Captain Marvel arrives with the weight of considerable expectation and the specific challenge of introducing the MCU's most powerful hero in a way that feels earned rather than convenient. Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck's film meets that challenge with a structural ingenuity that sets it apart from the standard origin story template: rather than following Carol Danvers from weakness to strength, it begins with her already powerful and works backwards, peeling away layers of false memory and imposed identity to reveal the person beneath. It is a more interesting approach than it initially appears, and the film around it is consistently entertaining, if not quite the landmark that the character's importance to the franchise's future might have warranted.
At a Glance
Director: Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck
Runtime: 124 minutes
Starring: Brie Larson, Samuel L Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Jude Law, Annette Bening, Lashana Lynch
Release: 2019
Critics Rating: ★★★ (3/5 stars, good)
Audience Rating: ★★★ (3/5 stars, solid)
Review Breakdown
Plot
Vers, a Kree warrior with no memory of her past, crash-lands on Earth in 1995 while pursuing a shape-shifting alien race called the Skrulls. As she investigates her own history with the help of a young Nick Fury, she begins to recover memories of a previous life as Carol Danvers, a human Air Force pilot, and to question everything she has been told about who she is and who the enemy is. The plot's central twist, in which the Skrulls are revealed to be refugees rather than aggressors and the Kree are exposed as the true villains, is well-handled, recontextualising the film's first half in ways that reward close attention. The 1990s setting is used with a light touch, providing period texture without becoming a nostalgia exercise, and the de-aged Samuel L Jackson is one of the most convincing digital effects the franchise has produced.
Characters
Brie Larson brings a dry wit and a quiet intensity to Carol Danvers that suits the character's particular emotional journey, even if the script does not always give her sufficient space to develop the character's inner life. The film's most interesting relationship is between Carol and Maria Rambeau, her former best friend and fellow pilot, and Lashana Lynch brings a warmth and conviction to the role that makes their reunion one of the film's most moving sequences. Samuel L Jackson is having the time of his life as a younger, more wide-eyed Nick Fury, and his dynamic with Larson is the film's most consistently enjoyable element. Ben Mendelsohn's Talos is a revelation, a character who begins as a straightforward villain and ends as one of the MCU's most sympathetic figures. Annette Bening brings a quiet authority to her dual role, and Jude Law is effectively cast against type as a mentor whose apparent wisdom conceals a more troubling agenda.
Tone
Boden and Fleck pitch the film as a mystery thriller in its first half and a more conventional superhero film in its second, and the transition between the two registers is handled with reasonable skill. The film is warmer and more grounded than its cosmic setting might suggest, with a strong emphasis on Carol's human relationships and her gradual recovery of her own identity. The action sequences are well-staged if not particularly distinctive, and the film's climax, in which Carol finally removes the limiter that has been suppressing her power, has an emotional payoff that the preceding mystery has earned.
Meaning / Themes
Captain Marvel is a film about the relationship between identity and memory, and about the specific experience of being told, by people in positions of authority, that your emotions are a weakness to be controlled. Carol's journey is one of reclaiming a self that has been systematically suppressed, and the film frames her eventual full power not as an acquisition but as a recovery. The theme of women being told to be less than they are gives the film a resonance that extends beyond its superhero framework, even if it is handled with more directness than subtlety.
Direction
Boden and Fleck's direction is competent and occasionally inspired, with a stronger command of the film's character scenes than its action sequences. The film's visual style is relatively anonymous by MCU standards, though the space sequences have a scale and grandeur that suits the character's cosmic significance. Pinar Toprak's score is one of the franchise's more distinctive, and the use of 1990s needle drops is well-judged throughout.
Cultural Reception
Captain Marvel received solid reviews on its release and was a major commercial success, grossing over $1.1 billion worldwide to become one of the highest-grossing MCU origin stories. It generated considerable cultural discussion as the franchise's first solo female-led film, and its box office performance demonstrated the commercial viability of female-led superhero films at the highest level. It is now regarded as a solid if unspectacular MCU entry whose structural ingenuity is more appreciated on reflection than it was on first viewing, and Mendelsohn's Talos is consistently cited as one of the franchise's more pleasant character surprises.
Who Should Watch
Captain Marvel is essential viewing for MCU completists and a solid standalone superhero film for casual viewers. It is not the franchise's most ambitious entry, but it is a consistently entertaining and occasionally moving film that introduces one of the MCU's most important characters with confidence and warmth.
Final Verdict: A confident and entertaining origin story that does more interesting things with its structure than it is usually given credit for. Brie Larson is a compelling lead, Samuel L Jackson is a delight, and the Skrull twist is one of the franchise's better-handled reveals. Not the MCU at its most ambitious, but a solid and enjoyable addition to the canon.
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