole every scene she was in. Rambeau and her daughter, Monica, became the anchor to Danver’s previous life, and Rambeau’s worry and grief about her formerly-dead best friend can be felt heavily on screen.
Fury, who usually plays the mysterious and cool SHIELD agent, took on the role of the funny buddy in this film. Every scene with Danvers and Fury shows their chemistry, along with an adorable orange cat named Goose, through banter and their road trip.
Captain Marvel is the powerhouse and the catalyst for the next saga of Marvel movies. Captain Marvel will return in “Avengers: Endgame,” which premieres April 26.
