EYYYYY it’s been a hot second, huh?

So about a…couple weeks ago, I took myself and my dad (pretty much the only family member who will see superhero movies with me) to the movies and we saw Captain Marvel, the 21st (22nd? I hear conflicting reports) film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the 1st MCU film to center around a woman hero. So that’s. Good.

I don’t generally follow all the DC vs. Marvel discourse, but I do know at the very least that Marvel has been supremely more successful with their cinematic releases than DC has. That being said-can you believe that DC released a woman-led superhero movie before Marvel? And it was GOOD??

Anyway. I was relatively excited just because I generally like superhero movies, I really like Brie Larson, and I am all for movies with a female lead (I think that was well-established by my Miss Bala review). That being said, I wasn’t like…immensely excited. I mean, I thought it would probably be good, but let’s think about how Marvel has dealt with its female superhero characters…

Yeah.

I am happy to report, however, that I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. So, without further ado, let’s dive into Captain Marvel.

THE PLOT

The movie begins with an actual explosion. Everything is all slow-motion-y and dramatic as our leading lady herself (Brie Larson) looks around, confused. She sees an older woman standing near her (Annette Bening) and someone else approaching with some sort of space gun thing. She then wakes up, and we formally meet her as Vers, a member of the Kree (some sort of alien race, for those of you who are admittedly as uneducated as I am about these details). She then goes to train with her mentor, Yon-Rogg (Jude Law). During the fight, their conversation reveals that Vers desperately wants to be a fully-recognized soldier, but Yon-Rogg says she lets her emotions control her actions too often and therefore, she isn’t ready. He says something about how once she’s able to defeat him without using her sparkle fist powers, then she’ll be ready.

Vers then meets with “Supreme Intelligence,” the leader of the Kree. No one knows what they really look like, they take the form of the person you most admire. For Vers, she sees the woman from her dream, though she doesn’t actually remember who she is. Supreme Intelligence basically says “yeah sure you can be a soldier and go on this mission but remember we gave you your sparkle fists and we can take them away too k have fun byeeee.”

Vers, Yon-Rogg, and the rest of their team are tasked with recovering an operative trapped on another planet. The Kree are in the middle of a war with another alien race, the Skrulls, and they’re fighting because apparently the Skrulls keep taking over planets and massacring everyone they come across. Yon-Rogg emphasizes how dangerous this mission is and like…I dunno they’re all emotionless alien soldiers so they all just nod like “yep.”

Anyway, the group splits up upon arrival and Vers comes across what she thinks is the Kree operative, but oh SNAP it’s actually a Skrull because they’re SHAPESHIFTERS. The other inhabitants the Kree come across turn out to also be Skrulls and it’s a full-out ambush. Vers gets captured. The Skrulls poke around in her head and she has a whole lot of memories and flashbacks that she does not remember at all. It turns out the Skrulls are looking for the woman from her dreams, whose name is Dr. Wendy Lawson. Vers manages to knock out the Skrulls keeping her captive with her sparkle fists and she escapes, crash-landing onto…EARTH.

Because this takes place sometime in the 90’s, she crash-lands into a Blockbuster Video (all together now…*in the aaaaarms of the angels, fly awaaaaaaay* RIP Blockbuster, forever in our hearts). Her crash, her space outfit, and her general demeanor alert a CGI’d-to-be-young Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), who begins chasing her down with, wait for it, AGENT COULSON (Clark Gregg). It takes some time and some deep conversations for Fury and Vers to really bond and trust each other, but soon they decide they’re on the same team and it’s up to them to figure out what’s really going on with the Kree and the Skrulls, and who Vers really is.

THE REVIEW

So like I mentioned above, I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. I genuinely enjoyed it. Again, I tend to like superhero movies anyway, but I would say this is one you can enjoy even if you’re not typically a superhero fan. Like Wonder Woman and Black Panther before it, I think it offers a whole lot more as a film than just the whole “super person wears a funky outfit and fights bad guys with a quirky ensemble” thing.

Was it perfect? Not necessarily. I don’t think it’s a must-see like Black Panther, but it has a lot to offer. Plus, it made a lot of older white guys mad for some reason, so you know it’s probably a good idea to support it somehow.

The characters were all really likable, the plot twists were interesting, and all of the “girl power” moments were incredibly satisfying. All of the gags with Goose the cat were immensely enjoyable, and I do appreciate how the main relationship in Carol’s life was her best friend.

Also-the costume design. I mean, I know it’s crazy, but it is possible to have a woman superhero NOT wear a skin-tight outfit. I just. It’s insane. People have also pointed out that all of the Kree soldiers have the same outfit. Vers and Minn-Erva don’t get special designs that hug their bodies more, are more revealing, or in any way highlight the fact that they are women. It’s all the same because they are ALL Kree soldiers!

Even when Carol swaps her Kree gear for some human clothing, she doesn’t go for a dress, or shorts, or something skin-tight. It’s boots, loose jeans, a grungy t-shirt, and a leather jacket–and she STILL looks amazing and comfortable and she can STILL FIGHT. None of her fight scenes or actions in her human outfit are unbelievable because it does look like she could naturally pull all of it off. I didn’t fully appreciate how much of a breath of fresh air that all was until I re-watched some of the other Marvel films this past week to prep for Endgame and…pretty much all of Black Widow and Scarlet Witch’s costumes make me want to cry. It’s so unnecessarily just CLEAVAGE. ALL THE TIME.

(Now yes, to be fair, Steve has some very tight shirts of his own, which…I mean, it’s all a choice, okay)

But what exactly were the specific details that made the movie so good? What exactly made it just a good time to watch?

Let’s blast our way through the specifics, which means spoiler warning is now in effect!

(My pun game is…not as sharp as it once was when I started all of this)

THE MUSIC

As always, we begin with my favorite element: the music!

Much of the music didn’t really stand out to me in the beginning, admittedly. There was nothing I particularly noticed that stood out, at least at first. I mean, I feel like there’s a whole separate genre of cinematic music now that is just “it’s for a superhero movie; it’s heroic-sounding.”

That being said, the track “More Problems” (composer: Pindar Toprak) is phenomenal–a little over 8 minutes of what sounds like what would happen if a victorious battle cry was orchestrated. I believe it underscores most of the final act of the film (again, it’s been a couple weeks since I’ve seen it) when Carol learns the truth about everything and goes after Jude Law who DEFINITELY deserves it.

The other musical moment I really loved is during one of the final fights when “Just a Girl” plays. It’s such a Captain Marvel song, too; you can tell she’s having fun finally embracing her full identity and taking it out on the people who lied to her for years. Plus, it serves as a really poignant jab at the fact that this is the 21ST (or 22ND) MARVEL FILM AND THE FIRST CENTERED AROUND A WOMAN SUPERHERO. WHY.

THE CHARACTERS

For the most part, I felt all the characters were incredibly well-done for the purpose they served.

A lot of the film, I remember thinking that Carol herself wasn’t that well-developed, but that ties into the film perfectly–for a lot of it, we see her the only way she knows herself: a Kree warrior whose only goal is to go out on real missions to prove herself. As more of her memories get uncovered, however, we learn about her personality and what makes her who she is at the exact same time she does. We get connected to her as a character because we go through things right along with her, and I LOVE it.

(To go off for a moment here, I mentioned in my Alita: Battle Angel review that one of the things that really bugged me about the movie is that it was like in order for Alita to be a good hero and protagonist, she had to squash all of her emotions because it was the only way to move forward. I don’t think it made her relatable at all, it just further alienated her from me and I cared less and less about what happened to her or her story. Carol has a similar moment where she learns exactly what happened in her past, she’s at her lowest point, but instead of shoving it all deep inside her and refusing to acknowledge it, instead she uses that pain to move forward and be stronger because of it. She went through something awful and she lost someone incredibly dear to her; both characters did. What matters is how they were written to handle it, and it makes all the difference)

Baby Nick Fury was an absolute delight, and he had such an interesting arc over the course of a single film. We see him go from doubter and rule-follower to believer and fighter, and honestly it makes his meme line in Avengers all the funnier now. I mean: “I recognize the council has made a decision, but given that it’s a stupid decision, I’ve elected to ignore it.” You just KNOW that’s something he’d say that Carol would both be proud of him for and also tease him about. We’ve seen Fury as a leader in the other Marvel films, albeit not a perfect leader, but that’s part of what makes him such a good character. He’s just as flawed as the heroes he tries to be in charge of, but you can tell he’s weighed down by red tape and decisions that are beyond his control. Here, we get to see him be not only young and inexperienced, we get to see him form a real friendship with someone. The post-credits scene is phenomenal for this very reason; Carol and Fury have a fascinating bond, so when she shows up to confront the Avengers and Fury is nowhere in sight? Of course she’s pissed.

Maria is a wonderful character and a great best friend for Carol. I loved her the instant she came on-screen and she didn’t disappoint the entire film. She really brings humanity to Carol before she remembers everything, so she’s a perfect addition to Carol and Fury as a team. (Side note: there’s not an explicit romance in Captain Marvel, but many fans have pointed out that Carol and Maria are incredibly close, although they just say best friends. Then again, as one fan pointed out on tumblr, the film takes place right in the middle of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”…Carol and Maria were both in the military….speaks for itself. Plus, Brie Larson frequently retweets fan art of Captain Marvel either with Maria or Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie, SOOOOOOOOOOO…..).

Jude Law’s Yon-Rogg is yet another great character; he does such a good job at playing trustworthy in the beginning, and yet it’s totally believable when he’s revealed to be the real bad guy all along (is this why older white guys/white guys in general didn’t like the film? Because the white guy was the villain? Is that it?). He’s absolutely malicious in his final fight with Carol. Speaking of, that whole moment when Yon-Rogg says “I TOLD YOU THAT ONE DAY YOU’D HAVE TO PROVE YOURSELF TO ME BY BEATING ME WITHOUT USING YOUR POWERS WELL TODAY IS THAT DAY–” and Carol just decimates him with her sparkle fists and says “I don’t have to prove anything to you” that is ICONIC I AM LIVING.

The only character I feel wasn’t as developed as the others is Dr. Wendy Lawson, and that’s a shame since she’s supposed to be a big icon and inspiration in Carol’s life. We know she was intent on ending wars rather than fighting them, and she knew what the Kree really were compared to the Skrulls. So she’s clearly like, perfect, but we don’t see much of her. She’s featured silently in some memories of Carol’s, she does talk in at least once other, but most of her appearances in the film are actually when we see Carol talking with the Kree Supreme Intelligence.

“But Filmennial!” I hear you say, “you could just read the comics, and then you’d learn all there is to know about Dr. Lawson/Mar-Vell!” To which I say,

No.

That’s the nice thing about Marvel movies: they’re generally enjoyable even if you haven’t read all of the comics. There are so many, y’all. Plus there are different authors and timelines and I just…

No.

THE TWIST

The twist(s?) was very welcome, like I mentioned earlier, and it was an interesting commentary. Like Carol, we as the audience (unless you’ve read the ~comics~ I suppose (but seriously no offense, and I admire your dedication, I really do)) are brainwashed. We accept that the Kree are the good guys and the Skrulls are the bad guys because that’s all we know. It’s played out brilliantly, too; the good guys are soldiers, they look strong and proud, they go on missions to protect the galaxy from evil. We naturally want to trust them (isn’t that what we do in America, too?). On the opposite end, you have the Skrulls. Not only can they shape shift, thereby branding them instantly untrustworthy as they could be anyone, their natural form is much more alien than the Kree. Many of the Kree have blue skin, yes, but they still look human to some degree; the Skrulls look LITERALLY alien in comparison. They have green skin, weird Thanos chins, they’re bald, and they have pointy ears. Just based off of looks alone, they’re different, and our natural reaction is to believe they’re evil because they’re unrecognizable.

It’s disconcerting then to both Carol AND the audience when it’s revealed that the Skrulls are actually refugees; they are just searching for a peaceful planet to call home because not only did the Kree destroy their home, they keep hunting them to maintain their image (and just because they want to). Everything we’ve been told up to this point, everything we believed in, is a lie.

So then Carol finds out that not only was her mentor, Dr. Lawson, Kree herself, she was trying to end the war between the Kree and the Skrulls because there shouldn’t even be a war to begin with. It wasn’t the Skrulls that killed Dr. Lawson the day Carol was with her; it was none other than Yon-Rogg, Kree himself, and Carol’s mentor when she was training to be a Kree warrior. Her powers were not given to her by the Kree, it was an accident because she blew up the power source the Kree were after at Dr. Lawson’s request and ended up fusing with it. Yon-Rogg saw this and kidnapped her, essentially, purely hungry for the power Carol now possessed.

All of this is what makes the final fight sequences so fun and satisfying to watch. Carol takes her Kree uniform and has Maria’s daughter change the colors so it is all her own now (side note, Yon-Rogg asks “what have you done to your uniform” when he sees her again but like…it was a feature of the suit? Why did they build it with that feature if they didn’t want people to change them ever? It’s fine). She uses her powers, unafraid for the first time ever, and takes out everyone who lied to her so she can protect the ones they hunt.

Also, there are great moments in the final fight where Goose shows off his real identity as a Flerken, a terrifying and deadly alien being. So, a cat.

THE GIRL POWER

Captain Marvel does not shy away from its central messages of peace and girl power at all. It’s worth dwelling on the fact that Carol and Maria’s mentor in the military was a doctor who only wanted to end wars, not fight them. They wanted to work under her for that very reason, and also since they are women, they weren’t allowed to be actual pilots, and since that’s all they really wanted to be, this was their only way to get in the air.

Captain Marvel, as a character, specializes in ending wars. The Avengers, as a group and as a series, always seem to be a little more occupied with fighting wars rather than trying to find the best way to end them. Not always, of course, but compare this to Captain America’s origin film: the whole reason he signed up for the super soldier experiment is because it was the only way he could fight. It’s all he wanted to do…ever, basically. Iron Man started off wanting to quit building weapons so that the bad guys couldn’t get a hold of them, but then he ended up building a bunch of iron man suit weapons that the bad guys got a hold of time and time again anyways. There’s a reason why these two were the headliners for Captain America: Civil War.

It’s why I’m so, so glad that Captain Marvel will be joining the crew for Endgame, because if anyone can end the infinity war, it’s her.

I mentioned above that there’s a whole fight sequence underscored by No Doubt’s “Just a Girl,” but that’s only one of the ways the film focuses on the idea of girl power. As previously stated, Carol and Maria weren’t allowed to be pilots simply because they were women. There’s a real gross flashback where some drunk soldier tells Carol that “it’s called a cockpit for a reason” which just…ew. There’s a scene where some guy tells Carol that she should smile, which I DEARLY hope was added in after the whole “guys complained that Captain Marvel doesn’t smile enough in the released footage and posters” thing. Probably not, but it was an extra funny scene just recalling that–and the look Carol gives him? ICONIC.

There are subtler things, too, that I don’t think everyone would catch. Throughout the film, Carol is told that her sparkle fist powers are a nuisance, a problem, that she should be able to fight without them. She should hide her powers so she doesn’t stand out, and the only way to do that is to control her emotions. How often do we hear complaints, jabs, and jokes that women are “too emotional” to get anything done?

It’s so refreshing, then, to see Carol go full-out with her powers and to embrace the emotions that got her to where she is. In her final confrontation with the Kree Supreme Intelligence, when Carol is being told that she should be grateful to the Kree for saving her since she’s only human…Carol uses that against the Supreme Intelligence. She embraces her identity as a human, a broken, emotional, angry human, and it’s only after she accepts all of that that she is able to overpower the Supreme Intelligence and the rest of the Kree.

Then Yon-Rogg, her Kree mentor, her friend, says that she must prove herself to him? After what she learned that he did? Nahhhhhhh.

Captain Marvel tells little girls watching that not only can they be superheroes too, but that they can be superheroes no matter what they’re feeling or who they are.

One of my favorite marketing things for this film will always be when they layer “see what makes her a hero”–they show the word “her” first, and then the other letters fade in to spell “a hero.” Captain Marvel is a woman first, with everything that entails, and a superhero second.

FAVORITE MOMENT

I’m so torn between Carol saying “you’re right–I’m only human” and then blasting the Supreme Intelligence away because that was SO SATISFYING and when she blasts Yon-Rogg away after saying “I have nothing to prove to you.” I JUST LOVE HER SO MUCH, ENDGAME IS GONNA BE GREAT, Y’ALL.

I mean actually Endgame is probably just gonna be a lot of pain. But at least it’ll be pain featuring CAPTAIN MARVEL!! YEAH!!!

“OOF” MOMENT

Genuinely, nothing stands out to me as awkward or unfortunate. My one nitpick is still about Wendy Lawson as a character, but that’s not really a “moment” thing.

I mean there was the moment when Goose scratched Fury’s eye. But that “oof” was more of a sympathy “oof” because I too have a vicious cat creature who would do that if given the chance.

SHOULD YOU TAKE YOURSELF TO SEE THIS MOVIE?

Well I’m late again, so if it’s still playing where you are, then yes, I think you should. Again, I don’t think it’s as much of a must-see as Black Panther (#BESTPICTUREINMYHEART), but it is a damn good time. Loose ends are tied up (rare for a Marvel movie), everything is satisfying, and it’s funny just as much as it’s poignant.

I don’t think you’ll regret going to see it, unless you’re offended that it’s not “for you,” in which case I dunno how to help you, fam.

All in all, I give Captain Marvel…

4.5/5 CATS THAT ARE ACTUALLY FLERKENS!!

Well, that last one is definitely a Flerken, hence the tentacles. The other ones MIGHT be normal cats…

TRAILERS TO WATCH OUT FOR

I don’t remember if there were any repeat trailers (again, it’s been a while, and they all kind of blur together at some point?) but as for newbies we have: Long Shot, which like…okay, I think it looks kind of fun. It has every potential to be absolutely terrible, and I’m prepared for that, but honestly it has been a while since there looks to be a semi-good new romantic comedy and I just want that, okay?

Fast and Furious: Hobbs and Shaw is…a movie. I’ve never really followed the Fast and Furious franchise to begin with, and though it looks really tongue-in-cheek and kind of fun and full of banter, I’m sure it’s also full of pointless explosions and car chases and god knows what else. Which like, again…it’s a choice.

There was a new trailer for Dark Phoenix and guys…it’s just Frozen. That’s it. Girl with powers, girl scared of powers, girl struggles with controlling her powers, girl hurts family/friend because of this, girl blames herself…so on and so forth. I’m assuming there won’t be singing and dancing and living snowmen, but it’s basically the same, right?

Rocketman looks amazing and I will absolutely be seeing it.

Oh hey, speaking of Frozen, Frozen II is a thing that’s happening. I genuinely don’t know how to feel about it. I mean I’ll see it, obviously, but like…what even is the trailer? What is happening? Why is Elsa running into the ocean? Why are there new people? Why does Anna kill the cameraman? Whatever.

And with that, we come to the end of this review! I definitely enjoyed Captain Marvel and felt really empowered by the end, which I think is important. If it sounds like something you’d enjoy and it’s still playing at your theater, I highly recommend you take yourself to the movies and see Captain Marvel.

Also, boost the reviews and ticket sales so all the old bitter white guys who were complaining about it get even MORE mad.