THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
In the post credit scene of Avengers: Infinity War, many viewers asked of what the logo on Fury's pager meant. As fans knew, it was the logo for another iconic hero of Marvel Comics, Captain Marvel. After that realization, moviegoers also asked where has the character been after all this time. In 2019, we were able to get that answer.
PLOT
The film shows Kree warrior Vers who not only suffers from amnesia but is the only one who has cosmic abilities. Ever since she was found, she has been trained by her mentor Yon Rogg. He and their leader the Supreme Intelligence, whose physical appearance is unknown and takes the form of one that another would admre, constantly tell her to control her emotions. Their is an ongoing war between the Kree and green shape shifters known as Skrulls. When Yon Rogg leads a mission with his Starforce crew, Vers, Minn Erva (Gemma Chan), Korath (Djimon Hounsou), Bron Tar (Rune Temte) and Att Lass (Algenis Perez Soto), they get ambushed and Vers is abducted. The Skrull leader Talos browses through her memories to look for something he needs. Before he can discover it, she wakes up from being unconscious and escapes. She crash lands on planet C-53 (Earth) and when attempting to contact Yon Rogg, she encounters SHIELD agent Nick Fury. His investigation escalates as he encounters Skrulls himself. Vers attempts to chase one down but it escapes. With a crystal containing her extracted memories, she attempts to uncover what Talos was looking for. When Fury finds her, they agree to work together. They go to an Air Force base and with his clearance, she finds the clue of Project Pegasus. Through there, she discovers that she was a human, named Carol Danvers and was presumed dead in 1989 after testing a new engine with Wendy Lawson. She recognizes Lawson from her dreams. When reaching Yon Rogg again, he reveals that Lawson was another Kree agent named Mar Vell, who was experimenting with tech that could end the Kree/Skrull War. Talos, disguised as Fury's boss Keller, catch up to them after Fury paged him. They escape by jet but Mar Vell's cat Goose tags along. They go to Maria Rambeau who last saw Danvers and Lawson alive. She and her daughter Monica (Akira Akbar) explain that Carol was family to them. Talos meets up peacefully with a black box recorder of her crash. When hearing it, she remembers that it was Yon Rogg that killed Mar Vell who wanted to destroy the engine from preventing it to be in the wrong hands. Carol shot it but was exposed to its energy, gaining her abilities and causing her amnesia. Yon Rogg took her and named her after what remained of her dog tag. After this realization, Talos explains that he and kis kind are refugess and Mar Vell was experimenting on light speed technology in order to help them escape beyond Kree reach. They eventually find her laboratory in space and Talos' family, along with the energy source the Tesseract (Space Stone). However, Yon Rogg and Starforce catch up and hold them all captive. They place Danvers in VR before the Supreme Intelligence, but she breaks and is able to access the full force of her power. After Goose reveals its alien identity as a Flerken by swallowing the Tesseract, she stalls Starforce as everyone goes to Earth with the Skrulls. Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace) arrives due to being messaged by Yon Rogg earlier, but Danvers destroys his missiles with ease, causing him to retreat. She also sends Yon Rogg back to planet Hala to warn Supreme Intelligence that she will end it all with the Kree. On Earth, Maria is able to shoot down Minn Erva and during the celebration, Goose scratches out Fury's left eye. Before going to help the Skrulls find a new planet, Danvers returns Fury's now upgraded pager but requests to be paged for emergencies only. When returning to SHIELD HQ, Fury is inspired to begin an initiative named after her call sign, 'Avenger'. The film ends with a mid credit scene where Danvers meets the remaining Avengers of Earth who found Fury's pager after Thanos' snap.
THOUGHTS
Looking back, I recall not having the best experience watching this film in theaters for personal reasons. However, I was still able to enjoy the movie than and I enjoyed it more afterwards. This film stands out of the past origin movies for succeeding in being a fun, nostalgic film. I definitely have to give the film credit for providing such a great tribute to Stan Lee in the opening logo, due to the writer's passing. Besides his clever cameo, that tribute gave me the biggest smile. Of course like any MCU film, you get some laughs with the nostalgic references and character interactions. The action and visuals combined are solid and they will hold up for a long time, especially the climactic space conflict. This is a film that can be awe inspiring because the main character is a woman who holds her own and never exactly doubts herself. Many viewers complained of the song 'Just a Girl' by No Doubt being used because they believed it didn't feel earned, due to the fact that none of the main characters doubt the protagonist, as the song is about a woman being doubted by others just for being a female. Looking back, I think it's earned because we see the flashback montage on how she was doubted by. And people again think it felt pointless for the villains to keep telling her to control her emotions when she appears pretty chill. The defense I give for that part is that they also tell her not remember her past because if she does, she will become emotional. While that's the biggest defense I'm gonna give for what's heavily complained, there are still some story flaws I'm gonna call out. First off, it is cool that we see Korath and Ronan but they don't drag the story as I would hope because we don't get to see those characters interact at all, which could have lead to their future alliance in Guardians of the Galaxy. If we're getting a sequel for this movie and go to the past again, I hope we get just that. Also, I understand that Mar Vell that some kind of clearance to get the Tesseract, but I can't help but wonder when exactly did that happen. That I can't get out of my head. It felt odd for SHIELD to take until daybreak to get to the Blockbuster where Danvers crashed considering they must've gotten the call at night. It's honestly an excuse for her to have enough time to message Yon Rogg before meeting Fury. I also find it hard to believe that civilians were able to restrain her during the train fight. She has powers and I know it's an excuse for the Skrull to escape but come on, that did not convince me. It's funny that Coulson got left behind but it took him way too long to call Fury, which was a lazy excuse for the Skrull reveal. The only time I wasn't on board with the visuals was on Goose. Throughout, Goose is an adorable badass but there were some shots where it didn't look real for me. I know actress Brie Larson is allergic to cats, but they could've done better. Lastly, I do admit that I laughed when Goose scratched out Fury's eye because it's so unexpected but it is truly disappointing because it just feels like a slap in the face that it wasn't something that would've been a more badass situation. Truly, my biggest gripe of the whole film. Once you ignore all of that, you can enjoy it for what it is. Getting into the goods again, we definitely had a solid cast for this superhero movie. Brie Larson is great as our titular lead in her own way. She approaches her character more of a person than a superhero. I think it works because in my perspective, she does feel that way as she is suffering from an identity crisis. That is a lot for anyone and she handles it well. So when she breaks free and summons the full force of her power, it is perfectly timed and the most badass moment of the whole movie for me. Also, I got a big laugh when she has her Raiders of the Lost Ark moment by shooting down Yon Rogg, rather than having another fight with him. Samuel L. Jackson gives his best outing as Nick Fury since Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The de aging on him is insane, looking just as young as he appeared in Patriot Games. He's great here because he is finally in action and shows off his soft side, which is something that myself and viewers have been dying to see. He has great chemistry here with Larson due to working together beforehand and it is shown to be highly genuine. He gave me the biggest laugh on how he pulled off his fingerprint tape trick and complains how easy it was for Danvers to open it with her powers. And because I haven't seen Soul Men as of writing this, I gotta admit he's got a good singing voice when he is singing 'Please Mr. Postman' by the Marvelettes. The introduction to the Skrulls was awesome and I am glad that they don't overstay their welcome by trying to foreshadow the Secret Invasion arc because that could've appeared messy here. Ben Mendelsohn was really good here as Talos. Besides making me laugh by just sipping a drink or freaking out of Goose, he is a character that has a deep determination to save his people. A character with that kind of goal, you'll like him instantly. I also thought it was clever for the actor to use his Australian accent when being the Skrull but uses an American accent when impersonating Fury's boss Keller. I did like Lashana Lynch as Maria Rambeau because she really owns her given time here. Her first glance of seeing her best friend return and giving her a pep talk, you truly feel how strong the friendship is between both of them. That said friendship clearly originates of how they’re both headstrong and love to fly. It is even cool of how she held her own with Minn Erva, proving why she belongs in the Air Force. I thought it was cool seeing Clark Gregg returning as Phil Coulson in his short period of time because whether or not abc's Agents of SHIELD is canon, the guy deserved another appearance and thankfully, he fits in here in this movie. It was bold for doing a gender swap on Mar Vell but I think it pulled off with the casting of Annette Benning. With what we get, I think she was good on the flashbacks of the sympathetic mentor Lawson while also providing the creepy presence of Supreme Intelligence. Lastly, Jude Law is an interesting choice as Yon Rogg. You don't see him do a lot of villain roles and he is good here. I think the parallel of him pretending to be a mentor and actually controlling one of the most powerful beings looked almost challenging, but Law plays out this aspect very well on the character that basically has more of a slimy personality than you think. Overall, Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck succeed in making another entertaining entry of the MCU that is Captain Marvel. If you love superheroes and/or girl power, this will be right up your alley.
Comments