It is always a delight to see the Marvel Cinematic Universe to bring many independent directors to the table like Ryan Coogler (Creed, Fruitvale Station) for last year’s “Black Panther”, Taika Waititi (What We Do in the Shadows, Hunt for the Wilderpeople) for “Thor: Ragnarok”, and Scott Derrickson (Sinister, Deliver Us from Evil) for “Doctor Strange”.
This year, they hired Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck of “It’s Kind of a Funny Story” to direct a decent-enough story told by the eyes of Carol Danvers’ times in the mid 1990’s in “Captain Marvel”.
It is also there to serve as a vital tie-in to my most anticipated film of 2019, “Avengers: Endgame”.
“Captain Marvel” tells the story of Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) encompassing the time of 1995 where she (as Starforce member Vers) is suffering from recurring nightmares involving an older woman as well as her past life remembrance.
On the Kree Empire’s capital planet of Hala, Danvers has a mentor on her side named Yon-Rogg (Jude Law), who keeps her behaviors in check as usual.
Carol Danvers also meets Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) before he got his eye patch and of course bonds a friendship with Fury. Nick along with S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) has an investigation that is interrupted by a Skrull attack.
Carol soon becomes “Captain Marvel” during when Earth is caught in the middle of a galactic problem between two alien regions.
Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck have a very independent-focused filmography with films such as “Half Nelson” with Ryan Gosling (Ryan Fleck only directed), the baseball drama “Sugar”, and the fantastic teenage dramedy “It’s Kind of a Funny Story”.
With their direction on “Captain Marvel” though, Boden and Fleck handle the superhero genre solid enough, but not entirely into a new ground where it is like Anthony and Joe Russo (of Avengers: Infinity War and Captain America: Civil War) with bringing in real-life scenarios and revolutionizing the superhero villain (villain in general) with Thanos.
I would rank this film for sure near the bottom where last year’s “Ant-Man & The Wasp” and “Avengers: Age of Ultron” are located on my list of the MCU films.
There are flaws with “Captain Marvel”, but honestly do not harm the film from being a bad movie. For example, the Skrull villains seemed very weak compared to other MCU villains where they had strong motivations and character structure. Annette Bening could have used more screen time since her role as the Supreme Intelligence seemed interesting.
Having said this, if you look at it as a fun, enjoyable ’90’s throwback adventure, it for sure works on its own grounds as that.
Brie Larson as Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers fits the role perfectly as the character whom embodies the body language and structure of her very well. I cannot wait for her to finally defeat Thanos in next month’s “Avengers: Endgame”.
Samuel L. Jackson is also very funny and charming as (once used to be) Carol’s sidekick, Nick Fury. Lately, Jackson has been bringing out really clever, humorous chemistry with “The Hitman’s Bodyguard” and “Kong: Skull Island”, which is probably the main reason I admire him so much to this day.
The soundtrack (not as good as “Guardians of the Galaxy”) and references to the ’90’s are at times very unnecessary, but mostly bring joyful fun to the ride where during the climax of the film, No Doubt’s “Just a Girl” plays when Carol Danvers is ready to defeat some Skrulls.
Also, there is a scene-stealing cat called Goose that gave me really good laughs especially when he is laying straight on the cloaked lab ship with the cat’s face looking really strange.
Overall, “Captain Marvel” serves as a solid preparation appetizer to “Avengers: Endgame” and a well-told origin story at the same time. It of course isn’t going to be one of the more memorable stories of the MCU, but will be remembered in hopes of Carol to defeat the mighty Grimace-monster himself, Thanos.
Grade: 6.5/10
