Captain Marvel Review - Fast Action, Eye-Popping Visuals, Engaging Characters

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Category: Film

Published on Friday, 08 March 2019 08:40

Written by Janet Walker

Captain Marvel, from Walt Disney Pictures and Marvel Studios presents the newest character in the Marvel Superhero family, a former USAF fighter pilot, kidnapped and trained and given heightened intelligence, advanced mental conditioning and superior strength.

Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, Captain Marvel stars Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Jude Law, Annette Bening, Lashanna Lynch, Clark Gregg, Rune Temte, Gemma Chan, Algenis Perez Soto, Djimon Hounsou, Akira Akbar, Marilyn Brett, Robert Kazinsky, Richard Zeringue, Barry Curtis and special guests including Stan Lee.

Captain Marvel begins with what appears as shock-waves coursing across the screen and as the smoke separates a figure of a person walks closer pointing a weapon and suddenly with a gasp the dream, part repressed memory part prophetic warning, causes Vers, played by Brie Larson, to awaken startled.

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Stepping to the window we see it is Intergalactic Planet Kree, an advanced society of warrior heroes, where Vers, has been elevated to the elite intergalactic recon, search and rescue team, led by Yon-Rogg, played by Jude Law.

He is her superior and has been instrumental in her advancement, when her past, which she can’t remember attempts to reveal itself, she turns to Yon-Rogg. Tonight, they spar which takes her mind off everything but the present.

Unable to keep her emotions from overtaking her and using her superior strength, she is directed to see Superior Intelligence, which we find out manifests to each person differently, in the form of the most instrumental person, in one’s hidden mind the inaccessible.

For Vers, Superior Intelligence, played by Annette Bening, tells her of a battle that is coming.

Suddenly the team of Kerr warriors are called to extract a spy who is gathering intelligence from the Planet Torfa, the home of the Skrulls, a shape-shifting alien with the ability to transform themselves into anything they see.

What is supposed to be an in and out, simple extraction, ends with a battle and Vers captured. Held hostages by Skrulls, whom she has been trained to believe is the enemy. In her prisoner state, her mind is being scoured through an electronic search, which searches memories until it finds even the most obscure interaction.

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With advanced fighting skills and superior strength, Vers breaks away and simultaneously an intergalactic war has begun and the ship where she is held is hit. Attempting to escape, she steals a pod ship, which is hit and suddenly she is hurling through space and time and lands on Planet 53, Earth.

This is where Captain Marvel shifts into the second act with Vers, also known as Carol Danvers, who began this mission with one objective and suddenly finds herself unraveling the mysteries to her own existence and what were the cemented truths that held her in the darkest of times suddenly come into question.

Captain Marvel delivers what one would expect of a Marvel Studios picture. It has the eye-popping visuals, even more so as Carol/Vers is imbued with electricity flowing her veins.

The film, as an introduction to the newest member of the Marvel Family, showcases Ms. Larson. She delivers charm, humor, skepticism, adds great instincts, and plays the part of a warrior hero USAF flyer with authenticity.

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The storyline takes the audience back to the 1990’s, where characters appear younger, and time doesn’t travel at dot com, 4G, speed.

We meet Nick Fury, a younger Samuel L. Jackson, who through the magic of the movies, is youthful and new to the entire S.H.I.E.L.D. program. We also meet Agent Coulson, played by Clark Gregg, on his first day. The on-screen chemistry between Fury and Vers is engaging and continues to inform the storyline as the arch of their characters take them from individual protagonists to a united force.

Captain Marvel is well written, with a plausible storyline, save the intergalactic battles and shape shifting aliens, although metaphorically, as alliances go anyone is capable of being a shape shifter.

The storyline, which is simply more than the introduction of characters for yet to be told installments, adds a human emotion element, which was a connecting point throughout the film, and plays the theme out nicely.

The entire cast bring a level of emotional vulnerability, which is not usually present, and even as emotions are considered a liability the film creates characters that see emotions as an asset, not a ruler and not absent from rule, a balance.

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In addition to be an exciting, attention-grabbing film, Captain Marvel makes a positive statement on the strength of women of the United States Air Force, and adds a new, appealing, character to the Marvel Franchise.

Don’t leave to early, like all Marvel films, the film has two teasers, with other members of the Avengers team separating the final credit roll.

Captain Marvel, a fun, engaging, charismatic and entertaining film, is chocked full of fast action, fast jets, big wow visuals, a solid storyline, and enough space age superhero warriors to propel the film to the stratosphere.

Captain Marvel opens March 8, 2019. See it.