Watching 'Captain Marvel'

Captain Marvel is the 21st film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe under Disney, a segment of a singular narrative that has being told over the course of 11 years, at the point of this writing. The film is directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, the duo behind, Mississippi Grind, It’s Kind of a Funny Story, and Half Nelson. The duo shares writing credits with Geneva Robertson-Dworet whose previous work so far is the 2018 incarnation of Tomb Raider, with story credits going to Meg LeFauve and Nicole Perlman, who has previously worked on Inside Out and Guardians of the Galaxy respectively.

The film follows Carol Danvers who suffers from a case of amnesia and crash landing on Earth. While waiting for her extraction she fights an invasion by the skrulls. All set in the nineties. Along the way she finds out who she was in the past, learning to control her powers, and fighting for what she believes in.

The cast is stacked with talent, Brie Larson as the titular character, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, accompanied by Ben Mendelsohn , Jude Law, Annette Bening Lashana Lynch, Clark Gregg, Gemma Chan, Djimon Hounsou, and Lee Pace.

The narrative was competently constructed to the point that I was not bored at any point when watching the film. That being said the film did not really start until Carol Danvers met Nick Fury, from then on the film progresses at a consistently increasing pace. In addition, it managed to keep certain things a secret from the marketing which surprised me when watching the film. The highlights of the film was anytime Brie Larson was interacting with Samuel L. Jackson, along with Ben Mendelsohn, and Goose the cat.

From a visual stand point the effects are hit and miss, at times looking fantastic, while at others the quality of the CGI looking closer to an early Playstation 3 game rather than a big budget Marvel film. There was also a moment or two when the compositing of two images on screen was out of sync. Finally, there were moments when Captain Marvel herself looked non physical and clearly CGI. That being said the look of the Kree home world of Hala was visually interesting, and the effects work when Captain Marvel goes full Super Saiyan was visually engaging.

The performances of all the actors were a joy to watch. Ben Mendelsohn in particular who looked as if he was having the time of his life playing the part. However, Lee Pace as Ronan was a completely pointless cameo, which is an absolute shame when compared to how much I love seeing him on any screen. If anything the character could have been any accuser, and seemed only to serve the purpose of fan service that did not benefit the film at all, other than to say ‘he was there’.

The soundtrack that they used, the environment, technology, and fashion sense of the decade, was a constant nostalgia trip. The original score for the film by Pinar Toprak, who composed the music to Fortnite and Krypton, did not stand out when watching the film. Which is a good thing in a lot of ways as you do not want the music to outshine the film as a whole.

Coming right in between two Avengers films, and Infinity War and Endgame in particular, the main question is, does a viewer have to see this film before Avengers in a few weeks time? No, this is a self contained film, in a different era and an origin story to boot. Watching the film would, I imagine, enrich the experience of watching Endgame when seeing Captain Marvel interacting with the other Avengers.

With that in mind as far as a recommendation goes, I would say this would be a film to watch on a day that is a matinee or, if in the UK and on an ODEON, a silver screen event. Not a film I would ask people to run out and see right away, but one I recommend in the cinema at some point because it is a good film.