I will not be mentioning any of the social politics and whatnot that surrounding the marketing and lead up to the release of Marvel Cinematic Universe’s 21st film, Captain Marvel. I don’t think it should hold any weight on how the film turned out. Though I will note it did rile everyone up and all sides were probably in some way in the wrong.
All the films surrounding The Avengers films lately,
aside from Spider-Man Homecoming, have
been utterly average at best. Black
Panther, Ant-Man and the Wasp and
now Captain Marvel. While all of
these are perfectly okay films and worth a watch, they’re not ones that you
really need to give a second look, because they just don’t and won’t hold up. Even
the mediocre Dr. Strange had some of
the most visually impressive CGI in the MCU behind it. Lackluster narratives,
copious mediocre to bad CGI, so-so acting and just a general sense of forgettability,
despite everyone’s insistence that these films are amazing and just as good as
other entries. I went into Captain Marvel
hoping it was another overblown situation, like with Black Panther but the other way around. But to my surprise, all the
people calling it a mediocre entry to the MCU, weren’t just disgruntled people,
but people like me who just watched a Phase One MCU film in 2019.
Captain Marvel is set in 1995 as Starforce member Vers / Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) is suffering from recurring nightmares about a woman who she has
no recollection of. She is still on Kree Empire’s capital planet and goes to meet with her commander Yon-Rogg (Jude Law.) After sparring and being told she needs
to control her emotions and her powers, her Starforce group sets off on a
mission and are ambushed. Vers gets captured and they probe her mind, allowing
her to remember a bunch of places and people from earth. She breaks free,
fights her way out, and ends up on an escape pod that crash lands on earth. The
next morning SHIELD Agents Nick Fury and Phil Coulson (Samuel L. Jackson and
Clark Gregg) are questioning her when Skrull (the people Kree are warring with) attack
them and a chase ensues. What follows is the account of Nick Fury and Vers as
they journey across the country to try and figure out who Vers is and why she’s
here.
We’re going to get the good out of the way because while
I think there’s a lot of mediocre in this film, there’s some merit and the film
isn’t a complete failure. I quite liked the “buddy cop” narrative between Fury
and Vers. It’s the time where Brie Larson shines the most and whenever Samuel
L. Jackson is on-screen, it feels like the film gets a shot in the arm. They
have legitimate chemistry and these buddy scenes are some of the best in the
film. You can lump in Fury’s interactions with Goose in the second half of the
film to this as well. I thought the “twist” was done decently well too. It’s
not one that you don’t see coming, but it’s effective in the constraints of the
narrative. I also thought the de-aging of Coulson and Fury were done well, or
at least better than whatever Star Wars has been doing. Not to mention the Stan
Lee opening as well as him reading a Mallrats
script on the train were great touches in the live action film since his
passing.
My problems begin with the story and plot. The first
part is vastly removed from the second part and the climax is like throwing a
rubber bouncy ball in a racquetball room. Like with Bird Box last year, I dislike films where you’re jumping around the
narrative or having the viewer fight with the main character’s amnesia or what have
you. I get they wanted the big twist in the middle, but this movie could’ve started
out with the twist and it wouldn’t have changed the narrative much at all. Vers
still has amnesia and the viewer isn’t left in the dark. Look at me, armchair directing
here, like I know everything. Conversely, jumping from Space Force raid, to
buddy cop film, to Dragon Ball Z arc finale is jarring. Most Marvel movies,
even ridiculous over-the-top ones like Guardians
of the Galaxy have a structure that works within the narrative presented. Captain Marvel does not do this and it
feels disjointed. Like three different parts from three different scripts were pieced
together. It’s not outright bad, but it’s also not the best MCU origins film
either, it’s just lackluster.
This takes us to the characters and acting, because as
much as the Jackson + Larson combo works, Larson on her own really doesn’t do
it for me in this film. She reminded me of Chris Hemsworth in Thor. Mega powerful and can kick ass,
but in the constraints of the film he’s watered down and only shows glimpses of
freedom of character. This is how I feel about Brie Larson, as she has some decent
solo moments, but is very stiff and forgettable. I also don’t like how she just
has powers, never really struggles with her powers, then in the end poof she’s Superman tier. I get the “control
your emotions padawan,” but man that’s such a boring way to let us see her
growing with her superpower. I don’t really watch trailers before films
nowadays since I want to try and experience films fresh, but if I had known
Jude Law was in this, I would’ve been worried. Because hands down he’s probably
one of the worst MCU villains. I cannot name a single moment where he was
effective as a character. Vers friend
Maria Rambeau (Lashana Lynch) is just kind of there and I only remember the
part where she said she was going to put her foot in the ass of some dude. And
for some reason at the end knew how to fly and alien spaceship. I guess,
because she was in the Air Force it all works the same. She’s just another fine
in the moment, but forgettable character. Ben Mendelsohn as Talos was pretty alright as well, just a solid enough character. The rest of the cast like Dijmon
Honsou as Korath and Annett Benning as Mar-Vell were equally as “they're on the screen
at times.” All these people are okay in the film, but thinking back I’m only
remembering Larson, Jackson and Goose parts.
I didn’t like a lot of the humor as well. Even though
the dynamic between Larson and Jackson worked quite well, there’s a lot of
forced humor that didn’t go over well. Don’t get me wrong there are a lot of
chuckle-worthy moments and decent gags, but a lot of it fell flat for me. The
Goose stuff was probably the most effective use of humor in the film. Sam
Jackson and a CGI cat shouldn’t work but it does. The score and music also didn’t
really work for me either. I keep thinking about Guardians of the Galaxy and how it had a perfectly crafted
soundtrack that worked with each character and scene. This did not have that good
of an OST, like with the humor, the songs felt forced and its score was
lackluster overall. I think films like this try to recreate the magic of Guardians of the Galaxy and it never
works out. I’m comparing this to a lot of other MCU films, but it really does
feel like it tried to take elements from all over the place and it just did not
work. I can live with so-so acting and a barebones story and narrative, but if
I must listen to bad music along side that, it really takes me out of it.
This finally brings us to the CGI. As I mentioned above,
I quite liked the de-aging done in the film and it didn’t detract from either character
for me. But the rest of the film was pretty…shaky. Alright that pun didn’t need
to be made, but man there is a ton of shaky cam in this one. The action itself,
well I couldn’t name really any memorable action aside from the old lady getting
punched and the climax, which is my one big gripe about the film. If I’m going
to see a big budget MCU action film, give me some memorable, non-shaky cam,
non-let’s poop out all our CGI budget on the climax, action. I don’t care about
the airplane stuff, the hand to hand combat stuff wasn’t well choreographed. I swear to God the mission they went on to start the film was shot and CGI'd with a sticky note telling them, “no lighting allowed, make them squint.” The climax wasn’t even
done all that well, but it was better than everything else in the film. I will
say at least the CGI was better in this than in Black Panther, I think.
Despite me lamenting Captain Marvel is lackluster for about four paragraphs there, it’s
still nowhere near the worst superhero movie we’ve had come out in recent
years. For all its lackluster, it’s still a fairly enjoyable watch. For a two-hour
film that I had this many quandaries with, I really only thought the middle
slogged on. Though I wouldn’t re-watch this anytime soon and I’m really hoping
it isn’t just “Captain Marvel does all the work in Avengers: Endgame,” you could do much worse with your time. If not
for Samuel L Jackson though, I’m not sure this would even be watchable.
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