Unease has surrounded Marvel's "Captain Marvel", perhaps for good reason, considering the insinuating comments aimed at certain sectors of potential followers. Also, to perpetuate concern, "The Last Jedi", "The Shape of Water", CW's "Supergirl", the current "Doctor Who" and the more-fiction-than-fact "Professor Marston and the Wonder Women" set the ugly pace by dishing degrees of "reversed discrimination" (bigotry by any other name, folks...), thus alienating those who by tradition have granted support to such endeavors, while making those on the fence wary to invest.
After viewing "Captain Marvel", I can say it's neither an utter turncoat to open-mindedness or a proponent of sugar-coated contempt, but as with "The Last Jedi'"s "Solo" aftermath, it takes a cold, bland turn to make its point.
And what is its point? Why, to castigate evil, and for the sake of this prequel, doing so during a give-or-take time when a divide between the factions played in all philosophical sectors of pop-cultural life. Hey, that righteous vibe caused the Berlin Wall to fall, right? Alas, though "Captain Marvel" may occupy the past, its conscientious sensibility has been reduced to meager decor.
At any rate, the film introduces us to Carol Danvers, played by Brie "Kong: Skull Island" Larson, an Air Force captain who gets transitioned into something more Kree than earthling, though it does appear she always had the right, alien stuff inside her. It only had to be unleashed.
This version of the character also skims a lot of her comic-book history. For the record, she was once known as Warbird, Binary and Ms. Marvel, performing as the protege of another called Captain Marvel, who's name was stolen from an apparition conjured by the incantation, "Shazam!". Jude Law (who was once considered to play Kal-El and Zod) acts as her charismatic mentor, Yon-Rogg, but he comes and goes, then comes and goes again...and again. That's that.
Once Danvers' Hal Jordan-knockoff origin is fixed, she crosses paths with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson: Larson's "Skull Island" costar) and Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg), who inadvertently join her crusade against a crafty Skrull who appears to be the movie's prime antagonist, Talos, played by Ben "Robin Hood" Mendelsohn, but not all is as it seems.
In fact, that's Danvers' dilemma and the film's subtle motif: Who can she trust, if she can't trust herself due to a muddled memory?
That's the gist of it, and that would be more than sufficient, if the movie only spurt some spirit. Directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck are competent directors (the film flows at an even clip), and the mythic mix-match (thanks to too many screenwriters to mention here) is viable, but again, something is missing.
I do believe it's a lack of credible commitment to the cause. Danvers' screen embodiment is affable, but she requires more than she's dealt to hit the empathetic mark. I'm not talking physical prowess, but rather an expressed understanding of what she's doing and what she's fighting.
Perhaps that should have been better defined during the fleeting flashbacks and resulting revelations. Instead, there are times when Danvers' alternating attire appears more a part of her personality than what one can presume lies inside: good for flash, but not plot.
Talos' presence does help, but once his "secret" is revealed, he can't help but steal every scene he's in, which leaves out titular heroine looking lopsided in comparison.
Most vexing is that various episodes of "S.H.I.E.L.D.", "Agent Carter" and "Inhumans" are indisputably stronger than this venture. Maybe if the film had discarded its hallow, graphic gloss (in a vain attempt for "Doctor Strange" surrealism) and fell more in line with those old, unpretentious "Incredible Hulk" movie-of-the-week revivals, the set-up would've felt more sincere. In other words, through sentimental smallness, "Captain Marvel" could have made a huge statement, not merely on feminist derring-do, but humanity in general.
Though I'm relieved the movie didn't over-pander to those oversensitive SJWs, it still doesn't fly the way its comic-book counterpart does. For a chapter holding such promised importance (a prelude to "Endgame", no less), it should have landed more identifiable punch. What stands plays like a nervous test run and not the commanding submission it could have been.
Sorry, but tepid tries should never characterize the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and they should certainly never define their tried-and-true icons.
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