Captain Marvel (Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck, 2019) USA

Reviewed by Kaio Farkouh.

Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (“Sugar”),  the writers-directors, which worked together in previous project have the hard job in directing this new Marvel movie. In 2017, the movie “Wonder Woman” came out and it was a hit, it opened the door for new opportunities, being the first super hero movie lead by an actress. Last year, Marvel did the very successful  “Black Panther”, which has a black hero as protagonist. However, Marvel have been doing films for around one decade, and we have been waiting to see their first female super hero leading a movie. The wait is over, and we finally can see the first woman leading a Marvel movie.

The movie follows the story of Carol Denvers through the 90’s, known as Captain Marvel, where we get to know about how she gets her powers and her mission to stop a war between alien races, known as the Skrulls and her people, the Kree. And between all that, we have all the story around that follows a universe that has been built in the past 10 years. The movie has a good cast with, Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Jude law, Ben Mendelsohn and Annette Bening.

Directing a Marvel movie is not an easy thing to do, most because of the high standards that Marvel has created for itself. Marvel latest movies came with new ideas, for example “Thor: Ragnarok”, a story that ended up being a comedy, and even though gave us a totally new, better, stronger version of Thor. Then, last year with “Black Panther” making over a billion in the box office, winning 3 Oscars, and still being an origin story with social criticism. Those movies, brought different ideas, innovations which “Captain Marvel” fails to deliver. There is nothing that we have not seen before in this origin story, and after 10 years of movies, it was very familiar to the type that movies that Marvel used to make to tell an origin story. The movie though fails to tells us an original story, but it succeeded in giving us a strong a powerful character as Captain Marvel and a good supporting cast.

Played by the Oscar winner, Brie Larson (“Room”) gives us a powerful performance as Captain Marvel. She is fearless and she has a different type of humor, different from other main characters of the MCU. In the movie, she looks for answer to know about her past and know who she is, which brings her to earth, where she meets the character of Samuel L. Jackson (“Pulp Fiction”), Nick Fury. The movie, after a slow first act, that nothing really happens, the introduction of the character that we already know who he is at this point (considering that you have been following the MCU) gives us a much better pace, thanks to his chemistry with Brie Larson and give more informations about the character, and with a great sense of humor, Samuel L. Jackson is great in it.  When Captain Marvel comes to earth, she is followed by a race called, skrulls. Their leader is played by Ben Mendelsohn (“Ready Player One”), who plays Talos. In the past, Marvel had this problem, where they make an amazing origin story of the hero, but lack of building a good villain, however, this have changed (Loki, Thanos, Killmonger) and the villain this time again is a character with feelings and depth, we can understand his motivations and sympathize with his character.

“Captain Marvel” is a formulaic movie and lacks of creativity, it does not bring nothing new to a genre of movies that have been going for a while, it suffers from the fact that the movie has a lot to achieve, for example telling a story of the first female super hero in a Marvel movie, keep telling a story that right now is in a very significant point as a matter of storytelling in an universe of movies. However, with the great Brie Larson as Captain Marvel, a great supporting cast and a cat, that steals the show, “Captain Marvel” is a good time, and it is worth the watch.

“Captain Marvel” trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LHxvxdRnYc


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