“Captain Marvel”
Welcome to the column where I talk about the MCU’s latest release, Captain Marvel
Warning: Slight spoilers may be present.
If you didn’t know, The MCU’s first female led movie, Captain Marvel released on March 8 worldwide. It is the latest film in the MCU wagon. It stars Carol Danvers as she goes on a journey of self discovery, trying to figure out what kind of person she was all the while being confident about the person she wants to be.
The synopsis of the movie reads as:
- Captain Marvel is an extraterrestrial Kree warrior who finds herself caught in the middle of an intergalactic battle between her people and the Skrulls. Living on Earth in 1995, she keeps having recurring memories of another life as U.S. Air Force pilot Carol Danvers. With help from Nick Fury, Captain Marvel tries to uncover the secrets of her past while harnessing her special superpowers to end the war with the evil Skrulls.
The Movie
I’ll be honest; Carol Danvers has never actually been a favorite of mine. She was always just there. Nothing about her ever appealed to me, but I was reasonably excited for this movie. It is a MCU film and they always put out good quality, or at the very least, decent movies.
The movie was good. It wasn’t the best but it was good and enjoyable. I do like Carol a little bit more now. The movie works best if you think of it as an origin story for a superhero. As origin stories go, I do feel like it is a bit overcomplicated needlessly but whatever. At this point, I am reminded of something I must address
Controversy
Captain Marvel as a film and a character has been going through a lot of troubles over the past few years.
In the comic world, Carol has been subjected to a lot of bad writing, characterizations, and decisions which has made her a very polarizing figure. It is also worth wondering why Captain Marvel is the first female MCU film. Carol Danvers has never been a major hero until a few years ago. Then why, right?
It is only due to the fact that almost every major Marvel female character belongs to the X-Men or Fantastic Four or is a legacy character. (Black Widow was happening at a slow rate. Scarlet witch doesn’t have the following, yet). This caused the studio to look for a person who can be connected to the avengers and the only person, either fortunately or unfortunately, was Carol Danvers. That’s my train of thought and I would argue that it is definitely true.
There is also the much bigger controversy plaguing Captain Marvel. Actress Brie Larson and her “comments”, and the belief that it is feminism loaded movie. While I don’t want to go on about what she said, whether it was misinterpreted or not, I do want to say a few things.
It is definitely not a forced feminism movie; it is simply a movie about a powerful female superhero. That’s it. I think people forget that Brie Larson just acted in this movie. She didn’t create the character, didn’t direct the movie nor did she write it.
What I want to say is, try to watch the movie as its own entity free of any preconceived notions that you might have against the actress.
A Review
I don’t want to spoil the movie much; I will just say the movie is quite good. I had a feeling I would like it and I did. As MCU movies go, it is definitely a worthy addition to the franchise. Brie Larson and Samuel Jackson effectively carry the movie with Goose being the undoubtable scene stealer (I don’t even like cats, but I gotta admit it). The story of how Nick Fury lost his eye, how the influence for “Avengers” came around and an awesome credits scene tying directly to Avengers Endgame bringing Captain Marvel into the fight. (Note: Avengers Endgame hits North American theaters on April 26, 2019.)
Conclusion
I just want to say one more thing before I end this little “column”.
Captain Marvel is not Wonder Woman, not in terms of popularity or in regards with their films. Carol Danvers will never be able to eclipse the popularity of Wonder Woman. That is a fact.
Just make sure you judge this movie as a movie, not some vendetta against the actress or whatever. If you do, then you might like it or hate the movie depending on its own merit and your own enjoyment
Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck from a script they wrote with Liz Flahive, Carly Mensch, Meg LeFauve, Nicole Perlman and Geneva Robertson-Dworet, Captain Marvel stars Brie Larson as Carol Danvers, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Jude Law as Mar-Vell, Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson, Lee Pace as Ronan the Accuser, Djimon Hounsou as Korath the Pursuer, Gemma Chan as Minn-Erva, Ben Mendelsohn as Talos and Lashana Lynch as Maria Rambeau. The film arrived Mar. 8.
Let me know what you think of this column at marveldcallaccess@gmail.com
