Captain Marvel (2019) - Review
Regardless of what you can say about the film, I doubt that "groundbreaking" will come-up for a number of reasons. It's not the first female-led superhero film, the character isn't Marvel's first female superhero, it's coming less than two years after the huge success of Wonder Woman, and for some reason Black Panther's $1.3 billion success last year is comparable. Captain Marvel is neither Wonder Woman nor Black Panther though, and instead endeavours to set its own path. It's ultimately a science-fiction film featuring a superhero lead.
The story kicks-off with Vers (Brie Larson), who is a member of the Kree special forces agency known as Star-force, who hunt down a species known as the Skrulls - shape-shifters with the ability to transform into anyone. If you're lost already, I suspect that the film isn't for you. Captain Marvel throws most of the exposition out of the window, and just throws you in the deep-end, akin to the original Star Wars or Guardians of the Galaxy. Vers can't remember much from before six years ago, and has been trained since then by Yon-Rogg (Jude Law). When a mission to locate the Skrulls goes awry, Vers crashes down on Earth - a planet which initially baffles her, but gradually Vers starts to realise that she might well have had a life there... It's 1995, and Vers teams-up with a younger Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) to fight-off a potential Skrull invasion whilst uncovering details of her past.
From there, the film becomes a big mystery-box, with Vers uncovering different aspects of her life whilst also trying to prevent the Skrulls from accessing a particularly dangerous MacGuffin. To say more would spoil too much, but the film does take some interesting twists and turns along the way. If you aren't vaguely familiar with some of the other Marvel films though, it might be hard to understand the importance of some key plot-points. The film has a clear beginning, but the ending doesn't feel entirely satisfying - and that's because certain plot-threads have been resolved in previous films (again, this is set in 1995 as opposed to present-day, like the other Marvel films), or will be resolved in subsequent films (Brie Larson is listed among the cast for next month's Avengers: Endgame, after all). It's not completely incoherent for newbies, but it's one of Marvel's more self-referential films. Sprinkled-in among the broader Universe-building of Captain Marvel are also bits of 1990's nostalgia - some very amusing, some a little too on-the-nose.
The cast of Captain Marvel are excellent all-round, but the film mostly feels like a buddy-cop movie between Brie Larson and Samuel L Jackson, who have a fantastic report right out of the gate (the two starred in Kong: Skull Island together), and really help to keep the film afloat. Larson's performance is having to juggle a variety of characteristics over the course of the film, discovering just who she really is. Often the directors have left Larson to a more subtle performance, which may not work for some, but makes more sense in the context of the story. Her more steely exterior is simply broken over time. Thankfully, Samuel L Jackson gets to contrast with Larson brilliantly, and some of his moments are the funniest in the film.
Along for the ride is Jude Law, playing Vers' mentor character Yon-Rogg. Law is as charming as ever, but he does feel somewhat relegated to the sidelines until certain twists are revealed. Ben Mendelsohn plays Talos, leader of the Skrulls, and manages to bring more to the table than just a generic villain (he's previously been such in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Ready Player One, Robin Hood, and more). To say anymore would spoil the interesting angle Captain Marvel has on Talos, but it does help to give Mendelsohn more to work with. Clark Gregg, Lee Pace and Djimon Honsou have cameos as Agent Phil Coulson (who previously appeared in Iron Man 1 & 2, Thor, Avengers Assemble and the five seasons of Agents of SHIELD), Ronan and Korath (both being the villains in Guardians of the Galaxy) respectively, but are mostly there for fan-appeal, while Lashana Lynch and Annette Bening play characters key to Vers' past. It's a very impressive cast, but it's difficult not to feel that the film is much more focused on the central double-act of Larson and Jackson as opposed to a larger ensemble cast of characters.
Directors Ana Boden and Ryan Fleck equip themselves admirably to the preceedings, but they're not entirely confident with the action. Key action beats either have too many quick-cuts / close-ups, or rely heavily on the visual effects work. This isn't a bad thing per say, but the action lacks the expert choreography seen in the Russos' Captain America sequels or the technical prowess of Joss Whedon's Avengers or James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy films. Whilst Captain Marvel is a different kind of Marvel film, I'm not honestly sure how much of that could be attributed to Boden and Fleck. They're not bad directors, and the shot composition is nowhere near as bland and flat as Peyton Reed's work on Ant-Man and the Wasp or Jon Watts' on Spider-Man: Homecoming, but they're just good enough. This doesn't feel like an auteur-driven Marvel film, but likewise they're clearly talented enough to make a strong film.
Pinar Toprak composes the score for Captain Marvel, and I have to say that I'm quite surprised with the direction she went for. There's a lot of generic orchestral elements, but the electronic parts of the score are pretty ace. Most bizarrely though is that the style reminds me more of Blake Neely's work on the DC Television series', as opposed to other Marvel films. I suppose it's fairly similar to Bear McCreary's more recent work on Marvel's Agents of SHIELD series (relevant, given Clark Gregg reprises his role as a younger Phil Coulson in this film). It's not a hugely memorable score, but it does add an extra layer to the film. Listening to the score isolated from the rest of the film, there's a lot of layers to it, and I do respect and appreciate what Topark is doing - she is, after all, composing another superhero theme in a pantheon of hundreds.
Captain Marvel is a very strong entry into the broader Marvel Cinematic Universe, and sets the stage nicely for future installments, whilst simultaneously tying previous plot-threads together. This isn't a perfect film by any means, and while I'm sure this film will get more criticism than most other Marvel films (I wonder why...), there is a lot to love here. It's just not an entirely standalone film, and suffers from that. It's not so much an unsatisfying watch as much as it feels like you're watching one episode in a longer series, which both restricts the story and allows it to explore interesting angles that as a completely standalone film, it wouldn't be able to. In many respects, I'd compare Captain Marvel to the first Thor - a nice, easy film with fun ideas and a cool prologue, but one that saves the really great stuff for later. Considering we only have to wait another few weeks for Captain Marvel's next cinematic appearance, we might be closer to than we think to that... 8/10
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