 |
| Poster by Matt Taylor for Mondo Tees |
Title: Captain Marvel
Rating: PG-13
Starring: Brie Larson, Samuel L Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Jude Law, Annette Bening
Directors: Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck
Review: ⭐️⭐️1/2; Above Average
The controversy surrounding Marvel’s latest superhero blockbuster, ‘Captain Marvel,’ is somewhat confusing. Here is a film that goes out of its way to stay as a-political as possible. Indeed, if directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck truly intended for ‘Marvel’ to be feminist propaganda, then the two failed miserably in their efforts. True, chauvinists appear throughout the movie during occasional flashbacks (particularly eye-roll-worthy is the line, "You know why they call it a ‘cockpit,’ don’t you?"), but they were largely used for comedic effect, and never once taken seriously. It’s a shame, then, that Brie Larson, while promoting the film, commented on various journalists’ gender. If she had not, politics may have evaded the film altogether.
‘Captain Marvel,’ which opened March 8 in the United States, is a solid B-movie. Sure, the picture takes a good 20-minutes or so to get rolling, but for the most part it contains lots of action, lots of humor, and for those who know little of the title character, perhaps even one or two surprises. Brie Larson is fine as title character Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel, though it is the supporting cast, led by Samuel L Jackson’s Nick Fury (amazingly de-aged by computer), Annette Bening’s Mar-Vel, and Ben Mendelsohn’s Skrull leader Talos, that largely steal the show.
‘Captain Marvel,’ which opened March 8 in the United States, is a solid B-movie. Sure, the picture takes a good 20-minutes or so to get rolling, but for the most part it contains lots of action, lots of humor, and for those who know little of the title character, perhaps even one or two surprises. Brie Larson is fine as title character Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel, though it is the supporting cast, led by Samuel L Jackson’s Nick Fury (amazingly de-aged by computer), Annette Bening’s Mar-Vel, and Ben Mendelsohn’s Skrull leader Talos, that largely steal the show.
Most memorable about the ‘Captain Marvel?’ 1) The Blockbuster video store that Captain Marvel (Larson) crashes into when landing on earth. 2) A young, eyepatch-less Nick Fury (Jackson) racing through the streets of 1990’s Los Angeles, along with the cat that he carries around throughout most of the film. 3) The alien race known as the Skrulls, designed to look as though they came straight from the set of a Star Trek tv-series.
The rest of the movie? More or less forgettable. When on-screen by herself, Brie Larson brings all the charisma of a cardboard cutout to the role of Captain Marvel. She’s better when conversing with Mentor Mar-Vel (Bening) or bickering with Fury (Jackson). Even so, Captain Marvel is about as bland a character as she can be. There are next-to no moments of growth, and the reasons to root and cheer for her are few and far between, an especially disappointing fact given that directors Boden & Fleck’s previous films were praised for their intimate, character-building moments.
All in all, ‘Captain Marvel’ feels like a movie put together by committee. It hits most of the expected notes and does a fine job introducing new elements and characters (the Skrull aliens) for future entries in the franchise. Is it as good as previous efforts in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? No. It’s also far from the worst.
