Column: Reels with Ryan ‘Captain Marvel’

Note: This review does not
contain spoilers. 

There is a certain formula that characterizes movies introducing a new superhero. Sometimes, a seemingly ordinary citizen possesses innate abilities, or a wealthy tech genius finds a desire to fight crime. Other times, an alien from another planet is trying to save the universe. Regardless of the means, the film usually contains a colorful suit and a quest to save the day. This month’s “Captain Marvel” placed a twist on this timeworn formula, and this admirable effort ultimately resulted in hits and misses.

Ryan Klinker

This film provides a breath of fresh air as the first female-led film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, 11 years into its existence. The Black Widow solo movie hasn’t been released yet, and so Brie Larson is the first female to stand at the forefront of an MCU film. I love that we’ll have a strong heroine in the mix for the rematch against Thanos, and I’m excited to see her stand alongside fan favorites Iron Man and Captain America, possibly in a role much like Thor in past films. 

Typical with Marvel, the film shows the hero trying to prove herself to those who say she doesn’t belong, and while I completely agree with this idea, I couldn’t help but think that it was presented ineffectively. I am a firm believer in short yet poignant moments that address important issues in film, as spoon-feeding often gets nowhere, and there are a few scenes that seem like they fit into a commercial rather than a movie. Maybe that’s what it takes for those too stubborn to accept female empowerment, but it seemed shoehorned in and was a political statement with little subtlety. 

At the core of a quality origin story is a transformation into a hero audiences can admire and identify with. Steve Rogers was a scrawny nobody with a conviction for good before he got the muscles to back it up, and Tony Stark was an aloof golden boy with little care for others before he witnessed his harmful impact on the world and made a change. We don’t get this evolution with Carol Danvers when she becomes Captain Marvel. She begins as an Air Force pilot who isn’t shown to be kind, honorable or funny, and after she gets her powers — that are never truly defined by the way — she merely travels through the plot without a true motivation. I blame this on the script, and I hope that Brie Larson will get the writing she deserves in “Endgame.”  

However, I don’t dislike the film as a whole. This film is in an odd position as a prequel, and we know that many of the characters have to survive to fit in with the previous films, but it still manages to offer some new information and introduce new characters that will likely come into play in April. I thought the shape-shifting ability of the Skrulls opens plenty of fun doors for deception and new theories, and their ability to search people’s memories could definitely come in handy for future adventures. I won’t go further about the Skrulls because they play a big role in this film but keep an eye out for them in “Endgame.”

When it was first announced that the 70-year-old Samuel L. Jackson would play a younger Nick Fury, I was very skeptical. De-aging effects have had moderate success, such as in “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” and a brief scene in “Captain America: Civil War.” In the most impressive use of this technology to date, Fury is convincingly real in the film, and I quickly forgot there was even “movie magic” at play. 

If you are expecting a groundbreaking film, “Captain Marvel” only does so with its praiseworthy female-centric story, as everything else mostly falls in line with the solo movies that came before it. The precedent has been set, and I hope Marvel can improve upon it. As a smart-aleck kid said in my theater during the credits, “Time to wait for ‘Endgame.’”

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