Captain Marvel soared into theaters, living up to the tagline Higher, Further, Faster by smashing the box office and connecting with audiences the world over. But how does this film stack up with the rest of the MCU and where does it fit into my overall ranking? To answer those questions, let’s take a closer look at the film.
Directed by Ana Boden and Ryan Fleck, Captain Marvel continues Marvel’s run of bringing in lesser known directors and giving them the reigns of a blockbuster film. We’ve seen this work brilliantly with directors like the Taiki Waititi and the Russo Brothers, and this latest outing saw the directors tasked with debuting a lesser known character in Marvel Studio’s first female led film, and while I think the film did make a few missteps, this was a largely successful first look at the MCU’s strongest hero to date.
Captain Marvel tells the story of Carol Danvers, played by Brie Larson, an Air Force pilot who loses her memory and is imbued with enormous power when an engine powered by the tesseract explodes. The Kree abduct her and deceive her into believing that she is a Kree Warrior whose power was gifted to her by the Kree government and send her on missions against enemy Skrulls. After being captured by the Skrulls and escaping to Earth, Captain Marvel rediscovers her past by partnering with a young Nick Fury and reuniting with an old friend, Maria Rambeau. Confronting the Skrull, Telos, she also learns that they are not evil, but simply refugees fighting for freedom and safety from the imperialistic Kree Empire. Ultimately, Captain Marvel defeats the Kree threat and departs Earth yet again, this time choosing to accompany the Skrulls through space as they search for a new home.
Throughout this story, the film’s important theme was clear and well executed. Our hero was empowered through her humanity, finally rising up and reclaiming her personhood from those who had forced her to tamp down her emotions, manipulated her, and demanded that she simply fall in line rather than express her true self. It was only when she discovered the truth and fully embraced her emotions that she gained full power and control, and broke free from the restrictions placed on her by the Kree. I know that this theme particularly resonated with many women, and I hope that young girls were able to be inspired by Captain Marvel’s triumph, but I also hope that audiences in general recognize the meaning of this story and how it relates to the real world. The film managed to convey its message without feeling too heavy handed and losing sight of the simple fun action we’re looking for in a superhero blockbuster.
Young Nick Fury and Coulson were great. I loved that scene of the two of them in the car chasing down the train in classic fashion (even if Coulson did turn out to be a Skrull in that scene). Samuel L Jackson really sold a greener, more light hearted Nick Fury who found himself mixed up in (presumably) his first alien-related situation, but still brought some of the attitude that would come to define his character later (as seen in prior films). I especially like the “I go by Fury” bit (“Everyone calls me Fury, My mom calls me Fury”).
And while the movie attempted to compellingly execute an origin story in a non-traditional way, having our hero piece together a forgotten memory, it was hampered by the fact that just from the trailers alone even many who were unfamiliar with the character already knew much of what was later revealed (such as that she’s from earth, was in the air force, was friends with Rambeau, and was infused with power from an explosion). But I think one great twist the movie managed to pull off even with comic readers was the Skrulls being victims rather than willing participants in the war. This made Captain Marvel’s realization that she had been manipulated into fighting a war even more dramatic, because she wasn’t just fighting against an opposing army of terrorists as she’d been led to believe, but actually being used to conquer and murder scattered factions of Skrulls who simply refused to join the Kree Empire.
You can’t review this film without mentioning Goose the Cat, or Flerken rather. I’ve read the comics that this film is based on so the Flerken didn’t surprise me as much, but it was still awesome and hilarious to see it on screen just devouring enemies and straight up swallowing the tesseract. This may look like a cat, but no gentle kitty would be badass enough to take out Nick Fury’s eye. I know there’s a moderate controversy over that moment and what it means for the MCU, but I really don’t think it’s as big of a deal as some are making it out to be.
In a way, the fact that Fury later uses the mystery of his lost eye to amplify his own persona falls in line with his more deceptive and secretive nature. We’ve seen him manipulatively motivate the Avengers by using bloodied up cards that were supposedly, but not actually, in Coulson’s jacket when he died, we’ve seen him support methods like Project Insight – so all I’m saying is it’s not that surprising that he’d keep the true story of how he lost his eye a secret and play it off as something perhaps grander and more epic than it really was. But that’s a small part of THIS film, so let’s move on.
Yet another highlight of this film was the treatment of Carol’s relationship with Maria Rambeau and her daughter, Monica. You could really feel that Carol was part of this family and had a history with them, particularly through the performance of Lashana Lynch, who brought much needed sincere depth to her role and allowed us to understand that Carol really did belong at home, with her adopted family.
I think the climactic action achieved the scale required to demonstrate just how powerful our new hero really is. It was epic to watch Captain Marvel finally power up and just wreck the Kree Accusers and wipe the floor with her former team, especially the manipulator Yon Rogg.
All that said, this was not my favorite Marvel movie, as it suffered from a few missteps. While some of our supporting cast shined, the characterization of our main character Captain Marvel was lacking. This could be for a number of reasons, the writing, direction, but I think a key one is that she herself does not know who she is in the movie, and it felt like at times the directors and perhaps Larson herself, ironically, kept Carol Danvers in check. The film tried to do a lot, introducing a new character with a new backstory, expanding on the Kree storyline, drawing on 90s nostalgia, serving as a direct prequel to the Infinity saga by integrating the tesseract and heavily involving Nick Fury, being a fish out of water story, an amnesia story, a buddy cop movie, and a straight up blockbuster superhero movie, among other things, and sometimes our Carol Danvers herself was lost in the shuffle. I would have wanted to see more about her background beyond just a few flashbacks, and what’s more, I expected a much much larger reaction to her getting her memories back and realizing who she was and what the Kree had done to her.
When she finally embraced her humanity and her emotions and broke away from the Kree, we got one of the most emotionally resonant moments of the film, so it’s not to say that there was nothing there, but we have a character that literally just found out that she’d been lied to and controlled against her will for 6 years, whose life was stolen from her, whose mentor was killed by the person she’d seemingly trusted most in Yon Rogg, and I just don’t feel like that all landed. I think it was great that she just blasted Yon Rogg because she didn’t need to prove anything to him, but it just played off as a bit too nonchalant of a moment considering how dramatic of a betrayal and psychological abuse she had suffered at his hands.
Another area we could have seen more from her character would be with Maria and Monica Rambeau. Like I said before, I think those moments were among the best, human, and emotional of the film, as we learn about Carol Danvers through her friend, but this is also exactly where they could have leaned in and shown or at least discussed some more grounded memories of their relationship, such as moments related to Rambeau and Larson together, rising above the sexisim they faced pursuing military careers. Or when Monica is showing Carol old pictures, it would have been more impactful to see those photos brought to life or a more concrete indication that Carol truly was remembering her entire life which had been previously wiped away. To conclude this point, I just wish there’d been at least one moment where we tangibly see her memories rushing back to her, experience that with her, both the joy and sadness, and overwhelming feeling that getting a lifetime’s worth of memories (or at least most of them) and your personhood back would entail. That type of moment would have lent even greater weight to her triumphant moment of embracing her humanity because we would have more deeply felt her journey of rediscovery.
Overall though, I think this was a satisfying debut for a new major player in the MCU. While two recent additions to the MCU, Tom Holland’s Spider-Man and Chadwick Boseman’s Black Panther, were both introduced and directed by the Russo Brothers in Civil War before going solo, Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel is doing the reverse – introducing herself to audiences in a solo outing and now looking to play a big role in the Russo Brothers Avengers Endgame next month. I’m really excited to see what the Russo Brothers can do with this character and for what’s to come in later films. If the Marvel Studio’s track record, especially with Captain America and Thor, is any indication, we can look forward to dynamic sequels that build upon the strengths of this film, address some of the issue areas, and even surprise us. After all, with Captain Marvel rocketing through space, there’s a whole universe to explore!
But how did this film stack up to the rest of the MCU? Like any fan, I always hope that the next installment of a franchise will be its best, because I always want to see great films. But I think it’s clear that this film didn’t strike me as being among the best or the worst of the MCU, so fittingly, I’m slotting it in right around the middle where it edges out Guardians 2 and earns a coveted spot just inside of my Top 10, at least for the next month or so.
But what do you think of Captain Marvel? How do you think it stacks up in the MCU? Let me know in the comments and as always be sure to subscribe to RV Leaguers YouTube for more Reels on Wheels!
