It took Marvel Studios eleven long years to bring fans a female-led film, and expectations have been running high among MCU devotees. Fortunately, Captain Marvel isn’t much worried about the hype train behind her—she’s too busy having fun.
[Spoiler-free review]
The weakest part of Captain Marvel is unfortunately the opening half-hour where we meet our hero and establish the arc of her journey. The Kree capital planet of Hala seems as though it’s been rendered as an afterthought, and the “mystery” of Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) and her time as Kree Starforce agent Vers is never tantalizing or unpredictable enough to provoke much surprise. It doesn’t help that the dialogue starts off strangely clunky, and every early action sequence seems as though it’s been designed merely to prove that Danvers can do everything we’ve already seen male action heroes do in other movies—not a great place to start a female hero from, because honestly, who cares? Once Danvers lands on Earth and starts palling around with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson, clearly having the most fun he’s ever had playing the character), the film finds its voice and instantly leaves those awkward initial moments in the dust.
Set sometime during the 1990s—and the film is incredibly fuzzy on that note, not only refusing to give us an exact year, but choosing songs that occasionally push the credibility of the exercise (Hole’s “Celebrity Skin” was released in September of 1998, in fact)—Captain Marvel is trading on a specific brand of nostalgia that hasn’t been touched upon since Captain America’s very first outing. In this instance, it is perhaps more smartly situated, as the audiences watching Marvel movies are better positioned to remember the 90s and feel wistful over grunge, Blockbuster Video, and TLC’s “Waterfalls” playing on the radio. In addition, it’s somewhat tickling to know that the kids who have grown up on these films will have a chance to truly understand and appreciate the pain of dial-up connections, and how slowly everything once loaded on our ancient desktops.
There are plenty of easter eggs for fans of the films and of the comics. (There’s a perfect blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo from Kelly Sue DeConnick, the writer responsible for putting Danvers in the Captain Marvel suit after years as Ms. Marvel and various other alter egos.) The popularity of Carol Danvers since she took over the Captain Marvel name in 2012 has been staggering and heartwarming in its ferocity, and the film manages to highlight all of the things her fans have come to know and love about her. Tying Carol firmly into the MCU mythos could have easily felt like a workbook’s worth of extra credit assignments, but the film has no trouble seeding all these odds and ends in a way that feels entirely breezy.
In a landscape where she is currently one of the only female superheroes with her own movie named after her, Captain Marvel doesn’t pretend that sexism has nothing to do with the difficulties Danvers has faced. We see it in her own past on Earth, and then again from her Kree cohort; her mentor, Yon-Rogg (Jude Law) constantly chastises Danvers for giving into her emotions when she fights, tying it to her human heritage. Every woman sitting in the theater knows what this really means, that being “emotional” is just a code word for being too female, and that the pretended hindrance of emotionality is just another way of hampering half the world. The film takes this theme a step further and continually props up the benefit of using emotion as a guide, of remembering that there is no way to responsibly wield power without emotion as a backdrop to our decisions. This becomes even more important as the film delves into the war between the Kree and the Skrulls, and has a massive impact on how the story tackles compassion over military might.
The women in Carol’s life rightly make up her most important bonds, from her best friend and fellow pilot Maria Rambeau (Lashana Lynch), to Maria’s daughter Monica (Akira Akbar), to Carol’s Air Force mentor Dr. Wendy Lawson (Annette Bening). Aside from Black Panther (which managed to achieve this with stunning and pointed ease), Marvel films have struggled endlessly on this account—an unsurprising side-effect when your main central superteam started off as five men and one woman. To have another chance to enjoy these bonds, to appreciate the ways in which women can and do raise one another up, nurture and adore each other, and give tirelessly to one another is a balm for the heart. But the film doesn’t stop there, because all of the men who stand in Carol’s corner also show their strength by being kind and loving, ready to absorb new ideas and evolve. Even the normally prickly Fury doesn’t stand a chance against Carol’s sardonic delivery and winning smirks.
The movie’s climax sees another Marvel superhero come into their power. It is what audiences expect, what we’re excited to see, what we keep coming back to enjoy regardless of formula, or marketing, or the ease with which studios produce endless copies of them. But there’s a surprise to Captain Marvel that only her dearest fans likely saw coming—coming into your own is fun. These stories, filled with pathos, with pain and transformation, they are always sold to us as something that must be suffered through and learned at great personal cost. Carol Danvers doesn’t have time for any of that, because there is no burden in the pure jubilance of being a woman who understands her own power. There is no pain to be found in knowing that you are strong enough, brave enough, smart enough, loved enough, enough enough. That is the deepest desire of so many hearts made real, and it could never hurt us.
Perhaps the next greatest gift that Captain Marvel gives us is an entirely symbolic one. There is a single moment in the film, one which makes it clear that Nick Fury required a catalyst in order to bring about all his ideas for protecting Earth in the future. In that moment, the Marvel Cinematic Universe takes its entire domain—a cinematic empire, countless beloved characters, the heritage of the Avengers—and makes an unexpected bequeathal. Ten years on, and we finally learn whose legacy we’ve been upholding all this time…
Hers.
Emmet Asher-Perrin is so pleased that we can finally appreciate Nick Fury’s love of cats to its fullest extent. You can bug him on Twitter, and read more of her work here and elsewhere.
I do believe they reveal the year in a roundabout way. When Fury and Carol are talking about the crash that happened six years ago, Fury states that the crash was 1989. Add six years and we get 1995 as the date of the present time.
According to IMDB, we see a calendar in the background indicating that it is June of 1995.
Quoth Em: “There is no way to responsibly wield power without emotion as a backdrop to our decisions.”
Indeed.
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
Good non-spoiler review. I enjoyed the movie a great deal.
Captain Marvel is not a story about “Women Empowerment” and that’s a good thing. One thing I really enjoyed about this movie is that it did not club the viewer over the head that Danvers is a woman and that’s a Big Deal ™. During the 1995-ish era scenes, the good guys, the bad guys, the hero herself – nobody makes her sex a point of emphasis.
I didn’t read into Jude Law’s “you must control your emotions” as being a sexist thing – especially when the sexless (but portrayed by a female) Supreme Intelligence AI echoes the same thing to Carol.
But they didn’t just ignore sexism, either. All of the flashback scenes to Carol’s past on Earth reveal that she has fought against these issues and always stood back up when she was knocked down.
And while the iconic line at the end to the villain (about not needing to prove herself) had a tinge of “because I’m a strong woman who is secure in herself” it can easily be thought of “because I’m a strong person who is secure in myself.”
A tough line to walk, I think, and they did it well.
I’m sure there will be people who decry the film as being “too feminist” (and others who will claim “not feminist enough”) but I, for one, was able to enjoy it as another great MCU movie with a great lead character.
Two other quick notes:
1. The intro with the Marvel logo got me misty-eyed.
2. The de-aging tech that the filmmakers used for Fury and Coulson looked really good.
@@.-@ I echo your sentiments!
Fun movie. Solid movie. Not in my top 5, but not in my bottom 5 (or even bottom10 – there sure are a lot of MCU movies now).
As with pretty much anything in life, the argument between emotion and reason is specious at best. The correct decision can be arrived at regardless of the method used to achieve it. And as with most false dichotomies, this isn’t an either/or proposition; we need both emotion and reason in our decision making. That balance may be different for everyone, but it does exist. No one is wholly one or the other, regardless of their gender.
Wonder Woman did it better. And first.
OP:
If its playing in the background on a radio, then that’s a continuity error, since as other commenters have noted, the movie is pretty clear about it being 1995. But if it was used in the soundtrack, that is immaterial. They could have used a track from 2016 and it wouldn’t have mattered, as long as it sounded like the right time period.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel used a number of Barbra Streisand songs in Season 1 that were recorded well after the time period the show takes place in. But she’s a famous Jewish performer, and it sounds like the right time period, so it fits the show.
Very entertaining but average Marvel movie. But i must admit that i have to see it again for a good judgement. I was so psyched for Avengers: Endgame (also saw the trailer before the movie) that i really wanted an Endgame prologue film. But it stood pretty much on it’s own. She looked really cool though. One of the best looking superheroes (especially with the Mohawk). And good to have Samual L. Jackson in a bigger part. Great chemistry between them.
There’s some fantastic prose in this review! Incredibly well-written.
I worry that some of the things you’re praising, I’m not sure will make an impact with me, and some of the drawbacks you list might bother me more than many people. I come away continuing to hedge my expectations for the movie, but for different reasons.
Almuric @7: Aw, come on. It doesn’t have to be a competition! I thought Wonder Woman was great & I think Captain Marvel is great. When WW was available I bought a copy. When this sucker comes out on DVD, I’m buying a copy!
I thought Carol & Nick were great together. I’m thrilled that Maria got to do more than be Carol’s emotionally supportive friend (although she did that well). Of course we all know the real star of the movie is Goose. :D
And in case anybody is wondering, there are mid-credits and end-credits scenes. I especially liked the end-credit.
It was a bit too early for AltaVista, though.
Just got back from seeing it and I loved it. How to talk about it without spoilers though…
I thought that the beginning was a bit slow but was done in a good way.
I did like how the Kree/Skrull war was developed and thought that it elevated the movie above the standard formula.
I really liked seeing Carol when she first comes to Earth and you can really see she’s not been socialized on this planet. She’s in complete control of herself, sure of her own strength, and does not take s**t from anyone. She deals with overly pushy males that came at her in the movie the same way each time. She just ignores them, she does not owe them anything.
I was less enthused on the entire “Control your emotions.” bit. It just made the Kree sound like Vulcans to me. I’ve been watching to much Star Trek Discovery.
The Kree capital planet of Hala seems as though it’s been rendered as an afterthought
I thought that about the sci-fi material throughout. The Guardians movies did a really great job at showing off the gonzo inventiveness of comic books in space, and the runarounds in dimly-lit corridors felt pretty flat by comparison. Production Design on stuff like Black Panther is so amazing you really notice when the designers let things slip.
That said, I loved Carol’s ‘space mohawk’ look.
I’m glad to hear it’s good! I admit that the trailers didn’t really do it for me so I was a little worried.
The “emotions” message isn’t one I’m fond of, though. I never am. I hope it won’t get in the way of my enjoyment too much.
I once read that Black Panther was “unapologetically black”. This, I think, was “unapologetically female” if that makes sense. There was never a point where I felt lectured to, as a male, and there was also never a time when I felt like the women in the movie were anything but authentic. It’s a celebration of women, and not in a way that insults men.
Except for the men who are predisposed to feeling insulted. On the way out just now, there were a couple of guys who were repeating the same refrains we’ve all seen online. Larson was “flat”. She had no emotion. She looked like she was just reading the script from cue cards. Nonsense. Larson was great. Those guys were whining children who didn’t like that the movie didn’t star yet another white dude.
The only time I cringed was when – and this isn’t a spoiler, it’s just a song – they used No Doubt’s “Just a Girl”. A little too on-the-nose in its message and definitely not the kind of song, style-wise, I think fit that type of scene.
Overall, on my personal ranking of the MCU, this comes in #6. It’s going be hard for any film to crack the top five, though, given how excellent those films are.
These storyrellwrs failed to set and examine starforce wihin established worldbuilding. Everything I saw kree wise was a repeat of the canon novella starforce on the rise. The big reveal surpsing? Only if the trailers didn’t make plotting so damn predictable
@@@@@danielmclark
I actually really enjoyed that scene and the use of the song in it. I got excited (I think I might have laughed in a satisfied way) when I heard the opening riff start.
I had a lot of fun, and liked the way this movie played around with the expectations of comic readers would have, and the way it meshed so seamlessly with the MCU’s overall continuity.
I liked the interplay between Carol and Maria, Dr. Lawson, and Monica (who, if her name is any clue, will grow up to be a superhero in the current MCU). I liked the way the Skrulls were handled, which was a nice twist. And I liked the cat. I kept waiting for the Supreme Intelligence to look like a giant green head in a jar, but alas, that was not meant to be.
And I loved the interplay between Carol and young Nick Fury–both the actors were having fun playing off each other. And seeing young Coulson was a nice treat.
And Brie Larson fit the role perfectly.
I’ve heard plenty of women calling the performance flat as well. Since acting, and descriptions of acting, come down to matters of taste, and because tastes differ, I would personally hesitate to accuse anyone saying Larson’s performance was wooden, flat, or some other term that might be used for “understated” of being motivated by sexism unless I know them personally, and can reasonably ascertain their motives in saying so.
Well, I loved it. I’d put it in the top five of the MCU, although I wouldn’t want to have to order that list. The theater I was in was packed, and the entire audience applauded at the end. I particularly enjoyed a gang of young guys sitting next to me have a furious discussion over it as the credits rolled. And I thought Larson was excellent.
I can see why the manbabies and icels feel threatened though. CM kicks ass.
I really, really enjoyed this a great deal. I know someone in the above comments said ‘Wonder Woman did it better and first’ but I couldn’t disagree more; Though I enjoyed Wonder Woman at the cinema and on rewatches I always get disappointed towards the end as I think this whole section is a bit rubbish and rather detracts from the film. I think with Captain Marvel it’s shortcomings are mostly at the start and the film quickly leaves them behind which makes for a much more enjoyable experience overall. I always felt WW was getting showered with too much praise whereas I think CM is a lot more deserving.
Also, can’t go wrong with Celebrity Skin and a bit of Elastica!
Saw it yesterday, still buzzed.
One thing I didn’t register until a half hour later – not a single shot in the film sexualises any of the women. All the Kree are firmly soldiers in uniform, Monica and Carol are always wearing sensible clothes or a uniform, and the CM uniform itself is tight fitting but not revealing. Even the surfer girl is in a practical short wetsuit.
It was quite the contrast to say the knee highs and miniskirt of Wonder Woman or the “Look, Breasts” of Black Widow and Scarlet Witch.
Overall I really enjoyed it – like the first Captain America it’s a very solid character introduction, regularly funny, and has some great action scenes. And Brie does a great job of exuding a quiet confidence almost all the time – she knows her powers and what she can do even if she doesn’t always know who she is or why she should do it.
@24
exactly. Very pleasant change.
I enjoyed watching the movie very much, and want to see it again soon.
Thanks to all for effective review and useful comments. Question: at least 2 songs early in the movie are about water. Was that a comment on the desert locations, or could it be otherwise significant?
I agree on the awkwardness of Vers’ life with the Kree, but I thought that was intentional. The Kree, as portrayed by the MCU, are a society that emphasizes acting without emotional bias, all the way down to living under an artificial intelligence to remove that bias from their governance. This has created a bland, fascistic society, where no one is their authentic self.
This isn’t healthy, which you can see in Ronan, who turns into a genocidal maniac(which obviously isn’t TOO FAR a journey, as seen in this movie) when he finally lets go of the emotions he’s bottling up inside. And it makes them a stilted people, as shown in Vers’ interactions with her mentor.
All props to Marvel and Jude Law for the ambiguity in which he played Yon Rogg. If you paid attention to the marketing, you knew he wasn’t Mar-Vell but the movie plays with your perception on that until they unequivocally tell you who Mar-Vell is, which I liked. And I liked how Yon Rogg used negging techniques to play with Carol’s head, and how Carol was eventually able to see through them.
I feel like this movie has definitely set up the idea that Maria Hill, true to the comics, is a Skrull, but not an evil one. One sent by the Skrulls helped by Fury in this movie, to be an eternal ally for him, and Fury knows this. I can’t wait for this!
All the emotional beats hit well, and this Stan Cameo was THE BEST! Such a great tribute to Stan, and to the fans who loved him!
I was actually a bit concerned over how corny some of the ads were, and was really worried that whole “Carol always stands back up” scene was going to be a miss, but it hit so well! I saw one review that decried how quickly Carol embraced her true self once she met with Maria and Monica, but to me that was perfect. It made a lot of sense that once Carol was exposed to people who actually KNEW HER, she would begin to see her authentic self in their regard. But the way that was tied in to Carol eventually realizing that she was that strong person, who ALWAYS stood back up when she was knocked down, before she ever knew who the Kree were, was so powerful!
@26 Aeryl I flagged your post as a spoiler – it isn’t terrible but you do go into some details that I’d consider a spoiler – especially since this is classified as a Non-spoiler review.
In respect to @7 saying Wonder Woman did it first and better…well…first for sure. I was so happy that Marvel did not include any romantic elements to this movie. I’m trying to remember the last time I saw an action movie with a female lead that didn’t involve a romantic subplot of some sort. Maybe the Long Kiss Goodnight with Geena Davis?
I had a whole paragraph typed up about how Marvel generally does a good job of avoiding unnecessary romantic subplots but then I remembered the whole reason Peter and Tony ended up not getting the gauntlet off of Thanos’ hand. Dammit Star-Lord!
I loved this movie, from start to finish. It was an origin story that didn’t feel slow or exposition-heavy, which is rare enough, and all of the characters were engaging. I loved the way the movie handled the Skrulls in all respects, and Talos was probably my favourite character (with young Monica Rambeau as a close second). I found Carol engaging and enjoyed seeing her enotional journey over the course of the film – in the MCU, it’s refreshing just to see a character arc other than “immature self-absorbed asshole learns to be less of one”. (Props to Black Panther in that regard as well, for having an adult male lead who acts like an adult male rather than a spoiled child.)
Really, I enjoyed everything about it. Carol rigging a pay phone to make an interstellar call – and then getting cut off for long-distance – was a highlight.
It’s probably in my MCU top 5, though hasn’t displaced Winter Soldier as my favourite.
@28: I’d put Captain America as the other non-‘self-absorbed dude becomes less self-absorbed’ arc, but I don’t think I can name a third…
@29: Perhaps the third is supposed to be Thor? He’s a lot less self-absorbed now than he was in Thor, or even the first Avengers movie.
@9: I am also glad that this wasn’t an Endgame prologue film. There’s been a lot of chatter about Carol showing up now because she’s super powerful and could take out Thanos without any problems. (spoilers whited out) //However, the movie indicates that Carol is powered by the Tesseract, which means she only has 1 stone’s power at her disposal. Thanos has all 6.//
@27, I haven’t commented at Tor in some time, but I’m pretty sure its to be expected to find spoilers in the comments of any review, even if it’s a non spoiler review.
Interestingly enough, I saw a thread on Twitter by Nerd Doctor about the similarities between Hennessey in LKG and Fury here.
As far as avoiding “unnecessary romantic subplots”I agree with you, Starlord and Gamorra is a ship I can not abide, but at the same time, for the movie that was made it was VERY NECESSARY to fail to get the glove off, so I don’t think it qualifies as unnecessary, no matter how much I hate it.
@29, Thor is very self-absorbed, he was willing to go to war because some Jotun crashed his party.
@30, Carol doesn’t have any of the power of the stones “at her disposal”. She doesn’t draw her powers from the Tesseract. Also consider Wanda, who was able to use her power to destroy the stone that gave her her powers, but also to hold a nearly fully powered Thanos at bay while she did it.
To follow up on AnthonyPero @8
Hole’s “Celebrity Skin” may have been in the charts in 1998, but it was playing during the post-credits, not in the movie.
DenofGeek shows many examples pointing to the year in the movie being 1995. The most interesting of these being Stan Lee reading the script of Mallrats (1995), a movie in which Stan Lee… makes a cameo.
On the movie itself, I really loved it.
Stan Lee does not have a “cameo” in Mallrats.
Stan Lee has a full blown ROLE in Mallrats.
A cameo is a gag. They get to maybe say a line, maybe two, like in Ragnorak. In Mallrats, though he portrays himself, and it is a gag, but it’s also more than that. He’s the impetus for Brody’s character development, and moves the plot forward. He has pages of dialog, mostly referencing his works, but his work in Mallrats is beyond a cameo.
Of course, this breaks reality in so many ways.
Unless you determine that the kindly old man on the train is preparing to audition for the role of Lefours. Or maybe the game show host!
Or Stan Lee is an inter-dimensional being. Whichever works.
I just saw Captain Marvel. I loved it. I would put it in my top 5 Marvel movies and I think it is better than Wonder Woman. I agree with @22 the end of Wonder Woman bothers me a bit. I didn’t think Captain Marvel had a slow start and I liked the Kree home world. Captain Marvel was great from start to finish.
Lee’s cameo as himself doesn’t break reality if you subscribe to the idea of the multiverse. Simply, Lee was in Mallrats in more than one reality.
@35, What comics does Stan Lee write in this universe then? His entire dialog in Mallrats is talking about specific issues of his stories with Brody. He references Spider Man, who exists in this universe. And the Incredible Hulk.
That’s why it’s reality breaking, unless the character he’s reading for in Mallrats is not a role for himself. Or the only books he ever wrote were Fantastic Four and XMen
Well, I would agree with @@.-@ that it did not feel preachy or too ‘agenda’ driven, but was rather a good, entertainin movie. I would also agree that it was a better movie than Wonder Woman, mostly due to the latter having a rather weak plot, villains and writing, along with a rather ham-fisted message at the end. I mean, the end of WW felt like a video game cut scene; not to mention that it felt too similar to Captain America.
@36 I believe the precedent has been set that in this universe Marvel’s comic books would still be popular, but be mostly about pirates.
@16 If setting a fight scene to “Just A Girl” is wrong, I don’t want to be right. Before I watched this movie I didn’t know I needed that in my life so badly.
I love the final fight scene, when she has had her breakthrough and is just playing with the Kree and reveling in her power and just having so much fun.
Out of all the superhero movies Marvel has ever done… this was definitely one of them. That’s basically how the movie felt to me. Not bad, but not particularly excellent either.
It could have been a lot better if it hadn’t been so utterly predictable. Some things in comic book movies are predictable because you’re familiar with the source material, (we all knew exactly how Infinity War was going to end, for example,) but this was the other sort of predictable, because the writing was full of clichés and obvious jokes and developments.
It’s the mid-90s. She’s at some generic strip mall, asking someone where she can find communication equipment. Gee, I wonder if they’ll go with the most obvious gag possible? Yep! Point her at a Radio Shack!
The fugitive Skull runs into a train, bumping into an old woman. CM chases after him, and sees the same old woman. You don’t have to have seen the trailer to guess exactly what happens next.
The end credits scene with the empty office. I took one look at that room and said “the [redacted to prevent spoilers] comes in and [redacted] on the desk,” and that’s exactly what happened.
And so on. The whole movie was like that.
I loved the de-aged Fury, but to me at least the de-aged Coulson came straight out of the Uncanny Valley. Not sure what the difference was, but it was definitely there.
I liked how this filled in a lot of backstory for us — how Fury got his injured eye, how SHIELD came into possession of the [redacted], stuff like that — but for whatever reason, having the name of the Avenger Initiative be inspired by something she did just felt incredibly cheesy and on the nose.
The action sequences were good, the character development and interactions between the cast members worked really well, but the “stand up” scene, that was presented like it’s supposed to be a big moment of triumph, just felt like Yet Another Cliché.
The movie wasn’t bad, really; it’s just not particularly good. It’s just sort of there. And to be honest that’s disappointing, because we’ve come to expect better from Marvel. Also, to address the elephant in the room, if this is the way they handle their big “female superhero movie,” it kinda makes me worry about the female superhero movie everyone actually wanted to see from Marvel, the upcoming Black Widow film! If they didn’t care enough to make this one excellent, how will that one turn out?
I have to agree with everything said by the reviewer and so many others. This was a fabulous film, a little slow to get going, but once it lands back on earth, the whole thing rocks. And not just the sound track (and No Doubt was, for me at least, perfectly used in that scene).
Far from wooden or stiff, Brie Larson was sublime. People are so used to actors hamming it up and overacting their emotions that I think they miss when someone does it in a more subtle, natural way. Her emotions were written all over her face, she didn’t need big, grandiose lines to portray Carol’s confusion, doubt, anger, and growing disgust and what’s been done to her. I hadn’t seen her in much before, but I’ll be going back through her list of films to see what I’ve missed. And the relationships were so well done all around I thought.
I actually liked the Kree tech design, but I can see why it fell flat for others. It’s nothing we haven’t seen done before, and with Guardians and Panther (and I’d toss in Ragnarok with its vibrant techno-80’s futurism) as our standards now, it does start to strike me as somewhat lazy for what we’ve gotten used to. Chalk that up to the very high standards these films set for the fans.
Top five for me, although I need to see it again to solidify its place in my mind, and I’m taking my three sons to see it.
@40, I’m gonna assume you’re a dude.
As a woman, I can tell you that A LOT of the movie is aimed at me, and not having the experience of living as a woman, means you could miss it.
For example, the constant harping about Carol’s emotions. Now, in the context of the film, she’s not being told this because the people who are going on about it are sexist. They don’t look down on Carol because she’s a woman, they look down on her because she’s human.
BUT
That doesn’t mean this point doesn’t resonate with women, who constantly find their emotions, and how we express them, policed by the world around us. That’s why it’s so empowering for the audience, when Carol realizes that she was this strong person, who always stood up after getting knocked down, before she ever met the Kree. She never needed to suppress her emotions, she needed to be her authentic self. She needs to stop trying to meet other’s expectations for her, and just do what she knows is right. The movie doesn’t directly relate this to her gender, but for women, the expectations game is always a losing one, and we know this, and it’s so validating to see it portrayed on screen, even if it’s not with giant flashing lights blinking FEMINIST at us. Now parallel Carol’s affirmation of her humanity, the thing she looked down upon for, with the song the plays over the final fight scene. She “just a human”, we’re “just girls” and embracing that is what will empower us.
I was underwhelmed by Captain Mary-Sue/Captain Retcon, and those last bits with Fury really annoyed me. It was much better than Solo though, so it’s got that going for itself as a prequel…
@42 I actually found that another thing that fell flat. The repeated harping on how her lack of emotional control was hampering her effectiveness was really strange, not because she was “wooden and emotionless” (she really wasn’t!) but precisely because, as @41 pointed out, her emotions were restrained, subtle and mature.
Never once did I get the impression that this is someone who struggles with emotional control, which turned her supposed emotional problem into what TVTropes calls an “informed attribute” (something that we’re told is an attribute of a character even though it contradicts what we’re actually shown) and made her rejection at the climax of the need to keep it under control meaningless.
@43 honestly I’ve never understand all the Solo hate. It actually felt like a real Star Wars story, certainly much more so than Rogue One ever did, and I was very disappointed that it didn’t do well at the box office!
Loved it from beginning to end.
@42 – Aeryl: Yeah, someone on Facebook said he didn’t see what was so feminist about the film… and it’s pretty glaring.
@44 I think the “informed attribute” part is the main point.
@44, She struggles to suppress her emotions to the satisfaction of an alien race that has literally sublimated societal control to an artificial intelligence to avoid emotional bias. The Kree are enormously emotionally suppressed, that’s why their world is so bland and boring. Carol’s emotions are restrained, subtle and mature for a human, but wildly out of the norm for a person who calls theirself a Kree. That’s why her moment of empowerment is her recognition that she is “only human”. She can’t meet the Kree standards, because she isn’t a Kree, and she needs to stop trying, because she is only harming herself. She reaches her full potential once she embraces herself.
@35,36,38 In Marvel comics, it is a well established fact that people write comic books filled with fictionalized adventures of the superheroes. When Brubaker retconned Captain America, the premise was that their previous adventures were exactly that; comic books containing fictionalized adventures of the real Cap and Bucky, idealized versions that were shaped by public relations officers.
I liked Brie Larson’s portrayal of the character. Kind of a laconic, Gary Cooper kind of vibe.
I have to say I found it one of the absolutely weakest MCU movies hitherto. The storytelling was clumsy and everything about the plot was unclear. WHY did she have amnesia? Was it the explosion or the Kree? Since the Kree put a power dampener on her, it must have been them! But why would they have named her Vers from a snippet of her dog-tag from Earth if they didn’t want her to know her origins? Also, the Skrulls contributed to un-brainwashing her when they put her in their machine while she still thought they were bad guys, so they must have explicitly planned to restore her memories and make her remember Mar-Vell so she could become an ally to them, but this is just not shown or explained at all in the movie. And when Carol does regain her memories, she doesn’t react at all! She should be outraged that she’s just spent six years as a Kree puppet, probably killing any number of Skrulls in the process. No reaction. And there is a handful of the same kind of situations, both with Carol and other characters, that just make no sense. This movie has so many problems. It is very poorly told. Which is so sad, as my expectations for it were greater than for any other superhero movie.
@Tue Sorenson, you seem to have answered all your questions, so are you just mad the movie hasn’t confirmed anything? Wouldn’t you rather some of that get explored in later movies? Feige’s stated the next movie still won’t be in our timeline, but of Carol’s intervening years in space.
Also, I’m pretty sure she didn’t get her memories back, she just remembered who she was. She has some, but I don’t think the entire amnesia completely broke.
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Also, in general, I’m curious as to why people are so convinced Carol never returned to Earth? Why couldn’t she have visited Maria and Monica, and checked in with Fury? After Goose yurked up on his desk, Fury was probably willing to surrender ownership, she may have taken him with her. We could even get Secret Invasion, as a plot prior to Iron Man(you KNOW RDJ would love to play a Babby Tony as a tertiary character in CM2).
Plus, for all we know, Carol’s been called during the Chitauri Invasion and Ultron, but arrived too late, but still got a debrief from Fury. It would definitely save time in Endgame if Carol only has to introduce herself to them, instead of ALL OF THEM to her.
I dunno, I just like idea more that she hasn’t been completely absent from Earth all this time, she’s just never had need to flex in public prior to this. Plus, it would make for a nice note that Fury has her a secret locker at Avengers HQ just waiting for her to show up and open it, stocked with gear(and makeup to explain her glow up in the trailer{sigh})
Got around to seeing it. I liked it in the same way that I like all Marvel movies–it was competently made, and it has some very fine moments. Brie Larsen is charming and cool. Samuel L. Jackson looks like he was allowed to have fun for once, although the way he is treated is so ridiculous that it’s almost difficult to believe he is the same Nick Fury we see in earlier movies. Ben Mendelsohn does what some other fine actors have not, and delivered a meaningful performance underneath layers of prosthetics. The cat is cute.
I also disliked it in some of the same ways that I am souring on most MCU movies: It is not better than the sum of its parts. Because Carol Danvers has amnesia, she doesn’t know who she is, and neither do we. That robs her of the chance to meaningfully interact with other characters for most of the film. The movie is structured to make Carol Danvers a mystery, but nothing really surprising happens. Almost all of the twists are extremely predictable. So I think the miscalculation was structural–if the film had been told chronologically then there wouldn’t be a mystery, but Carol’s lost past and connection to others might have stung more if we had been them beforehand. I think that would have been a fair trade.
Side complaints: The opening segments are too muddy and dark. It’s nice to see Clark Gregg get work, but if they were going to give him such a pointless cameo why not through Ming-Na Wen a bone?
Regarding the feminism of the film: it’s sort of no duh and inevitable that it would have to take a feminist stance–there is no way that a woman who is in the Air Force in the 80s is not facing an incredible amount of sexism.
@51: Carol’s reactions seem comprehensible within the story told. She has been treated as lesser and weak by the other members of her Kree team, who clearly don’t like her, and she has been trying to go beyond their expectations–to fulfill her mission alone and prove herself to them. Her memories of her past are too fragmented and only recently recovered. So it is the former that she is reacting to–the realization that her teammates don’t hold her in contempt, but that they are SCARED of her, and that they should be. That’s a joyous revelation, not an angry one.
Thank you for this article. I’m a big fan of the film, and it does make me feel a little emotional that the film-makers have done such a good job of ensuring we have such a rightly-awesome super-heroine to not only join but actually lead the Marvel patheon of heroes.
I’m just seconding everyone who said the kree comments about being too emotional and being told you can’t do it resonate strongly with women because we hear that constantly. And what woman hasn’t heard that if she can’t perform as a man’s equal on his turf while playing by his rules then she’ll never be his equal in any way? It doesn’t have to be spelled out to have (dare I say) an emotional impact with a portion of the audience.
I just saw this movie Friday, and I loved it. I got the impression that the Kree put in the controller (on her neck) and harped on controlling her emotions not so much so that SHE should be in control of herself, but so that THEY would be in control of the “weapon”. Did anyone else get this impression? (Not that that would make a difference to how CAROL took the “control your emotions” mantra.)
@52 – Aeryl: All that is cool, but Avengers HQ is a Tony Stark creation, Fury had nothing to do with it, I believe.
@53 – Colin: Clark Gregg doesn’t have a came, he has a minor role, but it’s still way more than a cameo.
@56 – Simka: I don’t know if the device would have controlled her per se, or more than the Kree mental and social conditioning would have put her under control so she could be used as a weapon.
@56
Yes, I think that would be a correct interpretation of what is happening in the movie. Whatever the controller/inhibitor actually does, the intent is that the Kree are controlling her both by removing access to her memories and by using social control to make her doubt herself. I don’t think there is any conflict with the feminist reading, if that is what you mean about “control your emotions.” It reinforces that misogyny is more about systemic control rather than personal animus.
@57 Magnus “All that is cool, but Avengers HQ is a Tony Stark creation, Fury had nothing to do with it, I believe.“
When has that EVER mattered to Fury? Remember when Coulson hacked the elevators in Stark Tower?
Who do you think supplied the staff that works at Avengers HQ?
The Maria Stark Foundation. Yes, Fury can have moles.
@40 “If they didn’t care enough to make this one excellent, how will that one turn out?”
How on earth can you determine that they didn’t care about this film? Is the sole evidence because you didn’t like it?
I loved it. The only thing I am annoyed about is all the hysteria before seeing it being a distraction. I wanted to see the movie for what it was, and instead I had an angry white boy echo bouncing around uninvited while watching from time to time. Luckily the distraction was few and far between, and as a non-angry white boy I thought it was great. I loved the stand up way that she came into her power. Resonated majorly with me and inspired me as a human being. I did not think it is a masterpiece of film making- it is a Marvel movie- and I have no problem with seeing a Marvel movie every time I buy my ticket. Excited to see the power blast she brings to Endgame.
..and I have to add one more minor annoyance- she just HAPPENED to find a popular 90s band shirt every single time she needed to change clothes? Pretty silly and was the one unrealistic thing made me temporarily lose the suspension of disbelief. Not the aliens, the glowing eyes- the 90s shirts.