Here’s a film from this month people were talking about a
lot—in many very different ways. For a time, Youtube’s eternally brilliant
algorithms seemed to vomiting videos at me all to the effect that Captain
Marvel, of all films, will SINK THE MCU, or BRIE LARSON SOMETHING SOMETHING
BLARGH BLARGH. Those of course all vanished suddenly after the movie went and
made a bazillion dollars. On the other hand, there certainly seemed people
eager to urge that this’d be some amazing revolutionary film, one to take us
into the light, or something. So, having mulled it over, what do I think?
To be clear, I don’t care what Brie Larson may have said
about whatever or whenever—it probably has nothing to do with the movie as it
is. Nor will I talk about the political aspects, whatever ones people might be
seeing it—there’s probably a bunillion op-eds to that effect already. So, all
that aside, I can say the movie is…a fairly average Marvel flick. Yeah.
Exciting polemics ahead, right?
As someone who doesn’t really know anything about the comics
character, other than She’s Not Shazam, I went into the plot fairly open. I’ll
say it starts off reasonably interesting—Larson plays an amnesiac soldier of
the Kree Empire working in a special forces squad under the command of Jude Law,
her passive-aggressive officer. Before long, they’re whisked away in an
interstellar war against the shape-shifting Skrulls, an iconic bunch of alien
assholes from the comics. There’s actually a fairly well done bit on a war-torn
planet where the unit has to engage while potentially having the enemy all
around them—I certainly found it interesting, and kind of wish the movie was
focused more about this.
Eventually, Brie ends up on Earth, circa the year 1995, with
Skrulls in pursuit, and soon teams up with a young Nick Fury, played by the
irrepressibly cool Samuel L Havin’ Enough With Snakes Jackson. They actually
did a pretty good job de-ageing SLJ here, and they get far more mileage out of
him than most Marvel films do. There’s also Ben Mendelsohn as the lead Skrull,
growling and rasping along under latex—at least he’s in a better film that whatever
the hell that Robin Hood reboot last year was all about.
Speaking of performances, guess I might as well talk about
Larson, and she’s…okay. There are a few good moments of emoting from her here
and there, but a lot of the time, her expression seems to be some variation of
Keanu Reeves Stares Intently at Something, or Keanu Reeves Looks Mildly Annoyed
at Something. I get they were going for a more stoic presentation, but it feels
like something Charlize Theron or even Uma Therman could’ve pulled off better.
I’ve seen worse, but I’ve also seen better.
The supporting cast makes up for it somewhat—Jackson as her
sidekick is all kinds of fun to watch, and Lashana Lynch as Marvel’s friend and
co-pilot Rambeau is also a good, expressive highlight for me. Then there’s the
action, which is…okay. It’s surprisingly low in scope for a superhero film, with
all the stratosphere-punching stuff you’d expect being all concentrated in the
very climax, with one sequence that’s a dead ringer for another in Independence
Day. There’s earlier battles with the Skrulls, and the shape-shifting aspects
make it marginally more interesting than some others, but let’s just say that
sort of goes away before long. Ronan the Destroyer from the first Guardians of
the Galaxy also shows up here…but don’t expect a better showing here.
The nineties setting even I found somewhat understated.
There’s Blockbuster Video showing up and there’s jokes about dial-up, but it
also sort of goes away two-thirds in. Then again, as someone who grew up in
Europe at the time, for it to really hit the nostalgic sweet spot, it’d have to
be jammed pack with oh so glorious techno. And I don’t think American audiences
are ready for superhero action set to 2 Unlimited or Alice Deejay.
Eventually, we must come to the question—this film, or
Wonder Woman? Honestly, they’re more or less around the same level for me—a
slightly so-so lead with a more interesting supporting cast, complete with a
not supremely exciting climax. In DC’s case, that part was sort of hilarious
with poorly rendered porno stache villains, whereas this one’s finale looses
most tension before long. Still, Samuel L Jackson definitely beats out Chris
Pine, so…I guess Marvel edges out once again.
Overall, Captain Marvel is…fine, but probably slightly
forgettable in the long run to be honest. It hangs around the middle of the MCU
totem, and definitely feels like something to tide people over until the
impending juggernaut that is the second part to Infinity War arrives. I’m willing
to give Larson a chance to develop into the role more—Hemsworth for instance took
some time to grow on me, so we’ll see where the character goes from there. Most
Marvel films, even if they made one about Rocket Racoon suffering from
constipation for an hour, are guaranteed to make a bazillion dollars regardless
at this point, so I certainly hope they try and push things more. And with a
major turning point for the franchise coming up, we’ll see how it goes.
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