In Marvel Studios’ latest superhero movie, the studio took an active hand in bringing a feminist message to the big screen, releasing their first movie starring a female protagonist. It might not be exceptional compared to the other Marvel movies, but it’s still a good film and shows Marvel continuing to progress in terms of the stories they tell.
“Captain Marvel” overall is a typical Marvel movie. It lacks any serious flaws and has a fine polish, but it isn’t exceptionally noteworthy. It follows the story of Captain Marvel, a skilled Kree warrior, fighting against the Kree’s hated enemy, the Skrull, a group of shapeshifters looking for a super weapon on Earth. Throughout this conflict, Captain Marvel also learns more about her past and the Earth.
“The greatest tragedy of this movie is that it could have been so much more”
The entire movie is set in the ‘90s, but disappointingly, this is only used for jokes about Blockbuster and AOL. The movie shys away from making the time period an interesting part of the movie. This feels like wasted potential, especially because the two main characters, a woman and a black FBI agent, are never affected by the time period in any way, so the era is exclusively for set-dressing.
The action is fine. It’s noticeably better in the early to middle stages of the movie, when the heroes are forced to play around interesting limitations, asking various unanticipated questions. What does it mean for a fight scene where a hero can’t use their hands? How would a secret agent fight if he was outnumbered and outgunned? By the end of the movie, however, when any enemy can be vaporized by a winning smile, the combat starts to feel a bit stale and uninteresting.
This movie has a classic Marvel style when it comes to humor; quips and jokes permeate the movie. Surprisingly enough, there were more hits than misses, and overall the movie is funny, though a few of the jokes wear out their welcome.
That’s not to say that the movie can’t be dramatic when it wants to be. One of the best pieces of acting I’ve seen combined with a heart wrenching speech shows that when this movie wants to, it can knock the audience’s collective socks off.
Speaking of the acting and comedy, Samuel Jackson deserves a shoutout for his portrayal of young Nick Fury. He kills the role, being both the main comic relief character, and remaining interesting in his own right. He also makes the character far more amusing to watch, because you see how under his gruff superspy exterior, he is a man partial to kittens who can’t eat his toast if it’s sliced diagonally.
In terms of the feminist message that made this movie such a magnet of controversy before its release, there are some strong points, but quite a few blunders. While the feminist themes are overall handled fine, they are reflected in ways that are blunt and uninspired. Is it really necessary to show a montage of Captain Marvel getting up after every setback and failure in a man’s world to justify her getting up? (Yes, it’s as obvious and boring as it sounds.)
The greatest tragedy of this movie is that it could have been so much more. “Black Panther” was so exceptional because, despite some of its issues, it pushed new boundaries by touching the issue of racial inequality directly, and the movie had a villain who had a legitimate argument that actually changed the mind of the protagonist. “Captain Marvel” doesn’t cross those lines, and so, despite its stronger points, it’s still wasted potential.
This movie is objectively unexceptional — it has that same artificial glossy finish that defines almost every Marvel movie and plays it too safe with its core message. However, it still has real heart and a real message. Despite its issues, “Captain Marvel” is still worth watching, and it has a fantastically empowering message coming from the first independent female Marvel protagonist: “I don’t have to prove anything to you.”
