MOVIE REVIEW: Captain Marvel
(Cut Apart - Darren Korb)
Anyone who keeps track of what's going on in the Marvel Cinematic Universe understands what Captain Marvel represents to the current state of affairs post-snap. Anyone who isn't keeping track of the MCU doesn't care, and is therefor not interested in this introduction.
For the ones that are, there's only one question:
Has Marvel done it again?
THE SHORT VERSION:
For the most part, yes.
THE LONG VERSION:
You can read a whole lot into those four words I just used. "For the most part." That really sort of sums this whole movie up for me.
Thanos is a Big Bad, and there are only so many ways to deal with a Big Bad. Captain Marvel is clearly designed to be one of those ways, and once you know that, it's less about "Will she kick ass?" and more about, "How long will we be made to wait until we see her kick ass?"
I'll spare you commentary on the story, except to say that it's one of the MCU's better yarns, and it does a really good job of establishing Carol Danvers' role in it. The supporting characters are a limited set, but they all have a part to play and most of them are reasonably memorable. Of note are the following:
- Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury plays a MUCH larger role in this movie than he has in any other MCU movie to date, and it's very welcome. There's a great deal of backstory for his character established in this movie, and every time something falls into place, it's incredibly satisfying.
- Akira Akbar plays an absolutely DELIGHTFUL 11-year old Monica Rambeau, daughter of Carol Danvers' close friend Maria Rambeau. She steals every scene she's in.
- Ben Mendelsohn is an actor that I have very little use for. I wasn't impressed with him as anything other than scum in 'Rogue One', and I wasn't impressed with him in 'Robin Hood' either. There's nothing compelling about him at all for me. Casting him as head bad guy Talos was brilliant though. He does an amazing job, which I'll comment on more in another part of this review.
- The cat. Yeah, there's a cat. It's awesome.
- Clark Gregg's excellent Agent Coulson is back, and they even had the decency to give him a nice, full head of hair.
Lastly, 'Guardians Of The Galaxy' could learn a very good lesson from how Captain Marvel uses period music. They took very good music and used it APPROPRIATELY.
We've established that the story is serviceable and that the characters do their job well, but there are a few places where Captain Marvel actually falls down a little for me:
- Captain Marvel's suit rarely looks good. Some of the hero shots of her in her Red, Blue, And Gold uniform look pretty decent in low light, but most of the fully lit shots of her Kree uniform don't look like anything other than a giant rubber suit. Worse, towards the end of the movie when the action picks up a little more, the CG is just flat out sub-par for a Marvel movie, especially her face mask. It just looks bad. On the IMAX screen I watched the movie on, it looked -really- bad.
- Most of the MCU characters have themes that rise up during cool parts of the movie. The score from this move was utterly unremarkable.
- There's a character relationship in this movie that's been very publicly fawned over in the media, and I'm sorry, but I just don't see it. I'll call it out in the spoilers.
Captain Marvel is a solid entry in the MCU, but that's about all I'm going to give it. It's not Top 5 by any stretch, but it's not Ant-Man either. It rests towards the top of that center pack of movies that are insanely enjoyable but not quite 'Iron Man' or 'Winter Soldier' or 'Black Panther' material.
HERE THERE BE SPOILERS!
- I really kept expecting the other shoe to drop with Talos in this film, and the fact that it didn't was more of a surprise than Jude Law turning heel. I fully expected Talos to have an agenda of his own as well. He does, it just turns out to be benevolent. That's an AMAZING use of the normally super-slimy Mendelsohn.
- There's been so much going on about how the friendship between Maria Rambeau and Carol Danvers is the greatest love story in the MCU, and I'm sorry, but I just don't see it. There's not nearly enough time to establish that level of emotional commitment to their relationship on-screen, and the film's big emotional scene with the two of them sort of...falls short because of it. Even Maria's daughter Monica has more emotional attachment, and she's got even less screen time than her mother!
- I know I'm going to take hate for this, but I'm sorry... Brie Larson lacks gravitas. She's funny enough, but at no point do I look at her and think, "That's a bad, bad woman." She has no forceful presence, no GRIT. It will be difficult for her to stand toe to toe with the on-screen presence of Black Widow, Maria Hill, or Okoye. (We're not talking about poor Elizabeth Olsen. The MSU hasn't been kind to her.) She doesn't sell Carol Danvers being the most powerful hero in the MCU.
- How the hell does Danvers or Rambeau know how to pilot the super secret SHIELD shuttle that looked, incidentally, like a blatant ripoff of a Pelican Dropship from Halo?
- You're telling me that one or two Skrulls retrofitted an In-Atmo gunship to fly in Space? Completely with gravity generator? IN ONE NIGHT? I'm calling shenanigans.
- I'm sorry, but the gag at the end of the movie where Jude Law puts his weapons away and tries to bait Larson into fighting him hand to hand is poorly telegraphed. Everyone knew it was coming.
- The stinger with the cat and the Tesseract was PRICELESS. And alarmingly accurate for anyone who has ever watched a cat puke.
- As someone who has suffered eye trauma while NOT under enough anesthetic, you're telling me that Fury suffers enough damage to the eye that he LOSES IT, and he continues to do this thing for a huge portion of the rest of the film? I do not fucking think so.
- It's played off at the end like Fury actually LOSES THE EYE, but it's clear in 'The Winter Soldier' that it's still there, just covered by the patch.
- Danvers seems to know that not only can she somehow overload the Supreme Intelligence with her current powers, but that she has MORE inside of her. How?? Her whole memory has only been with having small set of her powers. How does she KNOW that she has more powers that are being repressed? How does she know what those powers ARE? How does she suddenly, mysteriously figure out how to fly, or do AOE photon blasts, or....yeah.
- Marvel needs to make up their mind on Danvers' flight mask. Either she needs that shit in space or she doesn't.
- The dogfight in space above Earth is sort of bullshit. Danvers clearly knows she can just blow through ships, so why is she even bothering to dodge shit? Why doesn't she just ram into everything like a pinball??
- Are the Skrulls related to the Svartalves? Cause....yeah.
- If the Skrulls aren't related to the Svartalves, are they related to the J.J. Abrams Romulans?
- How many shots can that stupid drop ship take in the same wing without crashing?!
- You so knew that Talos was getting shot. I'm really impressed that they didn't kill him though.
- Danvers is apparently the biggest badass in the galaxy as of the mid '90s. If that's the case, why the hell is it taking her so long to clean up the galaxy? The Kree are still a huge problem by the time Guardians Of The Galaxy rolls around. You're telling me she didn't immediately go smoke Ronan the Accuser? You're telling me she just let Thanos sneak up on her? What the hell?!
- All of the feels for the Stan Lee opening sequence and cameos.
- When Captain Marvel shows up for the stinger, she looks like they just got her out of the shower. Her hair isn't nearly as fluffy.
...Yeah, I won't lie, I won't say that I feel let down by Captain Marvel, but I sort of... feel...maybe a little let down? It's still a good movie. Maybe a really good one. I just...sort of expected more?
Anyone who keeps track of what's going on in the Marvel Cinematic Universe understands what Captain Marvel represents to the current state of affairs post-snap. Anyone who isn't keeping track of the MCU doesn't care, and is therefor not interested in this introduction.
For the ones that are, there's only one question:
Has Marvel done it again?
THE SHORT VERSION:
For the most part, yes.
THE LONG VERSION:
You can read a whole lot into those four words I just used. "For the most part." That really sort of sums this whole movie up for me.
Thanos is a Big Bad, and there are only so many ways to deal with a Big Bad. Captain Marvel is clearly designed to be one of those ways, and once you know that, it's less about "Will she kick ass?" and more about, "How long will we be made to wait until we see her kick ass?"
I'll spare you commentary on the story, except to say that it's one of the MCU's better yarns, and it does a really good job of establishing Carol Danvers' role in it. The supporting characters are a limited set, but they all have a part to play and most of them are reasonably memorable. Of note are the following:
- Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury plays a MUCH larger role in this movie than he has in any other MCU movie to date, and it's very welcome. There's a great deal of backstory for his character established in this movie, and every time something falls into place, it's incredibly satisfying.
- Akira Akbar plays an absolutely DELIGHTFUL 11-year old Monica Rambeau, daughter of Carol Danvers' close friend Maria Rambeau. She steals every scene she's in.
- Ben Mendelsohn is an actor that I have very little use for. I wasn't impressed with him as anything other than scum in 'Rogue One', and I wasn't impressed with him in 'Robin Hood' either. There's nothing compelling about him at all for me. Casting him as head bad guy Talos was brilliant though. He does an amazing job, which I'll comment on more in another part of this review.
- The cat. Yeah, there's a cat. It's awesome.
- Clark Gregg's excellent Agent Coulson is back, and they even had the decency to give him a nice, full head of hair.
Lastly, 'Guardians Of The Galaxy' could learn a very good lesson from how Captain Marvel uses period music. They took very good music and used it APPROPRIATELY.
We've established that the story is serviceable and that the characters do their job well, but there are a few places where Captain Marvel actually falls down a little for me:
- Captain Marvel's suit rarely looks good. Some of the hero shots of her in her Red, Blue, And Gold uniform look pretty decent in low light, but most of the fully lit shots of her Kree uniform don't look like anything other than a giant rubber suit. Worse, towards the end of the movie when the action picks up a little more, the CG is just flat out sub-par for a Marvel movie, especially her face mask. It just looks bad. On the IMAX screen I watched the movie on, it looked -really- bad.
- Most of the MCU characters have themes that rise up during cool parts of the movie. The score from this move was utterly unremarkable.
- There's a character relationship in this movie that's been very publicly fawned over in the media, and I'm sorry, but I just don't see it. I'll call it out in the spoilers.
Captain Marvel is a solid entry in the MCU, but that's about all I'm going to give it. It's not Top 5 by any stretch, but it's not Ant-Man either. It rests towards the top of that center pack of movies that are insanely enjoyable but not quite 'Iron Man' or 'Winter Soldier' or 'Black Panther' material.
HERE THERE BE SPOILERS!
- I really kept expecting the other shoe to drop with Talos in this film, and the fact that it didn't was more of a surprise than Jude Law turning heel. I fully expected Talos to have an agenda of his own as well. He does, it just turns out to be benevolent. That's an AMAZING use of the normally super-slimy Mendelsohn.
- There's been so much going on about how the friendship between Maria Rambeau and Carol Danvers is the greatest love story in the MCU, and I'm sorry, but I just don't see it. There's not nearly enough time to establish that level of emotional commitment to their relationship on-screen, and the film's big emotional scene with the two of them sort of...falls short because of it. Even Maria's daughter Monica has more emotional attachment, and she's got even less screen time than her mother!
- I know I'm going to take hate for this, but I'm sorry... Brie Larson lacks gravitas. She's funny enough, but at no point do I look at her and think, "That's a bad, bad woman." She has no forceful presence, no GRIT. It will be difficult for her to stand toe to toe with the on-screen presence of Black Widow, Maria Hill, or Okoye. (We're not talking about poor Elizabeth Olsen. The MSU hasn't been kind to her.) She doesn't sell Carol Danvers being the most powerful hero in the MCU.
- How the hell does Danvers or Rambeau know how to pilot the super secret SHIELD shuttle that looked, incidentally, like a blatant ripoff of a Pelican Dropship from Halo?
- You're telling me that one or two Skrulls retrofitted an In-Atmo gunship to fly in Space? Completely with gravity generator? IN ONE NIGHT? I'm calling shenanigans.
- I'm sorry, but the gag at the end of the movie where Jude Law puts his weapons away and tries to bait Larson into fighting him hand to hand is poorly telegraphed. Everyone knew it was coming.
- The stinger with the cat and the Tesseract was PRICELESS. And alarmingly accurate for anyone who has ever watched a cat puke.
- As someone who has suffered eye trauma while NOT under enough anesthetic, you're telling me that Fury suffers enough damage to the eye that he LOSES IT, and he continues to do this thing for a huge portion of the rest of the film? I do not fucking think so.
- It's played off at the end like Fury actually LOSES THE EYE, but it's clear in 'The Winter Soldier' that it's still there, just covered by the patch.
- Danvers seems to know that not only can she somehow overload the Supreme Intelligence with her current powers, but that she has MORE inside of her. How?? Her whole memory has only been with having small set of her powers. How does she KNOW that she has more powers that are being repressed? How does she know what those powers ARE? How does she suddenly, mysteriously figure out how to fly, or do AOE photon blasts, or....yeah.
- Marvel needs to make up their mind on Danvers' flight mask. Either she needs that shit in space or she doesn't.
- The dogfight in space above Earth is sort of bullshit. Danvers clearly knows she can just blow through ships, so why is she even bothering to dodge shit? Why doesn't she just ram into everything like a pinball??
- Are the Skrulls related to the Svartalves? Cause....yeah.
- If the Skrulls aren't related to the Svartalves, are they related to the J.J. Abrams Romulans?
- How many shots can that stupid drop ship take in the same wing without crashing?!
- You so knew that Talos was getting shot. I'm really impressed that they didn't kill him though.
- Danvers is apparently the biggest badass in the galaxy as of the mid '90s. If that's the case, why the hell is it taking her so long to clean up the galaxy? The Kree are still a huge problem by the time Guardians Of The Galaxy rolls around. You're telling me she didn't immediately go smoke Ronan the Accuser? You're telling me she just let Thanos sneak up on her? What the hell?!
- All of the feels for the Stan Lee opening sequence and cameos.
- When Captain Marvel shows up for the stinger, she looks like they just got her out of the shower. Her hair isn't nearly as fluffy.
...Yeah, I won't lie, I won't say that I feel let down by Captain Marvel, but I sort of... feel...maybe a little let down? It's still a good movie. Maybe a really good one. I just...sort of expected more?
Comments
Post a Comment