Captain Marvel

The way Avengers infinity war ended with Fury sending a message to Captain Marvel and getting the label of being the wonder woman equivalent from Marvel, there was an aura and huge expectation around the film Captain Marvel. In terms of delivering justice to that kind of hype it created, Captain Marvel hasn’t really achieved its goal. But having said, this movie is definitely an engaging and entertaining superhero flick which required a little more to be unique. With repartee in conversations and an anti-war politics in its central element, Captain Marvel was a watchable flick that needed improvements.

We are introduced to the character Vers who is now at planet Hala. She is struggling to remember things from her past. She has certain superpowers but she isn’t ready for battle as her mentor Yon-Rogg feels that she hasn’t got the grip over her emotions. The movie Captain Marvel shows us the journey of Verse and how she realizes about her past and who she is.

It takes almost half an hour for Captain Marvel to get into that entertaining Marvel movie zone. To be more precise, it is only when Samuel L Jackson’s Nick Fury comes on screen, the fun starts to kick in. And after that, the buildup is gradual and goes to the usual hero versus villain stuff. In my opinion, what sort of gave this movie a distinction was the way it represented the Skrull resistance. That part of the story has contemporary relevance and without making it an on the face preach, they managed to include it smartly into the narrative. With the grandeur of set pieces along with the witty side of Fury, Captain Marvel manages to hold your interest.

Brie Larson has that charm and grace to be Carol. It’s not a character that is largely CG aided and doesn’t require the skills of the actor. She manages to handle the cluelessness, the wit, the swag and the vulnerabilities of the titular character. The always commanding Nick Fury is more like a sidekick and by that, I don’t mean to criticize that decision. The sidekick aspect actually helps us to know Fury better as most of the films in MCU haven’t really bothered to show his story and Sam Jackson in his signature style delivers a good performance. Jude Law as Yon-Rogg was pretty effective. Ben Mendelsohn plays the role of Talos and the other prominent names in the cast include Lashana Lynch, Annette Bening, and Djimon Hounsou.

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Filmmaking duo Anna Boden and Ryan K Fleck have directed this movie and it seemed like they took time to get into the rhythm of things. The usual Marvel movie energy is largely missing in the first hour of the film and it wasn’t like the movie never had scope for it. Some of the humor bits in the beginning almost felt like the Joss Whedon reshot justice league jokes.  And there are many familiar sequences that we see usually in superhero movies happening in Captain Marvel. Yet, there is a sense of energy whenever Brie Larson and Samuel L Jackson are enjoying the repartee. The feminine aspect of the character isn’t explored in a way say a movie like Wonder woman did. But as a viewer, I was impressed by the way they incorporated the whole war aspect and it sort of exposes the crooked agendas set by powerful sources. The movie is set in the ’90s and the production design was pretty good. There was a hilarious scene when everyone was waiting to see the old computer to process an audio file. The visuals were impactful. The visual effects, which includes the anti-aging of Nick Fury was also pretty impressive. The film doesn’t really have enough of that background score driven heroic moments.

Captain Marvel is a fun ride for sure. It has its share of politics, views and the typical Marvel style humor. But the dosage of it is not that high and thus the end result doesn’t feel like an overwhelming experience.

Rating: 3/5

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Final Thoughts

Captain Marvel has its share of politics, views and the typical Marvel style humor. But the dosage of it is not that high and thus the end result doesn’t feel like an overwhelming experience.

Signal

Green: Recommended Content

Orange: The In-Between Ones

Red: Not Recommended

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By Aswin Bharadwaj

Founder and editor of Lensmen Reviews.