Captain Marvel Review

This one took me a while to review because it’s hard to sum up. I saw it twice in theaters, even though I didn’t want to.

The good: it has a strong female lead, something not many Marvel movies have, and it does what it needs to do to bring Carol Danvers into the MCU. It also makes Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury even more lovable. You see how he went from a fairly green agent to the hardened director of S.H.I.E.L.D., and it was fun to see him cross paths with Coulson. Maria Rambeau is a great addition, and I wish there was more of her and her daughter Monica.

The bad: it tries too hard to tie into the rest of the MCU. You never know how strong Carol really is or where her limits are, and declaring her the future of the MCU is a stretch. That’s something fans should decide over time, not something you force on them. Her character development is also weak. She’s strong from start to finish and never really doubts herself or gets pushed, so the big fights are over too fast. Compared to the other MCU introduction movies, it’s one of the weakest at making a hero overcome something.

The way Fury loses his eye also bothered me. Winter Soldier built it up as a story about trust, and here it’s played as a joke, which cheapens the character.

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Captain Marvel (2019) Cast and Details

Captain Marvel (2019) is directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck and stars Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Jude Law and Lashana Lynch. It runs 124 minutes and is rated PG-13. You can look up the full cast and crew on IMDb. You might also like my Aquaman review.