Cast: Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Djimon Hounsou

Directors: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck

Review:

I only needed to get one thing out of Captain Marvel and that’s the fact that after watching this movie, I needed to be convinced that she could stop Thanos in Avengers: Endgame.  Having watched the movie, I am now 100% convinced that Thanos is in for a rude awakening when Captain Marvel shows up ready to fight with the rest of the remaining Avengers.  Captain Marvel serves mostly as a filler movie similar to that of 2018’s Ant-Man and the Wasp, but it’s a good filler movie that establishes a new face in the MCU.  Powered by a fun atmosphere created by the performances of Larson and Jackson, Captain Marvel knows how to create a film that everyone can enjoy and that will fill our needs until next month when their biggest film of all time comes out.

The film follows Vers (Larson), a Kree soldier who ends up on Earth after a botched mission to defeat their rival Skrull fighters.  Little does Vers know that she had a life on Earth before she became a member of the Kree, and must seek the truth in her situation. The main reason this film is so successful is because of the performances by Larson and Jackson. Larson is tasked with carrying most of this film as the titular character, and she does so in a nearly flawless performance.  She combines a spectacular blend of grit, comedy, and emotion that the MCU is known for and she has the ability to carry this franchise into its next generation.  I’m excited to see how Larson and her character integrate with the rest of the already established characters in future films as I could see her becoming a mainstay who carries the torch for quite some time.  Jackson on the other hand shines in his largest MCU role in quite some time.  Playing the legendary Nick Fury, Jackson provides a complimentary performance to Larson’s and uses many of the same characteristics that she does.  His humor, tone shifts, and chemistry with Larson are all paramount to this movie’s success and Captain Marvel is a testament to what happens when you combine one of the elite young talents in the film industry with an established brand of an actor.  There are only a few minor problems with the film that prevent it from being one of the best in the franchise.  The first is that some of the action sequences are a bit jumbled and messy compared to what we’ve usually seen from Marvel.  Most of them are fine, but every once in a while Captain Marvel can barely be seen taking down her adversaries.  The other issue is there seems to be some inconsistencies with Captain Marvel’s knowledge of Earth and her past life.  At times she has no knowledge of how Earth and its technology or social queues work, but at other times out of nowhere she has a deep understanding of how people act and how to effectively use Earth’s lower technology.  This just seems vary significantly from scene to scene and can make it difficult to follow how she knows certain things but doesn’t know others. With these flaws aside, the combination of fun, action, and emotional sentiment that Captain Marvel still makes it one of the better releases of early 2019.

Overall, Captain Marvel follows the same formula that most Marvel films before it have followed, but that formula exists for a reason; it works.  This is a fun movie that will whet your appetite in anticipation for the biggest release of the year and provide a first look of things to come.  Between Larson, Jackson, and to a lesser extent Mendelsohn, Captain Marvel fills the void of Marvel movies missing from the last nine months and serves as a wonderful popcorn movie that anyone can enjoy.

Overall Score: 7.5/10