Captain Marvel

In late 2014, film producer, Kevin Feige announced a string of films related to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) linked to an ongoing storyline involving The Infinity Stones. One of the planned films of “Phase 3” focuses on Carol Danvers journey as “Captain Marvel.” For those who don’t who Captain Marvel is, let me explain the history surrounding the character.

Back in 1968, Carol Danvers made her first appearance in a comic book issue titled, “Marvel Super-Heroes issue number 13 as a U.S. Air Force Pilot who got caught in an explosion from an alien device belonging to an extraterrestrial species called, “The Kree.” After that, she was never heard from again. Nine Years Later, Carol came back in her own comic book series titled, “Ms. Marvel” now a superhuman with strength, energy blasts & flight. The reason why she has powers is because the original Captain Marvel known as “Mar-Vell,” whose genetic code & the explosion from the alien device resulted in mixture of transforming Carol into a half-human, half-kree.

Over the years, Ms. Marvel made several crossover appearances in The Avengers, X-Men & Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. participating in epic battles to fight foes from each teams. Rogue (one of the X-Men) permanently absorbed Carol’s powers after a fight between the two. Despite a setback, Ms. Marvel survived and went to become Captain Marvel in a Spider-Man comic labeled, “Avenging Spider-Man” issue number 9 published in July, 2012, two months after The Avengers movie came out.

Besides crossover appearances Carol appeared in cartoons including X-Men: The Animated Series, The Super Hero Squad Show & The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. She’s also a playable character in “Marvel Ultimate Alliance,” it’s sequel, an upcoming third game, Lego Marvel Superheroes, plus it’s sequel & mobile games.

For those who confused around the fact we have two Captain Marvel’s from Marvel & DC Comics, is because back in The 60’s Stan Lee learned that Fawcett Comics, the original creator of Billy Batson, was available without legal problems, decades later, DC Comics renamed Billy’s codename as “Shazam.”

I have to admit, I never read a comic book about Carol Danvers, I’m only familiar with her in her guest spot in X-Men: The Animated Series, the episode is called, “A Rogue’s Tale” & video games appearances.

Brie Larson (Room, Kong: Skull Island) signed on to play Carol in her first live action cinematic debut. Her origin story is set in The 90’s befriending Nick Fury as they team up to track down The Skrulls led by Talos who are on a mission to retrieve a hidden clue linked on Earth.

During the marketing campaign for Captain Marvel, Brie demanded less white men, more diversity from various cultures & races. This irritated a lot of people including James Woods (Hades from Hercules) who boycotted the film, because of Brie’s comments, several Rotten Tomatoes users downgraded the upcoming film with an audience score of 28 percent, this caused the website to banish the online trolls before the actual movie comes out.

I don’t want to make everybody mad, everyone’s entitled to their own opinion whether they support a specific cause or side. I think Brie is going way overboard on her activism for Women’s Rights. Unlike Emma Watson, she crossed the line if I were her boyfriend/agent, I would’ve told her to get some help or apologize to the people/fans you ticked off. I also suspect that the online trolls are probably R. Kelly supporters who let Kelly got away for peeing on girls.

Let’s change the subject and move to what’s good or bad about the movie, not discuss about controversy surrounding the picture. I want to judge the movie’s merits based on its strengths & weaknesses not downgrading based on a scandal.

Today’s review doesn’t contain no very important SPOILERS. If you haven’t got a chance to see Captain Marvel, feel free to read my non-spoiler article. There might be LIGHT SPOILERS in the negative selection.

High & Low Aspects

High: Brie Larson did a decent job for her performance as the title character.

Samuel L. Jackson, Clark Gregg, Djimon Hounsou & Lee Pace reprise their roles from previous MCU films & they all did a fantastic job for their performances.

Newcomers to the MCU including Jude Law, Ben Mendelsohn, Gemma Chan & Annette Bening also did a fantastic job for their performances.

Fun Fact: Jude Law is third Watson (Sherlock Holmes’ sidekick) to appear in the MCU. Martin Freeman & Chiwetel Ejiofor are the other two Watsons. Robert Downey Jr & Benedict Cumberbatch both played Sherlock.

Action Sequences contain legit moments influenced by 90’s action films.

Filmmaking duo, Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck both did a good job writing & directing the film.

Composer, Pinar Toprak (Krypton, Fortnite) did a good job orchestrating music. She’s the first female composer to score music in an MCU film.

The Crew carefully told Carol’s origin story told in flashbacks to avoid ripping off Green Lantern’s origin story, otherwise they would’ve been sued by DC Comics in a special episode of “The People’s Court.”

Costume Designs for the film is taken straight outta the comics. Carol’s green suit is based on an earlier version of the costume. Carol’s red & blue outfit is done right.

Visual Effects are gorgeous bringing environmental locations to life, planets, complex sets & a de-aging technique to make Nick Fury & Phil Coulson younger. I’m giving the effects team Bonus Points for pushing a boundary based on making actors look younger. Thank god they don’t look plastic like Patrick Stewart & Ian McKellen in the opening flashback scene from “X-Men: The Last Stand.” We’ve come a long way since de-aging was experimented back in 2006.

We get to see how Nick Fury’s eye was damaged in the first place.

We also learn about Talos’ (leader of The Skrulls) motive on why he’s lookin’ for answers linked on Earth.

Chemistry between Carol & Nick served as one of the main highlights of the movie. Their partnership is similar to John McClane & Zeus’ chemistry from Die Hard With A Vengeance. Sam Jackson himself played Zeus.

Speaking of 90’s action films, Captain Marvel is influenced by “Terminator 2: Judgement Day,” “Pulp Fiction,” “Ghost In The Shell,” “Die Hard With A Vengeance,” “The Long Kiss Goodnight,” “Independence Day,” “The Fifth Element” & “The Mummy.”

Captain Marvel is also influenced by non-90’s films such as “The French Connection,” “The Conversation” & “RoboCop.”

Songs from The 90’s are featured in the film.

Carol’s cat is named Goose. A reference to “Top Gun.” Perhaps Carol is a Tom Cruise fan like me.

Stan Lee makes a cameo appearance in the most heartwarming way.

The film dedicates Stan’s memory which made Kevin Smith burst into tears. I’m giving Marvel a tremendous amount of points & it also managed to make me shed tears.

A Mid-Credits Scene & a Post-Credits Scene sets up the next installment of the MCU.

Low: The identity of Mar-Vell (the original Captain Marvel) is totally inaccurate. I can’t tell you about it since this is a non-spoiler review.

A Plot Hole involving why government agents don’t remember Carol’s disappearance as she’s in person.

Another Plot Hole involving why an entire space crew orbiting in space managed to survive a few years without starving to death.

The Final Verdict: B-

In my opinion, Captain Marvel is an average superhero flick. It is not a first class epic like Avengers: Infinity War nor is that bad like Jennifer Garner’s Elektra movie. It has some positive elements that are redeemable including Carol & Nick’s chemistry, the time period, origin story etc. If you’re excited to see Avengers: Endgame as I am, I recommend this movie.