Captain Marvel review with spoilers
I'm not sure anything at the movies this year will make me happier than Captain Marvel not just being good, but being REALLY good, even better than expected.
My expectations were certainly not at Infinity War levels here. I knew it would be good, cause at this point Marvel Studios is just a machine. Their weakest efforts are better than most franchises best.
This is probably the first movie ever to get me teary eyed before it even begins. The Stan Lee logo intro. Perfect. And then later we get one of his very best cameos, as he's practicing his Mallrats scene. Can't wait to hear Kevin Smith's reaction to this.
The first 20 minutes or so are the weakest part of the movie. They kind of just throw you into this Kree v Skrull thing and it can be a little confusing. But once Dan"Vers" crash lands into the Blockbuster the move clicks the whole rest of the way.
It's a really good mix of breezy 90's action movie, mystery, buddy comedy and fantasy.
Brie Larson is awesome. The incels had it out for her, and even some non troll reviews said she is wooden, but I don't know what movie those people saw. She isn't stiff at all. It's at times a pretty reactive performance, where she's often either seeing something or hearing something or listening to someone and isn't therefore talking. But she has tons of personality. Nobody can beat her smirk. Only thing left to be determined is how she meshes with the rest of the MCU going forward.
She has great rapport with Sam Jackson, who as usual is outstanding (and the de-aging technique is not at all distracting) and I loved how we got glimpses of what makes him the Fury of the early MCU films. I was hoping for a little more Son of Coul, but him just being there was fun. The cat is terrific.
Jude Law is fine. He's kind of always serviceable but not particularly memorable. Much more fun is Ben Mendelsohn, whose casting alone here is kind of a canny play on our expectations.
The 90s references are well done. They don't push it too far. And they got a nice selection of mid-90s songs. They got a couple songs I'm never gonna hear again without thinking of this movie, which I guess is a sign of a well placed music moment.
Obviously one of the attractions here was gonna be what they did to tie in to Endgame. We get the scene of Carol giving Fury the tricked-out pager "for emergencies only." We learn that a photo of Carol inspired the Avengers name. And in the credits we get what, I assume, is a direct scene from Endgame, with Steve, Natasha, Bruce and Rhoadey in possession of that pager(which they somehow obtained in the snaptermath) trying to keep the signal going. Then Natasha turns around, and there's Carol, asking simply "Where's Fury?" That's all it takes to be that much more psyched for Endgame.
I really liked Captain Marvel. I would definitely go see it in the theater again.
ReplyDeleteI loved the Stan Lee Marvel roll. I’ve been trying to find it online. The theater cheered at the end.
I enjoyed young Fury (and how we found something out) and Coulson. I will miss him on AoS. Speaking of AoS I see the Kree have been using controlling device for 100 plus years. And I’m glad the movie cleared up why Carol described Kree as noble warrior heroes when the Kree have typically been the enemy.
This oldie loved the 90s references. I’ve never been a fan of Jude Law so I was okay with his character arc.
I LOVED the end credit scene. I think we both knew that at one of the end credit scenes would tie directly in with IW/EG. I told a coworker in February that my prediction was that the end credit scene would include Carol getting the message from Fury. But when the scene started you could have heard a pin drop in the theater. So how many weeks until Endgame? Which might literally kill me.