Captain Marvel Review: The Weakest Link
Captain Marvel was directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck and it stars Brie Larson, Samuel L Jackson, Jude Law, and Ben Mendelsohn. It serves as a prequel to the MCU and the film meant to tie it all together. And to be straightforward- Captain Marvel severely disappointed me. I did not like this movie and I find it to be one of the weakest movies in the MCU. So with that, allow me to begin.
To start, I’ll look at the narrative as a whole. The script was cluttered right from the beginning and the writers made a poor decision to place the audience directly in the middle of a galactic war with little explanation. Therefore, the introduction was dizzying and it pulled me out of focus immediately. It wasn’t a confusing movie by any means, but it’s lack of background given to the audience was a detriment to the film. There’s a reason great sci-fi films like A New Hope begin with an Opening Crawl. It’s because viewers hadn’t been to that universe before and they didn’t know the history so they had to know enough to get by. And when a film starts with an entire empire and a history that is never given, it’s difficult to care because it makes the world feel empty and hollow.
This movie also had a lack of originality to it. Carol Danver’s “Fish out of Water” origin story has been seen many times before, and to much better results. When Captain Marvel lands on Earth and makes comments about Earth’s less sophisticated technology and stands out in her Starforce uniform, I couldn’t help but groan at the recycled ideas. This movie has been made over and over and over again. The plot points involving shape shifting enemies, the twist where the villains were good all along, the amnesia stricken heroine- none of it’s new. Everything just felt like aspects from much better movies were mashed together to mediocre effect. It also didn’t help that the world of 1990s was bland and lazy, and truly any world-building in the whole film failed to be fleshed out.
Another major issue with this movie, and probably the part that bothered me the most were the two dimensional characters with no signs of development. Carol Danvers may be one of my least favorite protagonists in a film. Her “wit” and jokes throughout the movie, which were meant to show off her intelligence and care-free personality, did not work as the writers intended. All it did was make her come across as cruel to the other characters. She appeared to look down upon those around her which made it hard to connect and feel sympathetic for her. She also had an undeserved lack of confidence. When we first meet Captain Marvel, she is confused and lost in her own life. She has no memory, powers she can’t control, she’s weaker in combat than her fellow Starforce members, and she’s out of place in her home. Yet none of that comes across in her character. She’s brash, overly confident, and cocky with no right to be. And as the movie goes on, she shows no signs of growth. By the end of the movie, Carol goes from a cocky protagonist who can’t control her powers to a cocky protagonist who can control her powers. It’s too simple yet it’s the extent of her development.
However, Captain Marvel wasn’t the only poorly written character within the movie as Maria and Mar-Vel were quite basic in their character types. Maria was nothing more than the best friend who reminded Carol of her past with barely any depth to her while Mar-Vel was the mentor who connected Carol to her future. They seemed more like ways to propel the story along than actual characters. It also doesn’t help that their respective performances, and even Brie Larson’s for that matter, were quite underwhelming. Even Nick Fury, who I actually enjoyed, was only held together by Samuel L. Jackson’s great performance and the fact that audiences were already familiar with the character.
However, with all of that being said, Talos stood out to me as one of the few legitimately good characters (besides Goose the cat, of course, who was a highlight of this movie). His story-arc and transition to a protagonist, while not very original, worked well in the context of this movie. It didn’t seem like a twist just to be a twist, but everything leading up to that point begin to make sense and there were hints all along that are noticeable when you look back. Therefore, it didn’t feel forced or awkward, but instead satisfying. Similarly, when he reunited with his family on the ship, it was an emotional moment that actually worked, which was rare in this movie. Without scenes like this, the villain twist would not have worked but saving the Skrulls ended up feeling rewarding because the audiences were suddenly able to relate to them. Overall, the handling of the Skrulls and the Kree and their twisted motivations mixing with Carol’s interpretation of the events was great. Carol had been forced into believing that she was on the right side but never truly questioned it. Her continual fractured flashbacks and the scene where she regained her memory did come across as messy and disruptive though. However the idea that the hero was wrong and made mistakes made Carol appear more human and relatable, despite her personality issues. This movie raised moral questions about Empires, undisputed power, and a thought-provoking idea of right vs. wrong that I did not expect from a movie like this. Not all of it worked, and not all of it came across as clear as intended, but it was obvious that the writer’s had more to say than an average superhero movie and I’ll give credit to their attempt at heavier themes.
However, for a film that’s entire purpose was to focus on the growth of a character and their origin, it threw me off that the character’s themselves were the worst part of Captain Marvel. The Skrulls and Kree as an entire population were much better handled by comparison. Therefore, I wished the history of the war had been more developed throughout the entire film instead of revealing everything towards the end, as I mentioned earlier.
Overall, Captain Marvel was a mess of a movie. It lacked originality and felt like a worse version of the many movies that it took its inspiration from. The characters were simplistic and character development was non-existent. And while Nick Fury, the Skrulls, and their leader Talos as well as an effective twist held this movie together, it wasn’t enough to redeem the film. I was truly disappointed by what a lack-luster film this was which is why I’ll give Captain Marvel a 5/10.
