Captain Marvel
Ten Second Review: A necessary but very middling first outing for Marvel’s latest addition that is a little heavy handed and somewhat forgettable.
It seems a little difficult to find an entirely unbiased review of Captain Marvel. Either it’s a great movie with a strong female lead that we should celebrate or its the worst thing ever and pandering to social justice warriors. If a review isn’t outright saying it, you can feel it saying it in the background. Because of this I think it’s important to start this by saying that we definitely need more diverse representation in TV and film and especially in lead roles. We need more female superheroes in film, we need more BAME leads on TV and we are all still waiting for a plus size queen to win Drag Race. Diverse representations, in all of its forms, only seeks to bring more people in to each other’s worlds and allow people to see themselves accurately represented publicly. That being said, this film isn’t particularly good.
The film starts in the middle of a battle. Vers (Brie Larson) wakes up from her nightmare-come-flashback and gets Yon_Rogg (Jude Law) to go and train with her. The two spar back and forth and Yon-Rogg tells Vers that she will never be truly in control of her fighting if she can’t control her emotions. They are then sent out on a mission to stop some Skrulls who they are are at war with. Vers is captured and the Skrulls learn that the key to their success lies on planet C-53 or Earth to you and me. Vers follows the Skrull to earth where she attempts to stop them from locating the energy source they are looking for but, even with the aid of a young Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson), will she be able to learn what she needs to before a final face off?
Leaving aside little annoying things that make the film a little aggravating throughout, and ignoring this glaring plot-hole that will no doubt anger movie marathon watchers, I wanted to talk about why I think this film struggles.
The first, and arguably the least important reason, is the heavy handed story telling. The film clearly comes with a couple central motives and ideas that it wants to present. None of these are in any way bad or particularly radical but they aren’t told through the story or showing us through the film but just bluntly said throughout. There is no major issue with what the film wants to say but the way it says it sacrifices the film’s content for a clear message.
This leads onto the second issue with the film which is the lack of development of the lead character. It has long been true that not every character needs a full and rich back story but the MCU kind of problematises this. Every character has these deep backstories and journeys to try and make sure that we care about each of them in larger ensemble films. Usually Marvel is actually quite successful at this but in this film they took a more DCU approach. It felt like we were being told to like this character because she is the focus of the film as opposed to her being built up as a character we fall in love with. I do understand that they were under pressure to build this character in one film so it was always going to be a difficult task.
We learn about her backstory but there is no cohesive journey that we go on with her. She starts as incredibly powerful, is never truly challenged and at the end pulls out her “limiter” and is even more powerful. An important comparison can be made with Captain Marvel’s character and her best friend Maria Rambeau played by Lashana Lynch. We learn less about Maria but the journey she goes on of her daughter wanting her to show what she’s capable of feels more like battling adversity than Captain Marvel does. Her development as a character is less about her backstory and more about the journey she goes on in the film. This is also true of Nick Fury who we see develop some of his now key characteristics (although getting people to enjoy Samuel L Jackson in that role is much less of a challenge). Captain Marvel’s journey to overcome the stigma of being too emotional could be a really gripping idea but as she doesn’t come across as emotional it feels like something we are just being told and not being actually presented with. As such, it feels a little insincere which is already a trait the film struggles with due to its high levels of CGI work and rushed narrative.
I would say that is exacerbated by the biggest problem facing the film; it’s a prequel. There is a large tension that film is missing and while you could probably suggest that this is down to the film itself, it doesn’t help that we know the ending already. This is in no way the film’s fault, countless classics have struggled with this problem for decades. Trying to actually fear for Indiana Jones in Temple of Doom is much harder when you know he’s going to go searching for the Ark of the Covenant soon after. We know we will see Nick Fury again, we know Agent Coulson survives and we know we’re about to see Captain Marvel team up with the remaining Avengers to fight Thanos. What we are left with is a film that either dances around a story, trying to avoid touching the existing mythos and timeline or it takes a stab at explaining little details that come up later in the MCU. At best it doesn’t harm the existing films and at worst it creates plot-holes so large they jeopardise the fate of at least a city or two (if not the whole world).
The film is fine but (and it’s annoying but) it isn’t on the level of some other Marvel heroes debut outings. We could get really nitpicky about it trying to basically follow the formula as Guardians of the Galaxy, or how it rests on hoping to please fanboys by explaining Nick Fury’s eye, but really, it’s just a very average film. It serves as an introduction to a new character but, cinematically, doesn’t do much else. The hope is that it has a big box office and highlights the want for more female superhero leads. Cinema needs more diversity and for that reason alone I hope you go and see Captain Marvel.
