Captain Marvel (2019) SPOILER Review
Captain Marvel gave us the origin story of Carol Danvers, as well as some surprises and I am gonna look over them in this SPOILER review.
Let's start from the beginning and I mean the very beginning when the Marvel Studios logo starts. They changed it to dedicate the one and only Stan Lee. Kevin Feige said that they wanted a small celebration of Stan's legacy that he left behind and I, for one, welcome it. It concludes with the words: "Thank you, Stan." I'm gonna miss him. And for his cameo, while looking for Skrulls, Carol encounters him on a subway where he's reading a script of Mallrats. The two share a smile with each other. It was beautifully well-played.
When we first meet Carol, she's referred to as Vers and has all these dreams in her sleep. She then approaches her mentor Yon Rogg (Jude Law) to do some combat training. In this scene, we learn how he teaches her to control her powers with an implant and suppress her emotions. So there was a reason why she was acting emotionless. She also acted a little peppy, much to Yonn Rog's chagrin. At Hala, where she lives, she answers to the Supreme Intelligence that rules over the Kree and takes the form of this mysterious woman (Annette Benning) who appears in her dreams.
While on a mission with Star Force, Carol is captured by the Skrulls where they use a memory probe to go through her head of memories. This woman seems to be acquainted with Carol and is named Dr. Wendy Lawson. Carol escapes and crashlands on Earth where she meets Nick Fury. After going after some Skrulls in disguise, she finds a crystal containing all the memories they look through. On a side note, the way the Skrulls shapeshift is a bit unusual, looking like they're breaking out with blemishes.
Carol and Fury run into each other again while she goes a journey for answers surrounding these memories of hers that she can't seem to recall. They make their way to an air base for anything based on Project Pegasus which Dr. Lawson was a part of. Here, they come across a cat named Goose who Fury takes a liking to. Carol finds photos of herself and Dr. Lawson. But their search is interrupted by Talos, the leader of the Skrulls, who's disguised as the director of SHIELD before Fury. I think it's nice Ben Mendelsohn gets to look like himself briefly without any make-up.
Carol and Fury escape in a jet with Goose as a stowaway and they make their way to someone of Carol's past, Maria Rambeau who was her best friend. This is where we get a good emotional connection. It's a nice change of pace to have it between two best friends who are close like sisters. Lashana Lynch plays her role so well, and I hope she'll be in more films, not just Marvel films. Talos shows up but not to cause trouble for Carol. It turns out that the Skrulls are refugees and are just trying to find a new home. Dr. Lawson is actually a Kree named Mar-Vell who's been helping them. He also brought a recording for Carol to hear where she and Mar-Vell are being chased by a spacecraft. Carol then crashes the jet. Mar-Vell attempts to destroy the energy core but she's killed not by a Skrull like in Carol's dream, but Yon Rogg. Carol decides to do it herself and the energy gets absorbed in her. She loses her memory and is taken by Yon Rogg.
Carol then takes matters into her own hands and decides to help the Skrulls. She changes the colors of her Star Force suit to her trademark red and blue one to establish her own identity. Carol, Fury, Maria, Talos, and Goose fly over to Mar-Vell's secret hidden lab. The lab has other Skrulls hiding, as well as Talos' family. Again, it's good to see another Marvel antagonist have depth and this time just be misunderstood. The source of the energy core that gave Carol her powers is revealed to be the Tesseract. While I thought it was really cool to see it again, it may raise a couple of questions like how did Mar-Vell attain it? I'm guessing she stole it from Howard Stark or maybe got on his good side and was allowed to do whatever with it. Yon Rogg and the Kree infiltrate the lab and Carol is wired into the Supreme Intelligence where she's taunted for her past memories of getting knocked to the ground constantly for doing something that people thought a man can do but women can't. But Carol fights back and we get a montage of her at different ages, getting back up. It may be a little too on the nose, but I found it inspiring. It reminded me of the montage from the finale of Buffy where some girls are being empowered thanks to Buffy sharing her Slayer power with whoever has the potential to be one. The shot of young Carol playing baseball made thought of it because of a similar shot involving a baseball girl.
Carol breaks free and the Kree implant that controls her powers is off, so she pretty much lets loose. It's awesome to watch her display her full potential, but I don't know if the that makes her the most powerful character in the MCU. I don't really know if these powerful photon blasts are enough to defeat Thanos. Perhaps she can absorb the energy from his gauntlet? Who knows what will happen with her in Endgame. Also, it's revealed that Goose is part of an alien species called the Flerken. When Fury was wondering what to do with the Tesseract, huge tentacles come out of Goose's mouth and he swallows it. In perhaps the funniest scene in the movie, Goose uses his tentacles to thrash Kree soldiers around and gobble them up, much like Hulk and Groot. We finally get to see how Fury lost his eye: Goose scratched it. A lot of people have predicted this, but now that we've seen it's true, it's pretty disappointing. It goes to show that some things are best left unexplained. There's a Spongebob meme where it predicts how Fury lost his eye will be the equivalent of the Salty Spitoon, a very tough bar, but how he actually lost it is the equivalent of Weenie Hut Jr. In my opinion, since Goose is no ordinary cat, I'd say it's the equivalent of Super Weenie Hut Jr.
Earlier in the movie, Carol learns about Fury's pager. She then upgrades it for him to notify her, but only for major emergencies. Fury gets the idea of an initiative to bring together people like her if there are any monumental threats. He was going to call it The Protector Initiative but after looking at a picture of Carol and her aircraft with her callsign, he changes it to The Avenger Initiative. On one hand, I can see people rolling their eyes at this, but for me, I think it's cool, especially when you heard the Avengers theme briefly. I'd love to see how Carol reacts to the name of the team.
Speaking of the Avengers, in the mid-credit scene, we see Steve, Natasha, Bruce, and Rhodey in their Avengers HQ. They found Fury's pager and are trying to figure out what it means. Even though Infinity War didn't break my heart into a million pieces, I found myself feeling their grief.
"This is a nightmare," Steve says.
"I've had better nightmares," Natasha replies, trying to cope.
I like to see how Thanos' snap affected the world and the survivors to establish an emotional setup. Then out of the blue, Carol appears to them with long hair and one question: "Where's Fury?" The movie then doesn't waste any time displaying the words: "Captain Marvel will return in Avengers Endgame." I heard some audience members cheered and my ears loved hearing it. I was afraid I would hear someone booing but some people turned out to be on board with her. And the last scene after the credits is a throwaway scene where Goose is on Fury's desk and he coughs up the Tesseract like it's a hairball.
All in all, Captain Marvel turned out to be an average Marvel movie, but I am more lenient towards it than most people are. The story didn't have a strong structure and the humor was hit or miss, but nowhere near as abysmal as Thor the Dark World. The things that carry the movie are the characters and the visuals. I could see people reacting negatively to some changes like Mar-Vell being a woman and the continuity. As I said before, some questions would be raised and I hope Marvel Studios and Kevin Feige won't get carried away with changing a lot of continuity like they're saying, "This lead to this and that lead to that." Mar-Vell as a woman didn't bug me too much; it wasn't like the Mandarin twist in Iron Man 3 though that also didn't bother me. And I am hopeful that Brie Larson will get more development in Avengers Endgame. In the past, some characters didn't quite make a good first impression, like Black Widow in Iron Man 2. It felt like her role was to kick butt and look hot. But thanks to Joss Whedon and more especially the Russos, she became more well-rounded and popular. And I wasn't so keen on Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange because of his accent. But by Infinity War, he's sounded more natural and I finally accepted him as the Sorcerer Supreme. Sometimes, I feel like I'm from a different world since a lot of people think Brie Larson is dull and bland, but I thought she did fine. There are other female characters I consider dull and bland like Mera from Aquaman and Jyn Erso from Rogue One, but people seem to love those characters. I recently watched the live-action remake of Dumbo and one of the kids, Nico Parker, was so monotone and didn't emote. She was more like an emotionless robot than Larson was. But a lot of the time, the actress isn't to blame; it's the material and directives they're given. The Russos have talked about the challenge of making a powerful character like Carol relatable, but they may have found a way. So I'm just gonna be optimistic and accept things the way they are. But I think Marvel Studios shouldn't get too comfortable with their own success. I mean, Endgame is going to break all kinds of records without a doubt, but DC's own Captain Marvel movie seemingly isn't going to be underestimated.
Let's start from the beginning and I mean the very beginning when the Marvel Studios logo starts. They changed it to dedicate the one and only Stan Lee. Kevin Feige said that they wanted a small celebration of Stan's legacy that he left behind and I, for one, welcome it. It concludes with the words: "Thank you, Stan." I'm gonna miss him. And for his cameo, while looking for Skrulls, Carol encounters him on a subway where he's reading a script of Mallrats. The two share a smile with each other. It was beautifully well-played.
When we first meet Carol, she's referred to as Vers and has all these dreams in her sleep. She then approaches her mentor Yon Rogg (Jude Law) to do some combat training. In this scene, we learn how he teaches her to control her powers with an implant and suppress her emotions. So there was a reason why she was acting emotionless. She also acted a little peppy, much to Yonn Rog's chagrin. At Hala, where she lives, she answers to the Supreme Intelligence that rules over the Kree and takes the form of this mysterious woman (Annette Benning) who appears in her dreams.
While on a mission with Star Force, Carol is captured by the Skrulls where they use a memory probe to go through her head of memories. This woman seems to be acquainted with Carol and is named Dr. Wendy Lawson. Carol escapes and crashlands on Earth where she meets Nick Fury. After going after some Skrulls in disguise, she finds a crystal containing all the memories they look through. On a side note, the way the Skrulls shapeshift is a bit unusual, looking like they're breaking out with blemishes.
Carol and Fury run into each other again while she goes a journey for answers surrounding these memories of hers that she can't seem to recall. They make their way to an air base for anything based on Project Pegasus which Dr. Lawson was a part of. Here, they come across a cat named Goose who Fury takes a liking to. Carol finds photos of herself and Dr. Lawson. But their search is interrupted by Talos, the leader of the Skrulls, who's disguised as the director of SHIELD before Fury. I think it's nice Ben Mendelsohn gets to look like himself briefly without any make-up.
Carol and Fury escape in a jet with Goose as a stowaway and they make their way to someone of Carol's past, Maria Rambeau who was her best friend. This is where we get a good emotional connection. It's a nice change of pace to have it between two best friends who are close like sisters. Lashana Lynch plays her role so well, and I hope she'll be in more films, not just Marvel films. Talos shows up but not to cause trouble for Carol. It turns out that the Skrulls are refugees and are just trying to find a new home. Dr. Lawson is actually a Kree named Mar-Vell who's been helping them. He also brought a recording for Carol to hear where she and Mar-Vell are being chased by a spacecraft. Carol then crashes the jet. Mar-Vell attempts to destroy the energy core but she's killed not by a Skrull like in Carol's dream, but Yon Rogg. Carol decides to do it herself and the energy gets absorbed in her. She loses her memory and is taken by Yon Rogg.
Carol then takes matters into her own hands and decides to help the Skrulls. She changes the colors of her Star Force suit to her trademark red and blue one to establish her own identity. Carol, Fury, Maria, Talos, and Goose fly over to Mar-Vell's secret hidden lab. The lab has other Skrulls hiding, as well as Talos' family. Again, it's good to see another Marvel antagonist have depth and this time just be misunderstood. The source of the energy core that gave Carol her powers is revealed to be the Tesseract. While I thought it was really cool to see it again, it may raise a couple of questions like how did Mar-Vell attain it? I'm guessing she stole it from Howard Stark or maybe got on his good side and was allowed to do whatever with it. Yon Rogg and the Kree infiltrate the lab and Carol is wired into the Supreme Intelligence where she's taunted for her past memories of getting knocked to the ground constantly for doing something that people thought a man can do but women can't. But Carol fights back and we get a montage of her at different ages, getting back up. It may be a little too on the nose, but I found it inspiring. It reminded me of the montage from the finale of Buffy where some girls are being empowered thanks to Buffy sharing her Slayer power with whoever has the potential to be one. The shot of young Carol playing baseball made thought of it because of a similar shot involving a baseball girl.
Carol breaks free and the Kree implant that controls her powers is off, so she pretty much lets loose. It's awesome to watch her display her full potential, but I don't know if the that makes her the most powerful character in the MCU. I don't really know if these powerful photon blasts are enough to defeat Thanos. Perhaps she can absorb the energy from his gauntlet? Who knows what will happen with her in Endgame. Also, it's revealed that Goose is part of an alien species called the Flerken. When Fury was wondering what to do with the Tesseract, huge tentacles come out of Goose's mouth and he swallows it. In perhaps the funniest scene in the movie, Goose uses his tentacles to thrash Kree soldiers around and gobble them up, much like Hulk and Groot. We finally get to see how Fury lost his eye: Goose scratched it. A lot of people have predicted this, but now that we've seen it's true, it's pretty disappointing. It goes to show that some things are best left unexplained. There's a Spongebob meme where it predicts how Fury lost his eye will be the equivalent of the Salty Spitoon, a very tough bar, but how he actually lost it is the equivalent of Weenie Hut Jr. In my opinion, since Goose is no ordinary cat, I'd say it's the equivalent of Super Weenie Hut Jr.
Earlier in the movie, Carol learns about Fury's pager. She then upgrades it for him to notify her, but only for major emergencies. Fury gets the idea of an initiative to bring together people like her if there are any monumental threats. He was going to call it The Protector Initiative but after looking at a picture of Carol and her aircraft with her callsign, he changes it to The Avenger Initiative. On one hand, I can see people rolling their eyes at this, but for me, I think it's cool, especially when you heard the Avengers theme briefly. I'd love to see how Carol reacts to the name of the team.
Speaking of the Avengers, in the mid-credit scene, we see Steve, Natasha, Bruce, and Rhodey in their Avengers HQ. They found Fury's pager and are trying to figure out what it means. Even though Infinity War didn't break my heart into a million pieces, I found myself feeling their grief.
"This is a nightmare," Steve says.
"I've had better nightmares," Natasha replies, trying to cope.
I like to see how Thanos' snap affected the world and the survivors to establish an emotional setup. Then out of the blue, Carol appears to them with long hair and one question: "Where's Fury?" The movie then doesn't waste any time displaying the words: "Captain Marvel will return in Avengers Endgame." I heard some audience members cheered and my ears loved hearing it. I was afraid I would hear someone booing but some people turned out to be on board with her. And the last scene after the credits is a throwaway scene where Goose is on Fury's desk and he coughs up the Tesseract like it's a hairball.
All in all, Captain Marvel turned out to be an average Marvel movie, but I am more lenient towards it than most people are. The story didn't have a strong structure and the humor was hit or miss, but nowhere near as abysmal as Thor the Dark World. The things that carry the movie are the characters and the visuals. I could see people reacting negatively to some changes like Mar-Vell being a woman and the continuity. As I said before, some questions would be raised and I hope Marvel Studios and Kevin Feige won't get carried away with changing a lot of continuity like they're saying, "This lead to this and that lead to that." Mar-Vell as a woman didn't bug me too much; it wasn't like the Mandarin twist in Iron Man 3 though that also didn't bother me. And I am hopeful that Brie Larson will get more development in Avengers Endgame. In the past, some characters didn't quite make a good first impression, like Black Widow in Iron Man 2. It felt like her role was to kick butt and look hot. But thanks to Joss Whedon and more especially the Russos, she became more well-rounded and popular. And I wasn't so keen on Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange because of his accent. But by Infinity War, he's sounded more natural and I finally accepted him as the Sorcerer Supreme. Sometimes, I feel like I'm from a different world since a lot of people think Brie Larson is dull and bland, but I thought she did fine. There are other female characters I consider dull and bland like Mera from Aquaman and Jyn Erso from Rogue One, but people seem to love those characters. I recently watched the live-action remake of Dumbo and one of the kids, Nico Parker, was so monotone and didn't emote. She was more like an emotionless robot than Larson was. But a lot of the time, the actress isn't to blame; it's the material and directives they're given. The Russos have talked about the challenge of making a powerful character like Carol relatable, but they may have found a way. So I'm just gonna be optimistic and accept things the way they are. But I think Marvel Studios shouldn't get too comfortable with their own success. I mean, Endgame is going to break all kinds of records without a doubt, but DC's own Captain Marvel movie seemingly isn't going to be underestimated.
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