Captain Marvel: Is It Something to Marvel At?

I gotta be honest with you guys, I wasn't really excited about this movie. For anyone who knows me, that sentence is blasphemous considering this is a superhero movie. The trailers didn't really do it for me and it seems overshadowed by the fact that Avengers: Endgame comes out a month after it's released. Did this movie exceed my expectations or is it Marvel's first dud? That's what I'm here to tell you.

Captain Marvel is directed by Anna Bodin and Ryan Fleck. It stars Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, and Jude Law. When Carol Danvers (Larson) crashes to Earth, she is caught up in a war between two alien races. With S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Nick Fury (Jackson) by her side, she now has to save the world. With all of that out of the way, let's dive into the review!

The good news is that this movie is a lot better than what the trailers showed. I was a little worried about Brie Larson as Captain Marvel because I didn't like what I saw in the trailers. Luckily she's great in the role. She's funny, relatable, and makes us want to root for her. What I really liked about Carol was, for a character that's so powerful, she's flawed and is prone to make mistakes. She isn't like the other soldiers she fights with. She uses her emotions and is disciplined by her commander, Yon-Rogg (Law), for doing so. This is actually her greatest strength, though. What I really loved about this movie was the chemistry between Larson and Samuel L. Jackson. When I was watching the movie, it was easy to tell these guys had a lot of fun making the film. They seemed like best friends. Some of the best sequences in the movie happen when it is just the two of them talking. This Nick Fury is completely different from the hardened S.H.I.E.L.D. director we see in other Marvel movies. He actually shows emotions. It's worth mentioning that he isn't the Director yet, but just a field agent. I also really liked the Skrull commander, Talos (Mendelsohn). For those of you who don't know, the Skrulls are an alien race who can shape-shift into anyone they want to. Mendelsohn does a great job here. He adds a lot of layers to the character which I can't get into here because, y'know, spoilers. The Skrulls also add a lot of interesting situations to the film. The effects in this movie are also really good. Many times it felt like I was in space fighting alien combatants. There are also a bunch of little nods to other Marvel movies like Guardians of the Galaxy and the Avengers.

It's tough talking about the negatives for this movie because quite a bit of them are spoilers. I'll just say this: Some of the choices in the movie went against what was established in the comics. For people who just watch the movies, this won't mean anything, but as someone who has read some of the comics, I was a little stumped as to why some decisions were made. Some things happen in the movie that kind of complicate the timeline of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but after talking about it with my friend, we figured it out. If anyone wants to talk about what exactly was changed that I didn't like, feel free to DM me or e-mail me! One thing I was kind of surprised with was that the filmmakers didn't show a lot of Carol's childhood. When watching the trailers, I thought they would do something like Wonder Woman and show us the different struggles that she had to go through. The movie touches on it, but doesn't really go into depth. This is a minor gripe, though. Like I mentioned above, there are references to Guardians of the Galaxy. Characters like Korath the Pursuer (Djimon Hounsou) and Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace) show up. The only thing is, they don't really do all that much. In all honesty, they don't need to because it's not their story. I just thought it was kind of odd to have them there.

To wrap everything up, Captain Marvel is a very fun space adventure. It really exceeded my expectations. It has great performances from Larson, Jackson, and Mendelsohn, the chemistry between Larson and Jackson is off the charts, the visuals are very impressive, and there are a lot of references to other Marvel movies. What's holding it back is some questionable decisions, a lack of Carol's childhood backstory, and some cameos that weren't really needed. Speaking of cameos, I have to mention Stan Lee. This is the first Marvel Cinematic Universe movie since Stan Lee passed away. The way the filmmakers handled it was absolutely beautiful. He will be missed by everyone. If I were to rate it, I'd give Captain Marvel an 8/10. Also, be sure to stay for the credits as usual. There's one that sets up Avengers: Endgame. That shouldn't be the only reason you see this movie, though. It's a lot of fun!