I won't bother giving away any plot in this review since you can experience that for yourself. Frankly, my head was swimming for the first half with the vast amount of exposition needed to keep everything straight. I went into this movie knowing absolutely nothing about the Captain Marvel character, and after two hours, I now feel like I know absolutely Everything. This is a vastly complicated character, and I don't know that the manner in which they chose to explain her backstory was particularly helpful, but if you stick with it, everything does coalesce neatly towards the end, in a manner that I did find quite satisfying. While a lot of moments feel very predictable and you can sense them coming from a mile away, there were some decent twists I did not anticipate, many of which are helped along by the fact that the movie features aliens called the Skrull who are shapeshifters that can adopt anyone's identity. As such, there are MANY fake-outs as anyone you see on screen could turn out to be a green alien at any minute.
Brie Larson does a good job playing Vers/Carol/Captain Marvel (you'll figure it out), trying to suss out her backstory and become a hero. Her stunt choreography is phenomenal, with the Kree (the other set of aliens - you'll figure it out) employing a rather dynamic and balletic fight style that is really fun to watch. I hadn't seen any of the trailers for this movie, so was surprised to find Jude Law also stars in it, which is always promising. As does Annette Bening, who is exactly as kick-ass as you would imagine. And then we have a de-aged Samuel L. Jackson as the young S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Nick Fury, pre-Avengers, and pre-eye patch. Let me tell you, in 2019 we have finally cracked the code on de-aging actors, and he does not look creepy at all.
What I loved about this movie is that it fully embraced the fact that it was Marvel's first female-led film. In some scenes, this was done in supremely cheesy fashion, but in a lot of scenes, it delivered a winking nod to the women in the audience. Carol is constantly told not to give into her emotions, and there's the casual harassment when she lands on Earth and a random guy on the street tells her to smile. Of course, the best part is the soundtrack, which culminates with Gwen Stefani singing "Just A Girl" during an epic fight sequence where Carol effortlessly beats up a slew of baddies.
The other surprising thing about this film is the amount of 90's nostalgia. This is evidenced by the soundtrack but also the hilarious moments when the humans on earth are trying to use CDs and dial-up Internet to get information as the aliens impatiently tap their feet. I guess we've had enough reminiscing about the 80's and it's now time for my generation to get its moment in the sun. It makes me feel old, but still, I'll take it.
Captain Marvel is a perfectly entertaining addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The character is already teased to reappear in Endgame so I cannot wait to watch her interact with the other heroes in the franchise and bring her talents to bear in the wider MCU. And I can only hope that the success of this film serves as a reminder that there is an audience for female-led superhero movies (I think Wonder Woman taught us that lesson ages ago already?) so let's stop dragging our feet. This was a good movie, but don't let this be the token film to appease the ladies. We're ready for more.
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