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Mar 8, 2019 · Captain Marvel Review: A Marvelous, Empowering MCU Origin Story. Captain Marvel has all the usual MCU humor and action (with a few surprises), and plenty of girl power moments in Larson's strong performance. Marvel Studios kicks off 2019 with Captain Marvel, the 21st movie in its Marvel Cinematic Universe, which marked its 10th anniversary in 2018.
- Superheroes Lead
Mar 8, 2019 · Not unlike Captain America’s role within the Avengers, Captain Marvel functions here as the straight woman, the steady anchor in a sea of big, swirling personalities. Sure, she eventually comes into her powers in full and is literally the kind of girl on fire that Alicia Keys sings about.
- Carol Danvers' debut puts a fresh spin on Marvel's Phase One origin story formula.
- Captain Marvel Photos
- Verdict
- Captain Marvel Review
- IGN Recommends
By Meg Downey
Updated: Apr 21, 2020 5:35 am
Posted: Mar 15, 2019 11:00 am
When you're done here, be sure to also check out how people are responding to Thor and Captain Marvel's meeting in the Avengers: Endgame trailer, the best Easter Eggs in Captain Marvel, our breakdown of the new Endgame trailer, our explainer piece on the Avengers' new white suits, and our speculation on Hawkeye's daughter.
The MCU's newest hero, Captain Marvel, has entered the fray literally swinging, with a cosmic-flavored origin story that feels like a much-needed fresh approach to the classic Marvel Phase One formula. With a soundtrack packed full of vintage ‘90s earworms and a delightfully unselfconscious sense of humor, Captain Marvel pulls off a satisfying introduction to the hero who may be our Avengers: Endgame trump card.
The bulk of Captain Marvel's standard two-hour runtime is focused on Carol Danvers (Brie Larson), and begins with her as a human far from Earth trying to figure out just who (and what) she is. She's been living among the alien Kree for years and has earned herself a position on an elite commando unit under the leadership of Yon-Rogg (Jude Law) – but she has no memory of her life before. In public, Carol is a take-no-prisoners soldier wanting to prove herself worthy to her comrades-in-arms – but in private, she's not so certain. This duality keeps the memory-loss tropes to a minimum. She never feels properly lost or floundering, just frustrated that she's up against a problem she can't use her Kree-granted powers to punch her way out of. Though she certainly gives the impression that if she could brute force her own memories into the proper order, she definitely would, which is absolutely delightful.
Larson's performance and chemistry with Jackson is the obvious highlight in a strong supporting cast. Larson manages to capture a fiery but playful sense of humor in her character that deftly avoids the tropes associated with naive, superpowered outsiders making "first contact" with humans. Make no mistake, Carol's superpowers have nothing to do with empathy or warmth – her strength is completely derived from a perfect Molotov cocktail of spite and stubbornness, which is an absolute joy to watch unfold. Carol Danvers is as unapologetically brash and bold as a hero could be, even when it gets her into trouble, and it's oh so satisfying.
On the flip side, Carol's dynamic with her human friend, Maria Rambeau (Lashana Lynch), provides the emotional core. Lynch manages to ground the movie with a serious and poignant throughline and perfect counterbalance to Carol's brash heroics and her sometimes slapstick buddy-cop relationship with Fury.
Captain Marvel manages to take the best ideas of early MCU origin stories like Iron Man and Thor and use them to form something that feels both familiar and fresh. It can be a bit on-the-nose at times, and occasionally has to fast-track its exposition in ways that can feel slightly clunky, but what it lacks in grace it makes up for in charm. Brie L...
Review scoring
great
Captain Marvel's big screen debut puts a fresh spin on Marvel's Phase One origin story formula.
Meg Downey
- Meg Downey
Mar 8, 2019 · Captain Marvel: Directed by Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck. With Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Jude Law. Carol Danvers becomes one of the universe's most powerful heroes when Earth is caught in the middle of a galactic war between two alien races.
- (617K)
- Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
- Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck
- 2019-03-08
Mar 8, 2019 · Captain Marvel is an extraterrestrial Kree warrior who finds herself caught in the middle of an intergalactic battle between her people and the Skrulls. Living on Earth in 1995, she keeps...
- (552)
- Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck
- PG-13
- Brie Larson
Mar 9, 2019 · Captain Marvel review: a perfect superhero in an imperfect film. Marvel's first solo female hero movie impresses, although it suffers from having to set up Avengers: Endgame. The women of the...
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Mar 5, 2019 · Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck from a script they wrote with Geneva Robertson-Dworet, “Captain Marvel” is an origin story, which is to say a résumé check for the newest member of popular...
