You’re wondering how something that’s “flerken fantastic” only gets three and a half stars? Let’s just say, Marvel raised the bar on itself so many times that something that’s not an absolute knockout is not considered a hit. Settle down, Mike Tyson fans. This one goes fifteen rounds. Depending on how you went in, you’ll either feel like you’ve just spent a lot of money on a Pay-Per-View event only to see Ronda Rousey face plant before your first handful of popcorn, or you’re going to feel like Brie Larson studied all the best Marvel performances, read the source material, and showed up with fire and Fury. The build-up (and preemptive tear down) of Captain Marvel before its release is going to be nothing like the split decision arguments after the fact.
We begin with a jolting flip-book memorial reminding the geek world and the rest of the world that we lost Stan Lee last year. Not too far into it, we’re reminded again with a touching cameo. It takes us out of the action just long enough to inform us we are here for fun. Lee’s character serves us with a visual tribute to the medium with an unmistakable reference to good humor and comic appreciation. The comic he’s reading reinforces the tone.
Between the opening credits and her first visit to Planet C-53 (aka Earth), we get her story. Or just enough to get us started because we find out the rest along with her. Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) is also known as Carol Danvers, but the casual viewer comes to this via Veers, the name she goes by in beginning of the film.
After the Cliff’s Notes version of the Kree–Skrull War, the audience is sent to the distant past… the 1990s, and there we stay. Luckily, the decade isn’t caricatured too much. I wouldn’t have minded more, though, especially in the action sequences. When the music was right, it was an emotional Band-Aid for some of the sub-par action design. A few of the fights could have used a bit of a Wonder Woman’s touch. That’s why it was surprising to see a very subtle dig at Wonder Woman’s muted costume colors when Carol redesigns her suit. Reminder to the fans and the creators. We can have both. Or maybe it was a friendly jab.
Carol’s friend, Maria Rambeau (Lashana Lynch) delivers an outstanding performance, giving Brie Larson the opportunity to offer more emotional weight to her own character; something that was missing until their reunion. It was clear that the relationship between Danvers and Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) was going to be light-hearted from the beginning. It was necessary to establish their friendly bond, though the character of Fury loses some of his hard-knocks edge because of this. He plays as unnecessary comedy relief at times. It may have been by design, though. He was younger, and evidently more naive than the Fury we know and love.
The story weaves its way to the end through winding passages in the Marvel Universe. It ties up quite neatly with the current canon. At times, the Captain Marvel film resembles the antics and humor of Ant-Man and Ant-Man and the Wasp. This allows the story to remain down to Earth. The off-Earth scenes have the same flavor as Guardians of the Galaxy. Though we are dealing with a character who will arguably be the most powerful super hero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to date, her first story isn’t so grand that it leaves us wondering where she can possibly go. We’re introduced to a whole new corner of the universe through an adventure that takes place in our own backyard. The implications leave us wondering if we can trust what we think we already know.
Seeing so many new and recurring characters gives us the chance to hope for Marvel Team-Up shorts that should happen before the films. Who doesn’t want to see Rocket Racoon and Goose, the cat… er, Flerken in an eight minute adventure in space in the next phase?
Whatever happens after the snap, we can be sure Captain Marvel is going to play a major role. Get it through your thick Skrull. Captain Marvel’s a woman. And she’s hella powerful. No, she isn’t a Mary Sue. She isn’t an agenda. She just happens to be the person who was in the right place at the right time. For the casual comic movie fan Captain Marvel is another round won for the MCU. Spit your bile in the bucket and wipe the bloody snot off your face because she’s ready for the next round. If you aren’t knocked out by the time you finish watching, you were in a different fight.
The epilogue will have you counting the days to Avengers: Endgame and the post-credits scene will leave you Flerken laughing out loud.
