Captain Marvel

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Infinity Saga

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Edit Coming 05/25/26

In the battle between DC and Marvel, DC has mostly been losing. However, 'Wonder Woman' is a film that stands out among the rest in the DC library, largely for having a strong female protagonist in a mainstream superhero movie. So the real question before Marvel over the past couple of years has been "can we do it better"? Whether they pull it off or not, is really up to the viewer to decide. Some love it, some are kinda "meh" on it, but I have yet to hear someone say anything very scathing about it.

'Captain Marvel' brings us back in time to the mid-90s, where we meet Vers, a.k.a Carol Danvers (Brie Larson); a Starforce member, suffering from amnesia and bad nightmares that involve an unknown older woman. We learn about some of her abilities as she trains with Yon-Rigg (Jude Law), and converses with Supreme Intelligence - an AI who rules the Kree (Carol's race), and convinces her to keep her emotions in check, as her powers can be unstable.

During a mission, Carol is captured by the Skrulls; a shape shifting alien race, and public enemy number one for the Kree. She's subject to a memory probe, but manages to escape with her memories, and crash land on Earth, somewhere in L.A., attracting the attention of SHIELD and Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). The Skrulls follow, lead by Talos (Ben Mendelsohn). From there, I'll just say that we learn certain things about the Skrulls that some of the more hardcore Marvel fans may not like. However, if you're unfamiliar altogether, the whole circumstance can add an element of humor.

However, with that last bit said, I gotta say that I expected something at least a little bit different. It made me laugh, but cringe while laughing, wondering if my laughter was warranted. I think I expected a sort of 'Captain America' with a sci-fi twist, but it's almost more like 'Cap' and 'Guardians' had a baby here. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't NOT entertained by this film. There are actually a few aspects of this film that put it above more of its kind.

First and foremost - no love interest for a female lead! Not even a close friendship that could lead to it. It's actually much more like a buddy cop movie between Carol and Fury, and that IS a great leap forward for this kind of film. Secondly, Carol isn't sexualized in any way. She comes across very much as that casual girl next door - another great step forward for this kind of movie. Finally, characters aside, this just has a great and fitting soundtrack to it. Again, taking an idea from 'Guardians' and redoing it, but more subtly. The music isn't a character in this like it is in 'Guardians'.

Taking all of that into account, it's great to see that Marvel caught some of the more routine aspects of films like this and kinda shut them down, subtly. BUT, there's enough circling the overall plot and even some of the stuff acting that isn't so great, so it takes away from the overall experience. I may chalk that up to direction though, since I KNOW Brie Larson can act her ass off, be it Ma from 'Room' or Envy Adams from 'Scott Pilgrim', she has some flexibility.

So while this film certainly carries its weight, and appears to be a big enough deal (being in the #18 spot for best box office opening weekend), it's most definitely NOT without a handful of flaws. In the grand scheme of the Marvel library, I'd place this one somewhere near the lower middle - my admirations aside. Progress is progress, but I guess I just wish this took itself a tad more seriously. It's well worth a watch though, most seem to think differently that I do on the subject, so don't let this review sway you too much.

​3/5

MID-CREDIT SCENE: Carol Danvers enters the Avengers compound after the snap happens, answering Nick Fury's pager from the post-credit scene in 'Infinity War'
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POST-CREDIT SCENE: Goose (the cat) is scene regurgitating the Tesseract (calling back to a moment with the Tesseract from earlier.

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