Review of 'Captain Marvel'

On the Kree Empire's capital planet Hala, Starforce member Vers (Brie Larson) suffers from recurring nightmares featuring a mysterious woman and a life she does not remember on Earth. Vers has amazing powers making her largely invincible and able to emit power bolts from her arms. Mentor and commander Yon-Rogg (Jude Law) leads Vers and their company on a mission to recover a spy but they are attacked by a group of Skrulls, shapeshifts and enemies of the Kree. When Vers is tortured but manages to escape in an escape pod, crashing onto 1995 Earth where she is discovered by SHIELD agents Nick Fury (a young looking Samuel L. Jackson – Wow, hair!) and Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) who have a hard time believing her story. While escaping from Skrull agents Vers investigates the woman from her dreams: Wendy Lawson, learning that she was developing a light-speed engine. As she seeks out Lawson she discovers that everything she has known has been a lie and it is up to her to save an alien race.

What is great about this superhero film is the witty dialogue and smart-aleck characters that manage also to be quite likable. Vers is not exactly what you might expect from a hero but has an integrity and innocence that endears played by an amazing Brie Larson who dominates every scene she appears in. It is great to see her performing off the dominating acting talents of Samuel Jackson and Jude Law. To recognize the elephant in the room: It is also fantastic to see a film featuring a female superhero.

The story is fairly simple though with a twist that may surprise many about halfway through the film that changes everything that I found a bit hard to immediately take in - “I am not your enemy” “Sure, I believe you”. There is also the idea that someone in 1995 would be developing a light-speed spacecraft without a huge amount of surprise even within a top secret military installation that it is also a bit hard to take. I can overlook this for the great story and characters. It was also great to see the 1990s on the screen as a bit of nostalgia but this is seriously underplayed and not pushed in our faces, yeah, ok, she crashes into a Blockbuster Video but this is not dwelled on.

A lot of fun and looks great, Captain Marvel is everything a superhero film should be: Fantastic action sequences and effects, interesting characters, witty dialogue,interesting story, and great acting.

Rating: “I have absolutely no complaints”

Review Date: 2022-10-08

Directed by: Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck

Studio: Walt Disney Pictures

Year: 2019

Length: 123 minutes

Genre: Action/Adventure

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4154664/