Captain Marvel — KB Movie Thoughts

*WARNING SPOILERS*

Seen 3/10/19

The first female led MCU entry is finally here. I have been waiting for this ever since it was announced back in 2014 that Marvel Studios would be making a Captain Marvel film. Knowing Captain Marvel from the comics, I knew she was incredibly powerful and had a very strong personality. A perfect combination for a character in their own solo movie.

I think it is important when you watch this movie to make your opinion only off of what you have just watched and ask yourself “how was this movie as a movie?”. You need to almost forget all the other MCU movies you may have seen prior. It is very easy to right away slip in to the mindset of “where does this rank in the entirety of the MCU?” which can skew your opinion and I don’t think that is very fair to the film. Now at some point I will rank this movie amongst all the MCU movies, but for now I am just looking at this movie on its own merit.

First of all, I really enjoyed Brie Larson’s performance in this movie. She made Carol Danvers/ Captain Marvel come to life. The way she delivers her snarky dialogue, the way she emotes herself when she is facing her inner struggles of who she is as she has these flashes of memories that she doesn’t remember, or the confidence she then portrays which allows her to finally use her powers in full. It is just a solid job that sells me on her character. I was really happy with the casting of Brie Larson when they announced she would be playing Captain Marvel (the tweet/picture of her preparing for the role also helped) and I was not disappointed.

I also really enjoyed the relationships between Carol/Captain Marvel and the other characters though out the movie. It was a great way to help understand Captain Marvel on a person level and really ground her character and make her relatable. The relationship between Carol and Fury I thought was really great. Their personalities match very well and because of that I believed this friendship that is created almost instantly. It also makes sense why, in the midcedit scene when we see Captain Marvel show up in response to the pager from Infinity War and she asks the other Avengers “where’s Fury”, she is visibly pissed. She knows that Fury wouldn’t use the pager unless it was an absolute emergency (as she clearly tells him) and when he isn’t there she knows something is up and now it’s personal for her. She truly cares about their friendship even after all that time.

Now the overall story is just fine. It isn’t mind blowing and sure at times it is even predictable. I do wish we got to see a little bit more of Carol’s past life. We see short little glimpses of her past during a couple of cut together flashbacks and memories. We also get a brief mention how she had family issues and that is why her best friend, Maria Rambeu and her daughter (another great relationship in the movie), were like her family. I think it would have been nice for them to show us that history she had instead of just mentioning it in passing. However, I am OK with this story. The strength of the main character and those supporting her completely make up for it, at least in my mind.

Overall I had an enjoyable time watching this movie. I will admit I probably enjoyed the Blockbuster and Radio Shack throwbacks more than your average person. But it’s a fun comic book/action adventure movie that I think most will enjoy. Also be warned there is a charming tribute to Stan Lee (R.I.P) at the beginning that may get you right in the feels.