Captain Marvel (2019): ‘Her Marvel’ – A Film Review

Introduction

Marvel has been ahead of the curve in so many ways in developing its cinematic universe. Ensuring that the hype of super hero movies is strong and maintained, whilst also building one of the biggest film franchises in recent years, that have spin offs and origin films, as well as versus and ensemble films. This wasn’t a new concept as seen by the Universal Monster films like House of Frankenstein or with Toho’s Gojira or Kaiju Universe with Destroy All Monsters; but it has become hugely successful and has ushered in many more to do the same. So, it’s funny that one of their competitors, DC, managed to beat them to bringing out a female centered film, with Wonder Woman. Considering how bad a track record DC have had with their films, and being late to do so, and then rushing the franchise, this is almost embarrassing really. Marvel has had ample time, and criticism to respond to, for them to finally bring out, Captain Marvel.

The Marvel Power

They’ve really tried to build up a lot of hype for this film and it is, much like Wonder Woman an origin story that feeds into her sudden appearance in to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Unfortunately, the similarities seem to continue, Captain Marvel is built up to be far too spectacular and powerful to hold any tension with her scenes. They are exciting at times but just stretch the power to unbelievable and cheesy moments. In much the same way as the scene from The Return of the King where Legolas kills a Mumakil, Captain Marvel manages to overhype its hero and unfortunately has many of these scenes. Avengers: Infinity War upped a rather significant ante with their construction of Thanos, a character that posed a colossal threat to the Avengers superheroes and their associates. This origin story seems to be trying to build up a character to be able to oppose Thanos, but this causes problems for the film. Lost for the characters, most of the entertainment then falls for side characters and bits: for example, the cat was amazing.

The Use of Power

In a CGI fuelled franchise, this CGI fuelled film shows us some amazing special effects. They deliver creative images and also offer different ways of depicting other worlds. Meanwhile the cast try hard to deliver interesting and dynamic performances, paying close attention to the characterization. For the most part this does work, however, Brie Larson (Captain Marvel), never quite manages to wield a sense of confidence and strength without giving it away to arrogance. Entertainingly, and somewhat strangely, Samuel L. Jackson is in a position to support this by showing his lack of power in relation to Captain Marvel. Despite doing well, it only goes so far. Ultimately the power play comes across as desperate and not genuine.

Conclusion

Captain Marvel stands as not the best, but not the worst Marvel film. It comes in at an awkward time and unfortunately it’s a bit late in the franchise. Though it is entertaining enough and certainly has mastered a good look, it struggles with the depiction of the main character – much in the same way as Wonder Woman and that’s disappointing. It looks to upcoming films and becomes a good cog in the universe; setting things up for Avengers: Endgame but it somewhat forgets to do the essentials in a standalone film. It was still a fun ride and had many memorable moments, but Captain Marvel manages to be overwhelmingly underwhelming when trying to show strength.

Synopsis

After being stranded on Earth, the extra-terrestrial Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel finds more on earth than meets the eye; all whilst she is caught in an intergalactic battle.

Ratings

Entertainment:
Performances:
Predictability:
Technical:

A Note on My Reviews

Please read ‘On Reviews‘ for a guide to how I write film reviews. Any spoilers are appropriately marked and, though I personally prefer to know little about a film before seeing it, there is a synopsis below the review for any who wish to see one.

Films Mentioned

Avengers: Infinity War (d. Anthony Russo, Joe Russo USA 2018)

Avengers: Endgame (d. Anthony Russo, Joe Russo USA 2019)

Captain Marvel (d. Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck USA/Australia 2019)

Kaiju so-shingeki / Destroy All Monsters (d. Ishiro Honda Japan 1968)

House of Frankenstein (d. Erle C. Kenton USA 1944)

The Return of the King (d. Peter Jackson USA/New Zealand 2003)

Wonder Woman (d. Patty Jenkins USA/China/Hong Kong 2017)

Captain Marvel (2019): ‘Her Marvel’ – A Film Review

Leave a Reply Cancel reply