Companion viewing
"The Right Stuff" (1983)
"Short Term 12" (2013)
"Wonder Woman" (2017)
Marvel’s first female-led superhero film lights up the screen this week and Brie Larson shines brightest as "Captain Marvel."
"Captain Marvel" opens with a new animated logo that pays tribute to the late Stan Lee, the comic book writer, editor and publisher, who was also executive vice president and publisher of Marvel Comics.
Lee died last year and the new open highlights all his cameos and ends with a thank you. It's a nice, teary-eyed way to begin "Captain Marvel," which has some teary emotionalism of its own.
The story opens with an unsettling dream jolting Vers (Brie Larson) out of bed in the middle of the night yet again. And what better way to deal with it than to wake up her mentor and engage in a sparring contest. Vers is a Kree warrior endowed with special battle powers that Yon-Rogg (Jude Law) is trying to teach her to control. The Kree are in the midst of fighting Skrulls, a shape-shifting race of aliens that can mimic someone right down to their DNA. But during a battle Vers ends up crash landing on planet C-53, aka Earth in 1995.
Once on Earth she tries to fulfill her Kree mission, but along the way she uncovers memories of a life she had on Earth as a pilot named Carol Danvers. But she's not sure if the memories are real or planted there by the Skrulls.
The Skrulls, led by Talos (Ben Mendelsohn), remain in hot pursuit. Her efforts on earth also lead her to cross paths with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson reprising his role once again but pre-eye patch) of SHIELD and Maria Rambeau (Lashana Lynch), a pilot who was apparently her best friend.
"Captain Marvel" is an origin story and a journey of self-discovery. We get the backstory on Captain Marvel, the person Fury is trying to contact at the end of "Avengers Infinity War," but it's also about the character of Vers discovering the truth of her past and coming to terms with what that means.
I was thrilled with the casting of Larson because I loved her work in films such as "Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World," "Don Jon," and "Short Term 12." She also had a career in TV and music but it was those films that showcased her varied skills as a performer. "Short Term 12" revealed her depth and nuanced emotional range while "Scott Pilgrim" and "Don Jon" revealed her flair for humor and her ability to command our attention.
Larson grounds her performance with heartfelt emotion.
Much of that grounding though resonates from Lashana Lynch's performance as Rambeau. It's Lynch's strong, emotional work as Rambeau that builds up Larson's Carol/Vers as a more fully rounded person. It's because Lynch endows Rambeau with such powerful faith in Carol that we as the audience also come to believe so much in her as well.
But Larson is also smart enough to realize that being a superhero is a ton of fun. So she has a cocky swagger as well as a sense of unabashed delight as she discovers just how powerful she is.
The casting is top notch all the way around with Mendelsohn great as Talos, Jackson adding layers to his Nick Fury, and Annette Benning having a fun turn as the face of the Supreme Intelligence of the Kree.
"Captain Marvel" is the first Marvel film to have a woman director, Anna Boden, directing in tandem with Ryan Fleck. The two also co-directed on such previous projects as "Half-Nelson" and "Sugar." They also collaborated on the screenplay together along with Geneva Robertson-Dworet. Some of the plotting feels a bit lazy and formulaic but the film wins on its overall impact and the great acting. Vers' memories of being a pilot also look a little too much like Tom Cruise in "Top Gun" but Larson brings freshness to the familiar tropes.
The film develops essentially two buddy films: one of reluctant partners with Vers and Fury, and one about BFF with Carol and Maria.
Unlike "Wonder Woman," DC's female directed female superhero film, "Captain Marvel" delivers a sustained story. "Wonder Woman" started OK, had a brilliant middle and then took a nose dive in the third act. But "Captain Marvel" is well-crafted throughout and never really lulls or falters. The action may have a bit too much CGI but Larson keeps us aware of the person at the center of the fighting and how rad it is to shoot photons from your hands to dispense with your enemies.
"Captain Marvel" is one of the best films in the Marvel Comics franchise (and has a great Stan Lee cameo). It's no accident that when Vers lands on earth she crashes through the roof of a Blockbuster Video store and picks up a copy of "The Right Stuff."
Larson and the film do indeed display the Right Stuff, giving us a superheroine who can hold her own in the male dominated comic book movie universe but she doesn't really make an issue of being female. She just proves to herself and then to us how powerful she is. I am looking forward to the addition of Larson to "Avengers Endgame."
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