Captain Marvel is undoubtedly the most powerful hero MCU has ever introduced. Thanos is going to have a hard time in Endgame. But was the movie script as powerful as the character? questionable.

Prologue:

Every single movie in the Marvel cinematic universe since the first Avengers movie was an easy winner at box office. And Disney is already eyeing for a 3 billion massive success from Avengers: Endgame. But, unexpectedly Captain Marvel is on the verge of turning into a bad apple in the series because of the comments made by Brie Larson the heroine of the movie, in a press meeting. Frustrated fans accused her as a social justice warrior and even started a war against the movie and vowed to boycott the film. 

My opinion is that no movie should be panned because of an actor’s remarks. And cinema is a collective effort which should be respected. But skin deep and dishonest activism in the movies and making money out of it should be discouraged always. 

Let the drum roll, and see whether Carol Danvers version lives higher, further and faster!

Review:

What happens when you are in total oblivion of your past and what happens when you believe that the cluttered memories in your mind were just dreams? I am not talking about the amnesiac Jason Bourne, this is actually the basic plot of Captain Marvel. The penultimate episode in Marvel Cinematic Universe’s one era brings out the story of Carol Danvers, an ex-pilot in US Air-force, where she has to set out a journey crossing the stars to seek answers what she could never ask herself when she was busy fighting under an artificial intelligence monarch.

The movie begins with a befitting homage to the comic book legend Stan Lee where the Marvel studios logo illuminates with a collage of his images. It was welcomed with an ovation by the comic book nerds and fans who were gathered for the first day first show in the cinema. Then we see the Hala the capital planet of Kree empire where Carol Danvers and her mentor played by Jude Law, who is also the commander of Kree star-force are undergoing on a mission against the Skrulls, another fictional civilization like Kree. When she is captured by Skrulls, she finds her way out and accidentally lands in a planet called C-53 according to Skrulls terminology, which turns out to be the same Earth we live in. She has to team up with young and charismatic, Agent Nick Fury to unlock secrets to her past and her disappearance from earth, years ago. The movie ends with Carol Danvers unleashing her infinite powers to do the right thing and ending the age-old conflict between the two alien races mentioned earlier.

The film displays impressive visual effects in the initial moments but all goes in vain when poorly edited scenes of Carol’s distorted memories set the movie to an uncomfortable pace. The sequences where they tried to recreate the 1990s music were disappointing. Until Larson’s character meets Nick fury the second time, the movie was just bland. Samuel L Jackson did a fantastic job with his humor and acting, otherwise, most of the movie would have been an absolute train wreck. Like always, Marvel did an amazing job on de-aging the characters, both Fury and Agent Coulson. Brie Larson is a good actress, but her transition from a tough super soldier to a benevolent hero was ill-conceived and her emotions as a female superhero were pale. Reiterating the story of an infinity stone which we have seen already in phase 1 was a terrible idea, I would say. On the other hand, Skrulls were the bright spots in the film. They had enough depth and sensible motive, unlike other MCU villains who were just looking for world domination. Talos, the leader of Skrulls played by Ben Mendelsohn and Kree commander played by Jude Law did their best. Jokes on the snail-paced technologies before millennium and Goose, the adorable cat distract the audience from the poor execution of the film and makes up the movie to conclude with an above average experience. As we can see in the climax, Captain Marvel is undoubtedly the most powerful hero MCU has ever introduced. Thanos is going to have a hard time in Endgame. But was the movie script as powerful as the character? questionable.

Verdict:

Did we want a Captain Marvel movie now? It is a no for the Marvel fans and for whole 10-year infinity stone story line, but a yes for Disney and Marvel Studios. Even if marvel introduced her in Endgame instead of this origin story, nothing would have been changed. The studio claimed that since she is the strongest, she deserved an origin movie. But we did not get any extraordinary heroic scenes that are memorable. We do not want to know how the tesseract ended up in SHIELD headquarters. We do not want to know from where Fury got the Idea of Avengers.

On the contrary, all these years Disney was trying hard to pose themselves as more progressive and inclusive amidst the rapid socio-political climate in America. So they needed a female titular hero like Wonder woman who worked well for DC comics. That is the same reason why it gets a releasing date on International Women’s day, and more women get hyped for this film.

Nonetheless, there is a probability that the characters appeared in Captain Marvel will appear in endgame too. There is a chance that Skrulls (or Kree?) will assist Avengers to fight the mad titan Thanos, who is now retired after “decimation”. There is a chance that there is no one knows the corners of our the universe better than Captain Marvel. Until then, this solo origin story is something undesired and forced upon us by Marvel.

If you wish to check out how Nicholas Jonathan Fury (who likes to be called as  Fury only), how Carol got her superpowers and how the pager that Fury used in Infinity war works, you already got reasons to get a ticket for Captain Marvel.

Epilogue:

When I came out of the Cinema, I felt like the movie should have been named as Nick Fury: The Zeroth Avenger. Samuel L Jackson was the saving grace for most of the scenes. Without him it would have been a boring experience. Carol Dan”vers” and Brie Larson could not connect with the audience well. Nevertheless, since she is currently termed as the strongest avenger, she definitely has to step up her game in Avenger’s Endgame.

I also hope that Monica Rambeau, the high spirited daughter of Carol’s friend will appear in future MCU movies as Spectrum, a superhero who has energy manipulation powers like Carol Danvers. Does it look insignificant? Don’t forget that Monica Rambeau was Captain Marvel even before Carol took up that Mantle in comics!