Captain Marvel is a 2019 production from Marvel Studios, directed and written by the duo Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck. It stars Brie Larson as the lead, alongside the likes of Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Jude Law and Gemma Chan. The film averages a 6,9 currently on IMDb as well as a 64 Metascore.
A Summary
Captain Marvel is the second film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe if you follow the chronological order. The movie gives us the backstory behind the making of Captain Marvel (Brie Larson). It also shows the start of the Avengers initiative, an initiative with which fans are familiar at this point. We get to know how fighter pilot Carol Danvers (Captain Marvel) became one of the strongest superheroes we have ever seen.
The story starts on the Kree Empire’s capital planet Hala, where Starforce member Vers (Captain Marvel) gets her commands from the Supreme Intelligence, the AI leader of the Kree. Vers’s team, led by Yon-Rogg (Jude Law) and featuring Minn-Erva (Gemma Chan), is sent to rescue an operative with valuable information, however, the team gets ambushed by Skrulls as Vers gets separated from her team. With her powers, she manages to escape Skrull captivity after seeing some weird memories she can’t remember.
She lands on Earth, known to non-humans as C-53. There she has her first run-in with S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). He has absolutely no idea what is going, where she is from and why she is dressed in a weird suit. After a quick explanation from Vers, they get attack by Skrull. A chase throughout the city follows, but in the end, they can’t catch the Skrull.
Using Fury’s security clearance they check records concerning a scientist, Dr Wendy Lawson, someone Vers has memories of. She was busy building a light-speed engine, which the Skrulls and Kree are both interested in. Fury doesn’t Vers yet and calls in backup while they are at the military base. His boss, Keller (Ben Mendelsohn), comes to the scene. However, turns out a Skrull leader named Talos used the Skrull’s ability to change into anyone they see, to become Keller.
After Vers and Fury manage to escape, they check on their only lead. A fighter pilot for the army named Maria Rambeau and her daughter Monica. They already knew Vers, under a different name though: Carol Danvers. Talos finds their location and forces Vers to listen to the audio of the black box from a plane crash, sometime before her first-ever memories. As it turns out she was helping Lawson test her plane when they got attacked by the same Kree operatives that were now on her team.
Carol remembers everything and concludes that the Kree Empire has been on the wrong side all along. They were trying to kill as many Skrulls at they could, because they wouldn’t abide by their will. The Skrulls were just trying to escape and build up their home again. We get to see how Carol gained her superhuman strengths: the engine build by Lawson exploded right next to her and she absorbed the energy it spews out.
Together with Talos, Fury and Maria, Carol finds other Skrulls in Lawson’s laboratory. They fight off Carol’s old crewmates. This fight ensued after Carol talked to the Supreme Intelligence for the first time after she knows what happened to her. She breaks free from the power restraints put on her by the Kree and therefore becomes stronger than ever before. She defeats her old crew, saves the earth from bombardment, saves all the Skrulls and gains possession of the tesseract along the way.
The Story
I find this the be one of the better backstories from the MCU. Carol Danvers trained to be a fighter pilot for the army, but never really got a shot because she was a woman. She wanted the help the world to become a better place and for that meant helping Lawson, because that was the only place where she could even do something. Her journey leading to remembering her former life and eventually turning on her own people to save the Skrulls was quite beautiful to see.
It is a classic story of the strong get even stronger, the Kree Empire is huge and the Skrulls are just a very small part in it. They won’t live under Kree rule, so they have to be eradicated. Vers first memories were likely exactly that. She doesn’t know any better and how could she, probably all of Kree’s population is indoctrinated with this information. For Vers, this problem also becomes personal. She was Carol Danvers, but when she gained some power, the Kree wanted to make her their own and use her as a weapon.
The Characters
Carol Danvers / Vers / Captain Marvel
As one of the first superhero movies with a lead female character, there was some pressure to perform for actress Brie Larson. The character itself given to her to portray was definitely interesting, as I already mentioned somewhat above. She has a rich and satisfying story that ends in one of the best ways imaginable.
However, Brie’s portrayal of the characters isn’t all great. I feel like she lacked some emotional range from time to time. We mainly see Carol in a state of normal and sometimes laughter. While she does go through some immense pain, being betrayed and lied to by people she thought were her family. Brie barely shows the sadness and conflict that Carol must be going through. Alongside fan backslash, after some sinister interviews, it means Marvel got themselves a though one.
Nick Fury
Great character in the MCU. Already known for his leadership and strong voice during dire times, he also shows his earlier character in this film. Laughing a lot with Carol and making new friends with the Skrulls. Of course, there is nothing bad to say about Samuel’s performance.
The Production
The film features some heavy CGI to show Captain Marvel’s powers as well as the Skrulls and everything that is Kree. What you would expect from a big-budget feature film like this is also what you’ll get. Top-quality CGI that really enhances the story further.