ENERGIZING: Captain Marvel blows fans away with stunning visuals, plot twists, and plenty of female empowerment moments.
By Micah Pierce, Staff Writer
Many fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) were hesitant in the months leading up to the long awaited Captain Marvel. Marvel Studios has consistently churned out great movies over the past 11 years, though they tend to be admittedly formulaic at times. This was one of the most common doubts harbored about Captain Marvel, yet, 21 movies into the recently coined Infinity Saga, Marvel continues to deliver. A complicated storyline in the comics was the first thing film-makers had to worry about with Carol Danvers, played by Brie Larson, in the latest iteration of Captain Marvel. Over the past few years, Danvers’ origin story has been redone and revamped multiple times in the comics, and an issue was translating these multiple watered down background stories into one that is engaging enough to still fit well with the current MCU. They achieved this perfectly by throwing in a modernized version of her story complete with a team up between Danvers and fan-favorite Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson).
The audience is first introduced to Brie Larson as Vers, an amnesiac living on the Kree homeworld Hala, training to be a warrior in the Kree’s war upon the shapeshifting Skrulls. As the movie continues, Vers and the audience get brief flashes of her past on Earth, as she travels there on a mission and ends up teaming with a young Nick Fury, who has only just started Shield. Together, the pair hunt the Skrulls that have already infiltrated Earth in search of a light-speed engine Vers’ own mentor built. In their search for the engine, new truths are revealed to Vers and Fury, ones that will shock even loyal fans of Marvel’s comics.
The plentiful action scenes and shots of Brie Larson kicking serious alien butt are interspersed with the slow recovery of her memories and her old life on Earth, and even the eventual reunion of Danvers and an old friend, Maria Rambeau (Lashana Lynch). By departing from a linear, chronological organization that characterizes most origin movies, the gradual flashbacks combined with familiar superhero tropes are what boost Captain Marvel so late into the MCU.
Larson’s semi-recent rise to stardom has been well-earned, with credits in movies such as Kong: Skull Island and Room, that showcase her talent and wide acting range. She nails the cocky, devil-may-care attitude of Danvers, balancing it with the character’s innate goodness. Her talents shine, especially opposite Jackson and Lynch. Her playful cop banter with Fury contrasts the genuine sincerity and heart in each of her interactions with Rambeau. Her powerful performance adds to the fierceness of her character, especially in fight scenes set to the tune “Just A Girl” by No Doubt. The first-rate acting and well thought-out plot are only stepping stones on the way to arguably the biggest movie event of the decade in the form of Avengers: Endgame, the end of an eleven year and twenty-two movie saga.