Is Captain Marvel….Marvelous?
With all the political tensions and hoopla surrounding the MCU’s Captain Marvel, we must ask… it this movie really all that? Or is it just as political as some of the actors?
Quick answer, no. The movie does not deal with politics any more than any other movie. As someone who recently within the last few years have come to love the character, I was quite excited to see that there was going to be a movie made. I proceeded to go and read as many of the comics as I could get my hands on, which was not much considering it was about two years before the movie was about to come out. I came to know the smart, spunky, Smart Alek Carol Danvers. This movie was charming, intriguing and entertaining. We learn the back history of the MCU Carol, which is not far from the back story of Comic Carol. She’s still a pilot who loves to fly and doesn’t want to take anything off anyone. She has her flaws, and we are shown a few times. All that being said, Nick Fury, Coleson, and Goose take the stage. Captain Marvel as a movie while very entertaining is not the best movie in the MCU. It’s not the worst by far, but it still left me feeling “meh.”
Why is left me feeling Meh
Perhaps it was the very star wars like the intro. The aliens and the surrounding sets of the first 30-ish minutes of this film feel very much like it is from a galaxy far far away rather than in our own universe. Hala feels more like Coruscant than it did the capital of Kree civilization, or even perhaps something off of Tron. I wanted to explore Hala more than just a few scenes we had. I needed to get to know it more to get the Jedi temple out of my mind. But sadly this was something that was left unfinished. I do not know if perhaps Marvel intends to give us more info on the Kree, but it was a thread I wished had been picked up and run with, at least a little bit. Captain Marvel herself felt…distant. That might be because of not remembering her past part of the story, but it left me feeling disconnected from her personally. She was not a person I was rooting for, but I felt more in the role of an Observer, standing outside of time watching events that happened.
What left me feeling fantastic
While Carol herself did not have me engaged as I would generally be in a movie, several other characters caught my heart and my attention. Lashana Lynch and Akira Akbar as Carols best friend and best friends daughter, left me feeling the need for more. Who did Monica Rambeau become, and is Lt.Trouble still around? Did Maria join shield? Is she still an operative? Did she become the woman her daughter saw her as?
Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury will always be one of my favorite aspects of any of these films. Though seeing him with use of both eyes was a bit jarring, and a little like Mr.Glass had attempted to infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D. The official comes back to the MCU for Clark Gregg was also good to see. Gregg for those who do not remember playing Agent Coulson who was “murdered” by Loki. Marvel brought him back and the petition of the fans in his own show Agents of Shield, several years ago but this is the first time we have seen him again on the big screen. He plays the new agent well.
Higher Further Faster
The shining glory of characters for me has to be Moose( known as Chewie in the comics). The Cat/Flerken stole the show in a way only a cat on the internet can. Nick Fury’s love of the cat also helped the cats acting just a bit.
The music was phenomenal, the graphics, amazing. Captain Marvel in her full suit was just what I wanted in the movie. Hala, while it did remind me of Coruscant, was beautiful. I am also convinced that a bunch of 90’s kids took particular joy in placing things in the movie that made you go… wow…. I’m a kid again.
Also, the tribute to Stan Lee, the only part of the movie to bring the majority of the audience to tears.
Overall Thoughts and Rating
This is a movie worth seeing. It’s entertaining and makes a good fit into the MCU storyline. While it was not good, it did not leave me feeling as if I could take on the world, it was a good movie. I did not regret the money I had spent, I did not feel as if I had wasted my time. I would watch it again… yet I would watch many of the other movies in the MCU before I would watch first.
Geek Devotions gives it a four out of five overall, and we recommend you go check it out. But we want to hear from you! Leave a comment and let us know what you think!