Captain Marvel - Review Thread

Sexist.

Not among their best. I like the discussion about using feminism/social justice as a means of marketting a corporate product is suspect and dubious, but their comments about Brie Larson and feminism more broadly felt sloppy and lazy. Their criticisms on the film itself are mostly fine I guess.

The well documented run of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been a highly impressive one, sharing a lot in common with Disney's fellow subsidiary Pixar in its near sterling reputation of pumping out one solid work after another. And yet even Pixar has had its bumps, and thus it was only a matter of time until Marvel had their own. Sure, The Incredible Hulk was a disaster, but that doesn't really count since it wasn't part of Disney's hold on these movies. And sure, the first two Thor films and Avengers: Age of Ultron left a lot to be desired, but generally Marvel has been remarkably consistent in delivering quality entertainment time after time. And yet the last two films, Ant-Man and the Wasp and Captain Marvel, have me at my most uninterested and disappointed in the direction of the studio. It certainly doesn't help that these two films are sandwiched between the two final Avengers films, where the events in their respective films vastly pale in comparison to the literal fate of the universe, but even taken on their own merits it's incredibly underwhelming and shockingly dull to see the lows both films sit at. Ant-Man and the Wasp was entertaining enough, but the whole time you're watching it you're wondering why this film exists at all. The original Ant-Man at least developed itself around a heist film, origin story blend that while not pushing anything new narratively was still fun enough to warrant being made. The sequel on the other hand makes us sit through a preposterous plot that leads us to no payoffs that matter, filled with pointless side characters and repetitive action. Well I'm not sure if it's Marvel fatigue on my part or a lack of imagination on the filmmakers' part (I think it's fairly a combination of both) but Captain Marvel commits the same sins, in fact even more so in many aspects, serving up a lackluster origin story that's dug firmly into the beat by beat playbook of Marvel formula that offers no surprises or fresh takes on the genre. It's a low point for Marvel that has me pining for Avengers: Endgame to get here and fast so we can enjoy a narrative and characters of actual relevance and forward progress again. If Ant-Man and the Wasp and Captain Marvel are indications of where the MCU is heading post-Avengers, then maybe their good run has finally ended.

The eponymous character this time around is Carol Danvers (Brie Larson), who we open with in a jarring and fragmented series of her memories as a fighter pilot and then her subsequent reinvention as Vers, a member of the Starforce Military and Kree, a powerful intergalactic race of... people? Aliens? Both? Danvers is plagued by dreams from the Supreme Intelligence of a woman named Dr. Wendy Lawson (Annette Benning), and she begins to seek answers as to who she is and how she's associated with her. This is largely the plot of the film, a mystery surrounding her origin, which is pretty standard fare. The problem is that we, the audience, already know the answer to this, that she's not Vers and she's not Kree, but is Carol Danvers: human, fighter pilot, as we saw in the very beginning of the movie. It's extremely problematic to have the audience sit in dull dramatic irony for almost an hour watching Larson unravel a mystery we already have the insight into, and this isn't helped by the filmmaking team of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck not peppering in anything more to the story aside from obvious red herrings and double crosses that will only surprise people venturing into their first Marvel film.

This is helped by teaming Danvers up with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) who we generally see relegated to Mr. Exposition in these films but this time gets some serious field work in and provides some much needed life and humor into the plodding storyline. This is when the movie works at its best, when Danvers and Fury are trading friendly banter and kicking ass side-by-side, but it's never enough to shake the feeling that we know exactly how all of this will play out and where it's headed to next. Captain Marvel does nothing to expand on the universe it resides in, nor does it offer anything innovative into the mix to distinguish itself as anything more than a wannabe Guardians of the Galaxy. Again, this would've skated by had Captain Marvel been made even five years ago, but at twenty-plus movies in it's blatantly clear that Boden and Fleck are just adhering to a checklist of Marvel-isms that result in the affair feeling incredibly routine and hardly ever fun. Looking at their pedigree, it's clear to me that they were not the right people for the job and were way out of their elements here. Yes, I have applauded Marvel in the recent past for employing skilled filmmakers like Ryan Coogler and Taika Waititi who made the jump from indie films to mid-level wide releases and then to the big stage of Marvel, but Boden and Fleck are attempting to bring their voice in Independent dramas to a film of this magnitude and are obviously overmatched by the scale. It's clear they had little to not input on the action sequences and likely left it to the second unit, which honestly is fine, but it's in the scripting and cliched dramatic beats that disappoints the most. They don't even fully commit to the feminism angle, but rather half-heartedly push it in there with quick flashbacks of Danvers being belittled because of her gender, all of which culminates in the tedious showdown where after being belittled once again, she uses those memories to draw strength and become...Captain Marvel! Ugh. Either do it or don't, but once again the film never feels like there's any authorial stamp on anything here, but rather that Boden and Fleck had a Saturday of catching up on the other Marvel movies and devised an outline for Captain Marvel based on these viewings.

There's a lot more than I can harp on regarding this movie, from the obvious double crosses to the script undercutting its own jokes to the weak committal to a period setting, but I'm going to rest my case. Captain Marvel will get a pass from some people because it's a "first" for the MCU having a female as the protagonist, and I suppose I can understand that. But that doesn't mean that she gets away with having an origin story that's derivatively plucked from the films that came first and expanding on none of them. I think Larson is a wonderfully talented actress that blew me away years prior with her performances in Short Term 12 and Room, but her character is difficult to embrace because Captain Marvel just feels like a sampling of other characters. Maybe that's why she's Captain Marvel, because she's the blanket superhero that encompasses all of the generic qualities superheroes can have? Larson is a great talent and I'm happy to see her getting her big due and payday being a part of the MCU, but hopefully the sequel brings something more to the table than just copying those who came before her and offering more than a by the numbers regurgitation of the Marvel formula.

5/10

That's farther than you usually read into my reviews.

I didn't say they're equal, but how is it an off comparison?  They're both subsidiaries of Disney with very successful track records minus a few blips here and there.

Pixar made the Cars franchise. You can't say that anymore.

True, but formula isn't always a bad thing.  We love Bond movies to the point we're pissed if they DON'T check the boxes.

It is in the case of Captain Marvel because it's falling back on formula as a crutch instead of attempting to shake it up.  Winter Soldier fits within the MCU formula, but it does enough to branch off which makes it work as well as it does.

I think there's examples of Marvel films that don't succumb to those though.

Winter Soldier, Thor: Ragnarok, Civil War, Black Panther.

Again formula isn't always a bad thing. Captain Marvel just doesn't have its own voice because it's too busy checking off Marvel bullet points instead of doing something interesting.

There’s exceptions and that’s how Marvel built its good-will but even those have annoying end-of-world plots.