Produced by: Kevin Feige
Screenplay by: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck, Nicole Perlman, Geneva Robertson-Dworet, Meg LeFauve, Liz Flahive, Carly Mensch
Based on: Carol Danvers; by Roy Thomas; Gene Colan
Production company: Marvel Studios
Release date: March 8, 2019
Cinematic Universe: MCU (#21)
Log-line: A headstrong extraterrestrial woman crash-lands in 1990’s America, on the hunt for shapeshifting aliens. However, as the planet stirs up lost memories within her, she begins to question if she’s on the right side of the war she’s fighting. Also, there’s a cat. A space cat.
2.5/5 Bones
Let’s get this out of the way: it’s a relief to have her. A superheroine headlining in a goddamn functional supersuit without boob armour or heels would’ve meant the world to me when I was a kid. I wish I’d seen it instead of Cat-Woman - the S&M music video masquerading as empowerment that was the superheroine film I had instead. But there’s something undercooked in this lore-based episode of the MCU nonetheless, and I can’t help but feel that Carol deserved better.
This continues in the new habit of the MCU to use the THOR template (Black Panther, GOTG2, Thor: Ragnarok) rather than the Iron Man one (Ant-Man, Doctor Strange, Iron Man 2&3). I’ve found that the THOR template has made for better movies (excuse my bias), mostly due to its emphasis on a more personal and likeable villain, while the hero’s journey focuses on them learning to use powers for the right causes, rather than a simple tale as to the origin of their powers.
That holds true for Captain Marvel, but I wish it had borrowed more of the sentimentality and tragedy of Branagh’s original THOR. It has several of the surface-level details of that script - the all-powerful blonde deity crashlanding in a desert part of Earth and proceeding to indulge in fish-out-of-water comedy while the government scrambles, the SPOILER turning out be SPOILER, SPOILER SPOILER spoiler, spoiler spoiler, before the giant alien weapon SPOILER SPOILER.
Hmm. This movie is hard to talk about without revealing things. Let’s just say it does one twist better than THOR, giving humanity to certain characters neglected in that film and making the moral hit home a bit better, but it also denies humanity and drama to things THOR prioritized - namely, the hero’s relationships with friends, family and villains. It also lacks what I’ve found to be the secret sauce of every great MCU entry, and the overwhelming ingredient in the best superhero fare - tragedy.
Carol is a wonderful personality, a joy to watch onscreen, but unlike Tony, Thor, Steve, T’Challa, Stephen, Peter Parker or Peter Quill, I don’t get a sense of WHY she has that personality, nor does it change at all. Her amnesia affects her sense of being about as much as me forgetting what I had for breakfast changes who I am. And her own origin movie changes who she is about as much as a bad sandwich changes who I am after lunch. (Momentary discomfort, some irritability, but then back to being my charismatic self, albeit in a new change of clothes. Heck, I’d probably have more self-reflection about my choices after a bad sandwich than Carol does after learning she’s killed SPOILERS.) Carol discovers, as every MCU protag does, that she’s been in the dark about a lot of things, and she strives to correct her mistakes, as most of the protags do. But when the film ends, one doesn’t get a sense that she’s really suffered all that much. The triumph is undermined because she never felt in danger of losing anything. If anything, she gets everything she had back and then some. Tony ended his origin film giving up his old company and way of life, Steve gave up his life, love and time period, Thor watched his brother go mad and commit suicide, Peter Quill lost two fathers minutes apart, T'Challa has to kill the cousin that his father abandoned to a lifetime of cruelty. Tragedies all. Things that, while they may not have changed their core personalities, added a note of sadness. And the best tragedies are not random happenstance - in the tradition of old Greek classics and Shakespeare itself, they should be brought on by some innate flaws. Whether that's arrogance, recklessness, ignorance, insecurity, naïevté, selfishness, envy - at some point, as Baron Mordo states, 'The bill comes due.'
With Carol, there is no loss, only gain. The bill never arrives. And maybe that’s supposed to be a triumph. But it feels empty. Like getting rewarded for a long wait with a chocolate sundae, but finding yourself so hungry you crave a steak instead. There’s no clear theme to the film, nor clear characterization of its hero. There's no easy adjective I could apply to her flaws or strengths, other than 'shiny'. The tone hovers between Winter Soldier and GOTG, and while I personally prefer it to both, there’s no denying that both of those films are more defined and sure of themselves and their characters. Still, there’s room to grow, and I do want to see more of everyone in this film. Jude Law and Ben Mendelson and their characters were the stand-outs. Mendelson melded humour and heart, while not losing his enjoyable menace. Jude Law’s Yon-Rogg could’ve been a far more cardboard character in lesser hands, but while not milked for as much drama and tragedy as his relationship with Carol could have been, neither is it entirely nipped in the bud. Much more can be done with both characters.
As for the best character - of course, Goose the Cat is the GOAT.
There’s room to go higher and further with this franchise, and I hope it does so. Captain Marvel is a bird that deserves to fly.
...I’ll see myself out. Of my own blog.
Look, puns are a storied and respectable way to end reviews. I need defend nothing. There was like, three in that one. It’s literary genius.
Genius, I tell you.
….
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