Captain Marvel
2.5/4
Starring: Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Jude Law, Annette Bening, Lashana Lynch
Rated PG-13 for Sequences of Sci-Fi Violence and Action, and Brief Suggestive Language
What can I say about "Captain Marvel" that I haven't said about every other MCU movie? It's neither particularly good nor epically bad, more interested in continuity and in-jokes than telling a good story (or even a coherent one), and contains some awesome special effects that we have seen over and over again the past decade and a half. In other words, it's the exact same movie you've been watching in the multiplex for ages. That's good news for Marvel executives, Disney shareholders and comic book nerds, but for anyone who is like me and utterly bored of superheroes, it's damn depressing.
Vers (Larson) is an amnesiac soldier for the Kree Empire, and right in the middle of a decades long conflict between the Kree and a race of shapeshifting aliens called the Skrulls. During a battle, she is captured by their leader, Talos (Mendelsohn), but she escapes and crash lands on Earth. She soon discovers that she has a past history on our big blue planet, and together with Nick Fury (Jackson), she's on a mission to piece together her past.
This is what I call a "cut and paste" MCU flick. What I mean is that this is the same story we've seen every other time producer Kevin Feige decides to introduce another superhero into the bloated "cinematic universe" that he has created. An amnesiac discovers his/her powers and realizes what they thought was the truth is in fact a lie. That's been done so many times by the MCU that they just take the same screenplay and change the names. And the Easter eggs, of course. Can't we get a different kind of origin story? At least "Aquaman" understood that audiences have seen the origin story a dozen times before. MCU isn't that smart. Or maybe they just think the audience won't notice (or care) if they throw enough references and corny jokes into the mix. I don't know about you, but I have long since stopped caring about walk on appearances by Joe Somebody from issue #636.
If there's one thing that keeps things from becoming unbearably tedious, it's Brie Larson. We've seen the smart-aleck superhero before ("Deadpool," anyone?). But Larson has a genuine sense of warmth and presence that makes Vers so appealing. She can't save the film from superhero fatigue, but she can at least make the sense of repetition less irritating. Samuel L. Jackson is always a joy to watch, and here he's given something to do other than be a hyped-up badass working behind the scenes. Quirky Australian actor finds a part that fits his talents. Jude Law and Annette Bening are slumming for a paycheck so they can afford to be in movies they actually care about. Law is a has-been and doesn't show that he is any more invested in his career than he has been in twenty years, but Bening manages a few creepy moments.
"Captain Marvel" is a completely generic superhero movie. When you think of MCU, the first thing that comes to your mind is a movie like this. It's harmless, takes zero chances and the final act makes no sense whatsoever (including the fact that Vers becomes so powerful that it's hard to take the character seriously). But it has Larson, so it's not going to show up on my Bottom 10 list. I'm just going to forget about it by tomorrow.
Starring: Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Jude Law, Annette Bening, Lashana Lynch
Rated PG-13 for Sequences of Sci-Fi Violence and Action, and Brief Suggestive Language
What can I say about "Captain Marvel" that I haven't said about every other MCU movie? It's neither particularly good nor epically bad, more interested in continuity and in-jokes than telling a good story (or even a coherent one), and contains some awesome special effects that we have seen over and over again the past decade and a half. In other words, it's the exact same movie you've been watching in the multiplex for ages. That's good news for Marvel executives, Disney shareholders and comic book nerds, but for anyone who is like me and utterly bored of superheroes, it's damn depressing.
Vers (Larson) is an amnesiac soldier for the Kree Empire, and right in the middle of a decades long conflict between the Kree and a race of shapeshifting aliens called the Skrulls. During a battle, she is captured by their leader, Talos (Mendelsohn), but she escapes and crash lands on Earth. She soon discovers that she has a past history on our big blue planet, and together with Nick Fury (Jackson), she's on a mission to piece together her past.
This is what I call a "cut and paste" MCU flick. What I mean is that this is the same story we've seen every other time producer Kevin Feige decides to introduce another superhero into the bloated "cinematic universe" that he has created. An amnesiac discovers his/her powers and realizes what they thought was the truth is in fact a lie. That's been done so many times by the MCU that they just take the same screenplay and change the names. And the Easter eggs, of course. Can't we get a different kind of origin story? At least "Aquaman" understood that audiences have seen the origin story a dozen times before. MCU isn't that smart. Or maybe they just think the audience won't notice (or care) if they throw enough references and corny jokes into the mix. I don't know about you, but I have long since stopped caring about walk on appearances by Joe Somebody from issue #636.
If there's one thing that keeps things from becoming unbearably tedious, it's Brie Larson. We've seen the smart-aleck superhero before ("Deadpool," anyone?). But Larson has a genuine sense of warmth and presence that makes Vers so appealing. She can't save the film from superhero fatigue, but she can at least make the sense of repetition less irritating. Samuel L. Jackson is always a joy to watch, and here he's given something to do other than be a hyped-up badass working behind the scenes. Quirky Australian actor finds a part that fits his talents. Jude Law and Annette Bening are slumming for a paycheck so they can afford to be in movies they actually care about. Law is a has-been and doesn't show that he is any more invested in his career than he has been in twenty years, but Bening manages a few creepy moments.
"Captain Marvel" is a completely generic superhero movie. When you think of MCU, the first thing that comes to your mind is a movie like this. It's harmless, takes zero chances and the final act makes no sense whatsoever (including the fact that Vers becomes so powerful that it's hard to take the character seriously). But it has Larson, so it's not going to show up on my Bottom 10 list. I'm just going to forget about it by tomorrow.
Comments
Post a Comment