Captain Marvel 2019

MCU films have always been kid cartoons for older audiences, but even in this line of films Captain Marvel falls flat.

I didn't expect any nuance when seeing this film, but you know the film just takes the cheapest, easiest route possible when it decides that our characters are just brainwashed and lied all along instead of having some sort of agency in their restrained life. This kind plot robs the character from their complexity and dilemmas they have to face--in few ways displayed in Spiderman: Homecoming--and makes the struggle they have to face almost non-existent. Part of the problem is having the film plays like some sort of MTV clips: you have some moment defining scenes edited here and there, but there is no thread that joins all them together.

The amnesia plot could have been used to help working on Brie Larson's character, but they end up using it only for the big final reveal that "everything is hidden within you all along". Unlike what has been a staple in MCU origin story films, there is no struggle in Carol Denvers--there is nothing to overcome. Just click a button (or destroy one) and then you go unleash the fantastical power within. Perhaps it is the same reason why in the last third of the film the climax feels really abrupt and shows us not an empowered character but a terribly overpowered, picture perfect character that serves as nothing but power fantasies.

For a film that wants to get the empowerment/feminism message spread across, it ends up jailing Brie Larson with a plot that makes the character uninteresting and unconvincing in the most bland way possible. Carol Denvers is supposed to be this smart, determined woman, but she comes out as a wooden facade of the cool outfit she is wearing. "Feminism" remains a shallow part in the film, perhaps as braindead as the film's opponent, approached in such a tacky way like the scene where Larson confronts (steals) a catcaller's bike or sending mansplaining alien to outerspace.

It's unfortunate because the buddy cop section between Larson and Samuel L. Jackson is the best part of the film--with better character and better written story, it could be much more entertaining. It has flashy scenes and the many outfits can help boosting Disney's toys however, so there is that.

Actually has one of the better stories of any MCU film, I like the Total Recall/Bourne Identity angle that they’re working in here and there are more themes at play than your average MCU fare. The comedy is also quite solid, with a lot of the humour coming from the 90s references. Most of the characters, as per usual with Infinity Saga MCU, are well defined and interesting. The movie even manages to pull off some genuine emotion when Larson and Lynch are acting together. The main character doesn’t work, however, as Marvel seems to be too afraid of putting her through the ringer in any significant way. The moment that completes her ‘arc’ in the third act doesn’t feel earned at all. Technically the movie sorta gets by, I think it’s generally lacking in style. Visually it looks way too drab and underexposed given its budget, occasionally the synths pop (and other times it uses generic strings) and the needle drops vary between cool and way too on the nose (e.g. the Nirvana and No Doubt ones are super lame). The action is pretty disposable, a lot of it is shot like basic coverage and not very memorable. All in all, it’s not an awful watch, but the movie at its core doesn’t entirely hold my interest.

5/10

I went into this movie with somewhat low expectations. After all, it would be just another solo superhero flick by Marvel. I was not looking forward to watching it, to be frank. I mostly did so for the general MCU canon. I did find myself interested in what was happening, though. Surprisingly, the plot is one of the most solid aspects of the movie. I believe it sets up the whole Kree vs Skrull plot for later on, at least that is what I have heard. In any case, it's well-paced (definitely an improvement over the years in Marvel movies) and had enough twists and turns to keep me watching.
The characters were fine. None of the newer ones stood out to me too much, but they all were generally well-written. Each had their own motivation. Carol Danvers herself is alright. I can't say she is quite as charismatic as other MCU leads, but I certainly didn't hold negative feelings for her towards the end. Brie Larson's performance is good, though the most outstanding one here is certainly Samuel L. Jackson. As a matter of fact, I loved how this movie explored the backstory of central aspects to the MCU. It tied it very well to the overall narrative.
There was some doubt about the movie possibly being obnoxiously feministic, largely stemming from certain behaviour by Brie Larson. Honestly, there were only a handful of such moments in the movie, not obnoxious in any way. That being said, it is stuck in this weird line where it isn't overtly feministic, but it also does kind of want to make a statement. It doesn't succeed in the latter, having a couple of scenes that really just suggest discrimination towards women. I understand that it is difficult to balance the thread between the two extremes, though I feel it would have been better if the movie straight up removed these bits. They barely add anything wortwhile to the overall feeling of the movie.
The 90s thematic has me feeling in a similar way. It's obvious that the direction was thought about this way: Guardians of the Galaxy did the 80s, so we will do the 90s. Great, right? Well, I mean, it's fine. The references aren't overencumbering. They just happen to be there. I will admit the only thing that slightly pulled me into watching this film was the inclusion of "Come As You Are" by Nirvana on the soundtrack. There's other great tracks "Celebrity Skin" by Hole etc. The thing is... They aren't integrated in a very natural way some of the time. Often, it just makes you go "Oh, right, this was set in the 90s". You've got Windows 95 PCs being used here and there, Blockbuster, Game Boys. It sounds good on paper, but it certainly doesn't succeed in transporting you back in that time and era. It just happens to be the setting.
The cinematography was serviceable. VFX were pretty good, as is standard for Marvel films.
All in all, Captain Marvel is a good movie. It did turn out better than I expected it to, and I found myself fairly entertained by what I was watching. I will see what the second offering has in store.

To Paraphrase Brie Larson: "This Movie wasn't Made for Marvel Fans. Am I saying I hate Marvel Fans? No, I am not. What I am saying is if you make a Comic Book Movie that is a love letter to women, there is an insanely low chance a woman will see your movie, and review your movie.”

I don’t hate Captain Marvel the movie. My 4/10 rating indicates a score as an MCU movie, but also because of the inherent deception of the marketing and story/writing.

Captain Marvel the character is entirely CG, and they could quietly replace the actor. If you go into this movie thinking it will introduce Captain Marvel in the MCU, it didn’t achieve that. They don’t even call her Captain Marvel.

Much like Edward Norton’s ”Incredible Hulk”, it’s the woeful and unlikeable storyline/direction that makes the movie hard to enjoy, not Edward Norton. People will argue for the next 5-10 years about Edward Norton or being MisCast, or wether CM should have been made, or wether to recast Captain Marvel.

Just like how people argue for the Film versions of Daredevil and/or Elektra to be part of the MCU for some reason. The Director team of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, and Kevin Feige as Producer on the entire MCU to this point, is going to take the bullet on this one, not the “Dream Team” of disposable screenplay and Indie Directors that are more likely to be responsible. Most MCU fans forget that The Incredible Hulk is part of the MCU, because of the successful recasting.

Phase 4, which begins in July 2019 with Spiderman 2 Far From Home, will likely be the point at which they choose another Captain Marvel, or set up a replacement/apprentice character for the main actor to retire the role.

I find CM to be damaged and disappointing because the potential to make “Superwoman” in the MCU, building a character that has the potential to explore amazing new stories, pulling apart the flaws of other superheroes, learning from the mistakes and pitfalls of others, is going to happen in another movie. Just not this Captain Marvel.

The worst aspect of Captain Marvel is realising how the after-effects of this movie, will bleed into 2020 and the next few Marvel movies. Namely, that WOKE marketing worked this time, despite efforts to mislead. There is feminism in the film, but it’s insulting parody to call this a feminist film.

They successfully highlighted the unlikeable Brie Larson, and used her to keep the cycle of attention and outrage, while presenting the movie as a female led story. This might not work for other movies, especially if the Actor(s) are sensitive to being leveraged, or their careers destroyed. Much like Solo: A Star Wars Story, or Ghostbusters 2016 tried to use Pansexuality, blaming the fans for not liking a bad movie.

It’s also becoming harder to ignore the spectacle of outsourcing 19+ companies with 900 different CG artists that modern movies are reliant on, disguising a rotten core with spectacular imagery. When you just look at the story being told, or try to remember what the story is… That’s what matters. Not the explosions or the delights made by artisans. Because, you’ll forget them after a few days.

The Biggest Flaw of Captain Marvel is that it fails at being an origin story

Beyond all of the other tiny flaws, average scenes, disconnected plot moments, the absurdly mishandled retcons, and the attempts at activism and humour that prematurely die due to a lack of talent in the writing and directing teams, among a litany of small and large problems that mount up,

Carol/Captain Marvel is given superpowers and is not changed or motivated to do anything different. The convolution of the “Amnesia soldier” trope and the convoluted surprises during the film, hide the fact that Captain Marvel is underwhelming and disappointing. The use of the Star Trek Insurrection plotline in Act 3, isn’t the issue.

Nothing can be done to fix or remediate this, because the movie can’t or won’t go in the direction needed to tell the story that the audience wants to experience. Instead, the writers and directors show us an afternoon for Carol Danvers in which she snarkily destroys things with a smile on her face, but looks bored most of the time.

Removing the Feminism isn’t effective. Re-casting Carol Danvers for another actor won’t modify the screenplay or change the directors. Swapping Brie Larson for ANYONE, can’t make people care about the character, because the character is unchanged from the beginning to the end. We never see Carol evolve, her challenges don’t change the character or make her heroic.

To summarise

• It’s not the worst MCU movie.
• It is the most disappointing though.
• Avengers: Endgame is ~6 weeks away or so, by then, everyone will have forgotten CM.
• Yes, it is a film with Feminism - It’s treated as a joke or punchline by the writers.
• Going into 2019, expect movie critics to attack fans when they lose “Access” for bad PR.
• Goose the Cat should kill Captain Marvel, and the entire Avengers team during the mid-credits break on Endgame, as they’re celebrating their success, to end Phase 4.
• The retcon of Fury’s Eye being lost is a deep insult to MCU fans, or, it’s a light-hearted nod to the fact that this is a comic book story franchise, that has made $18 Billion US Dollars, and is going to go on for 20 more years. You decide.
• Captain Marvel will defeat Thanos, by bringing up his sexist tweets from 2009 in Avengers:Endgame
• Goose the Cat is going to kill Thanos in Endgame, because someone at Disney will find it funny.

The Good

• The CG team did a fantastic job in making Captain Marvel.
• DC’s Captain Marvel trailer, looks fantastic…
• Great work was done by ILM & 20+ CG studios to make the Suit/Mohawk/Breather work and not look out of place.
• The Mohawk does not look silly. The “Tesseract Fire” and “Photon Blasts” are messy.
• The De-aging on SLJ works, Coulson’s is a bit more jarring as you struggle to recognise his face at certain angles.
• Every character in the movie is more interesting to watch than Brie Larson.
• Ben Mendelsohn’s Australian Accent is Superb, elevates the movie and has subtlety, it makes you notice by contrast how mediocre Brie Larson’s delivery is.
• The Cat, is pointless.
• 11-year old Monica “Lieutenant Trouble” Rambeau, isn’t terrible, but the age will be a problem. Expect “Trouble” to show up in SHIELD, 25 years later as another RetCon.
• The overt activism present in the movie, does not detract from the movie’s plot, but it shifts tone and leads to disconnected moments.

The Bad

• There is a continual dissonance when Brie is playing Air Force Carol, Starforce Soldier Veers or pyrotechnician Captain Marvel, or regular casual Carol. It never feels like a character, not even when the costumes change.
• Usually there’s a few moments of crossover, where you might get Robert Downey Jr instead of Iron Man, etc, you never get the sense that Brie Larson is a pilot, kree soldier, Superhero, or human character within the story unless her clothing changes.
• Your experience might vary, but Brie Larson is unlikeable at times. “noble warrior heroes” isn’t supposed to sound condescending or sarcastic.
• The levity, backstory and character moments in Act 2, do not help make Brie Likeable.
• The moments of Levity and snark, which work on other characters, and female characters, feel wooden, rehearsed and sociopathic when Brie Larson is reciting them.
• The scenes as Full Powered Super-Saiyan Captain Marvel, feel out of place because there’s no teasing or sense of context. She goes from fist-fighting Kree and Skrulls to flying length-way through a starship to destroy it as an invulnerable missile.
• The visual Look & Focus of Captain Marvel when using the tesseract-given power, perhaps due to storyboarding of combat to look like flight or aerial combat maneuvering, needs improvement or better storyboarding to follow the danger and action.
• The plot is intentionally convoluted, and does not actually fit together, because the screenplay is intentionally patchworked together to bring characters to action scenes.
• Unravelling the timeline of the movie, shows a few plot holes with the character of Dr Lawson / the Kree Scientist Mar-Vell who has been hiding on earth during the early 80s or earlier.
• Rather that uncovering world-building, Mar-Vell hiding on earth unpacks a larger set of questions about how Yon-Rogg finds & kills Mar-Vell, and the “Engine Prototype”, which is the Tesseract-Lite.
• Hala, the Kree Homeworld, looks good, but it feels like a badly made CGI city because the writers don’t seem to understand EVERYTHING needs to be fleshed out and named for these films.
• The setup of the Skrulls as the Kree’s public Enemy is hammy & executes badly.
• Nobody calls Carol Danvers… Captain Marvel.
• Act 1 is very similar to Battle Angel Alita, but also Ghost in the Shell 2017.
• Act 2 is occasionally interesting. It’s supposed to be the point where you learn more about Carol Danvers and her personality, But you end up being more interested in the other Actors
• Act 3 ‘s Star Trek Insurrection reference, the Skrulls are “ILLEGAL ALIEN” Refugees, And Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) was scanning Carol Danver’s memories to locate MarVell and find his family.
• The Skrull, and the Kree are turned into 2D villains that RetCon earlier and later versions of those characters in the MCU.
• Turning the Skrull into “Illegal Aliens” and Refugees, is stupid on several levels and I wish that this story was removed from the movie,
• The Cat is pointless.
• Once you get home from the cinema, or get up from the couch, the clock starts ticking before your enjoyment wanes.
• The screenwriting team of Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck, Nicole Perlman (GOTG, Detective Pikachu), Geneva Robertson-Dworet (Tomb Raider), Meg LeFauve (Inside Out, Good Dinosaur), but also uncredited work from Liz Flahive & Carly Mensch (Nurse Jackie, GLOW) are more likely to be the cardinal dilemma, of how not to write a superhero origin story.

The Ugly

• We get Brie Larson, Cosplaying as Carol Danvers in a Captain Marvel suit.
• I don’t believe it’s Mis-Casting alone, the writing and direction is to blame for a lot of faults.
• They broke the Marvel Formula, by failing to make an Origin Story.
• I’m not sure the writers understood the Marvel Formula, but Kevin Feige should have. It’s his franchise to ruin, and he’s certainly put this movie in the best possible spot to be forgotten. That’s not going to work Kevin.
• The montage of “Rise Up” scenes are parody.
• The way that the “Women Rise Up” Feminist agenda moments happen in the movie, it takes you out of the nostalgia of the 90s when it occurs.
• There’s a Ghostbusters 2016 moment with a biker parking nearby, telling CM to “Smile More”, next scene, you see her riding his bike.
• There’s a Dick Measuring scene. 6 Female Screenplay writers, Go figure.
• Fight scenes are choppy & hard to follow due to frequent cuts.
• Due to the absurd dropping of all tension once Talos reveals that he’s a refugee, at least 20 minutes earlier, his team was shooting at Danvers & fighting with Fury.
• Music and Foley / sound is occasionally all-over the place. Layering and separation was messy at times with the music. I get that it’s bombastic to hear No Doubt “Just a Girl” at 95db, but there’s also dialogue and combat going on. Possibly a result of flattening the Atmos audio to regular audio levels.
• Captain Marvel is a Mary Sue insert, it’s hard to empathise with a perfect character or predict what they’ll do.
• Maria Rambeau, who plays Carol’s BFF. That relationship is hostile at times, Maria doesn’t react appropriately, and there’s a lack of emotion expressed.
• I Like the Cat, but the RetCon with Fury is not a “funny joke moment” and it makes the movie worse in context. This is a “throwing the lightsaber away for a joke” moment in the MCU, that should have been stopped by Feige and others.
• I Hope that Endgame does not balance on the personality of Captain Marvel’s choices or powers.

You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become a villain = MCU
(dont over think it).
this movie will take you on a journey. as you travel through every scene, you will expect to see Brie Larson emote, have some other expression except for the smug one she is fixated with. and that journey will end fruitless.
Yes its the truth, Brie larson phones it in as captain marvel. Average acting at best.
I dont care about the controversy she is casuing bla bla bla. (correction, didnt care about it WHILE watching the movie)
I saw kong skull island back then and i loved Brie, and i couldnt wait for Captain Marvel. (im a superhero lover and a mcu fanboy btw)
as i saw captain marvel trailer i had goosebumps. couldnt wait. but wow oh wow. this is a trainwreck (from marvel standards).
everyone , EVERY CHARACTER except the "leading ladies" did good acting. even Minn-erva and Keller's wife acted much better than Brie for God's sake.
The film had so many scenes and things that didnt land simply. so many things were simply off. whoever worked on the "LOOK" simply failed on Maria. again i have nothing against the actress. but she horribly failed to look like a mother and ex-pilot.
and to add insult to injury she is actually taunting Keller that CALL ME A YOUNG LADY again etc. etc. ........ ummm you look like a young lady . she looked like a bratty teen thruout.
so many questionable things have happened. dont wannt spoil . but MCU aware will know it immediately.
so they made legendary nick fury's eye loss story a joke. yahoo. any one else remembers how he told Cap (thats america obviously) how he LOST his eye when he used to bilndly trust someone, a very stern dialogue, . so i guess nick fury is a simple manipulator now. making up stuff to convince people.... okay...
i am writing this immediately after seeing. Pardon my grammar and haphazard writing.
in the end Captain Marvel simply didnt feel believable. I simply cannot believe she is supposed to go toe to toe with thanos??
Dr. Strange in his origin FELT like he could take on Thanos despite being not super powerful thruout his film. And then he did.
Captain Marvel looks like some brainless brat ready to get ass kicked. I simply refuse to believe She will be at helm in Endgame.
I hope the rumor is true, that 2 endings/stories are ready for Endgame and if CM flops. Endgame will put CM at sidelines. i really hope that happens. because CM just isnt working here!!1.
And for the love of God, anyone remotely thinking that im being sexist please **** off you dont belong on internet.
i dont have to prove anything to you but for the sake of some substance, I wholeheartedly believe that wonder woman ( i know not MCU) can kick thanos's ass. hell, scarlet witch can!! . dont know why they sidelined her. in a very bizzare scanerio even black widow might. but definitely not Carol "no white males please" Danvers.
Even technically the movie fails to impress. no beautiful shots. no superb moments.
I cant believe they had the chance to reveal the captain marvel costume first time in awesomeness like WW did on the battlefield. and they do it with the little girl (who surprisingly knows how to handle Kree bracelet because.... reasons) on their lawn...... in dark..... yay.......
Painfully Average.
EDIT 1: Adding this the next day. Yes i do want to comment on the agendas this films are pushing by the way. It throws feminism in your face. Not roughly but not subtly either.
so Captain Marvel doesnt have a love interest.... well done. wonder woman did that , and it went beautifully. you dont have to fill the movie with it. but a love interested should be there right? unless you justify the plot with it. but here the lack of love interested simply screams. IM A WOMAN I DONT NEED A MAN!!! . dr. strange didnt want to focus on a love interest. but she was there. it showed dr. strange's emotional graph and vulnerability.
And you know what, I HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THESE AGENDAS, im not being safe.. Let me tell you why. Because after SJW/Political/Feminist Agendas these movies throw, giving anything less than 10/10 makes you a WOMAN HATER. There might as well be an angry mob outside the theatre ready to shoot you if you dont have a smile stepping outside.
If Brie or moviemakers would be like = hey we are making this for women empowerment. its not a great movie. its a light attempt. please support us . thanks I would give a standing ovation for them. and ask people to see this movie myself.
but hey im a male so im not supposed to say ANYTHING about this movie. just pay for it, watch it , and call it awesome. or shut up.
thats why i have a problem !!

PS: see jeremy jahns, boogie2988, screen junkies videos on the movie. they are really good.
one thing jeremy jahns says really hits how nick fury is retconned into someone else entirely. so avengers 1 was a huge threat?? no captain marvel required then? and he didnt prepare black widow hawkeye etc. that there are super powerful beings outside earth? so dont be alarmed @ thor loki etc. nick fury is a lying deceiving jerk?? did CM makers see MCU movies at all?? (quoting him mostly)

"Space invasion, big car chase... truth be told, I was ready to hang it up. 'Till I met you today."

One year later - nobody's talking about this, expect for me right now. All that fuss and name calling over an average by the book superhero movie.

One of the blandest and most forgettable movies of last year, which I just remembered to login as watched.

Brie Larson, who has proven in the past to be a talented actress with amazing range, but is unfortunately the weakest link in the movie. I thought her performance was incredibly wooden and the least interesting part of the movie. Her line delivery felt really off and there wasn't anything there for me to care about her character. All backstory with very little depth. It might have just been the poor material she was given to work with.

I'm sorry, but not once did I believe this is the strongest character in the MCU. The issue is that the movie does a terrible job of actually showing us that she is powerful and important. They tell us rather than show us. Like OK, she shoots lasers, flies around and has some magical glow around her. Am I suppose to be impressed?

The story itself is really messy and unfocused. It's trying so hard to be an origin story while also setting up the next installment for future movies, but also having a Bourne element into the mix of connecting pieces to the past.

Also I can't believe they did Lee Pace dirty. Not just once, but twice now!

However, there are some things I liked in the movie that stopped it from being the worst thing ever. I love the tribute to Stan Lee on the Marvel Studios opening intro, which was such a loving touch to his legacy.

The de-aging on Samuel L. Jackson was fantastic and shows us how far technology has come. Although towards the end the effects started to look a bit wonky for some reason. Jackson himself was charismatic and a blast to watch. It was interesting to see a younger and goofy version of Nick Fury before he gets super serious.

I love Goose the Cat, just don't let her anywhere near your eyes.

The Skrulls were enjoyable "villains" and Ben Mendelsohn absolutely shines as one of the Skrulls.

And that's really it for positives.

Overall rating: "Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren't." - Margaret Thatcher

Yes, I actually took a quote from Thatcher. I honestly should just delete my account right now.

I’m not a fan of Marvel films this much is obvious if you read my reviews, but I do like the acting and ability of Brie Larson. Plus, I am a virtue signally soy-boy so I like the messages given to people of colour or women through these stories and films. It is a huge positive.

Unfortunately I do have to lump myself in with all the withered, dark-hearted, non-thinking, fan-boys out there who did not like Captain Marvel. Not because a woman, horror upon horror, plays the lead, not because another woman who is….whisper it…black plays her pilot friend, but mainly because in all honesty this is not a good film.

Captain Marvel for all it’s fun and colour and excitement and the excellent message that the female of our species can be as good as anyone, that compassion for those seeking shelter and safety is a good thing, that to not always judge everything on appearances are worthy and great messages to put across, but because they are delivered in a ham-fisted manner that grates even the soy-boy in me. All very commendable but surely talented directors, writers and actors can come up with better, more interesting, subtle and entertaining ways to get the messages across. This seemed very childish and simple in places. Perhaps not respecting your audience?

There are couple of inspiring speeches near the end of the movie that were only missing a soapbox and cheering crowds. It did not feel natural, nor did it seem to evolve from the story and characters, it seemed, as much as each set piece did, to be wedged into the story with a large hammer. Not a natural feeling at all.

Brie Larson is of course good in a limited role of jokey, super-ace pilot, who lives a lie on another planet, luckily Jude Law and his space-buddies have exactly the same sense of humour and style of living as we do on the planet Earth, or the Americans do at least. When is Marvel actually going to make aliens, good or bad, alien? It’s a huge failing.

The CGI, a mainstay of any Marvel film, is a bit hit and miss throughout the story and with some of the physics on display, particularly in crashing aircraft, it just looks what is it, made up of pixels and great artwork, but not real.

There is an attempt at humour and wise-crackery which so makes me hate Iron Man and like Spider Man and Guardian of the Galaxy but it falls between those two stools here, neither being annoying nor particularly funny although at times it is badly judged and out of place.

So, what we have here is apparently the most powerful and indestructible ‘hero’ in the Marvel Universe that basically puts paid to the rest of them. She is unbeatable but having said that, facing up to the all-powerful, only two weapons, quickly give-up Ronan the Accuser, she need not have been. What a dweeby final villain.

What I did find interesting and would have happily watched for a couple of hours was the development of Samuel L. Jackson’s character Nick Fury, that gave him a long back story, showed you how he started and why and was fun and interesting.

So, Captain Marvel, like Wonder Women, was a great idea with great ideals, values and messages to give its audience, but unlike Wonder Women it fluffed its lines. What could have been a good film was a sprawling mishmash, of the good, mundane and bad and wasted a lot of talent into the bargain.

Having said a film with two directors, and three screenplay writers maybe is trying to prove that too many cooks do indeed spoil the broth, even a tasty broth.

I've always been a fan of strong female characters. My first celebrity crush was the original Pink Power Ranger, and most of the ones I've had since were best known for playing characters who were both powerful and feminine: Lizzie McGuire, Mindy McConnell, Mia Thermopolis, Maddie Fitzpatrick, etc. When I was a senior in high school, I wrote a novel (of sorts) about a super-heroine who, alongside her best friend/significant other, saved her entire town from the threat of a dastardly villain. Part of it was inspired by the first two Tobey Maguire Spider-Man flicks; however, I would never have even come up with such an idea if I hadn't seen my high school's production of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers...which featured a longtime female friend of mine as its lead. Looking back, I think the Disney sitcoms were a big influence, too.

So, to see a film center around a superhero of the fairer sex is a dream come true. True, we already got that when Gal Gadot wowed the world as Wonder Woman; still, Captain Marvel features a former Disney actress as its lead, so, in a way, I was more eager to see her flick than Diana Prince's. The fact that it takes place in the 1990s--complete with grunge music on the soundtrack and a scene in a Blockbuster Video location--had my curiosity piqued even more.

While good for what it was, it wasn't quite what I've come to expect from Marvel. Superhero movies usually have epic battles and lots of excitement; though there was some action towards the end, parts of this film were a bit dull. Brie Larson is attractive, but, her acting leaving something to be desired here. If this wasn't a Marvel flick and didn't feature a female superhero, I wonder if it would have gotten nearly as much acclaim as it has.