Captain Marvel: Good but not Amazing

When watching the Captain Marvel trailer, my initial reaction was: “Nice another Marvel movie”, but the trailer itself didn’t instill as much excitement like the Avengers: Infinity War trailer. However even though I personally wasn’t excited for the release of this movie, there were still some intriguing factors to the trailer such as a possible backstory to Nick Fury and Phil Coulson – who were the characters I was more interested in (as I am a big fan of the Agents of Shield TV Show in which they star).


At the start of the movie the viewer learns about a character named Vers, a Kree warrior with superpowers, who doesn’t know much about her past but has some memories of it which she is told to suppress. However, during a battle against the shape-shifting race known as the Skrulls, she crashlands on 1995 Earth where she encounters a young Nick Fury and Agent Coulson. Throughout the rest of the movie, Vers starts to learn about her past, while uncovering the truth behind the Skrulls.


When it comes to the movie itself it has some excellent parts and some parts disappointing ones too (one of them being that Coulson is there for literally only four scenes). But hey, you can’t have everything. When it comes to the best part of Captain Marvel, the comedic scenes would be it. While most MCU movies try to have some comedy in them, I feel that Captain Marvel has done it the best. The comedy scenes involving Nick Fury and Vers are done very well, and other characters such as Goose and the Skrull leader also have their own humor which makes you laugh. The other thing I like about the comedy in Captain Marvel is how it feels natural and not like they’re forcing a dead trend – such as the scene in Black Panther when they say “What are those?!?!”.  Other than the comedy, the CGI (like all Marvel movies) is really good from how Vers’ powers looked in action and how aliens in the movie looked.


However, when it comes to disappointments, the main one I want to discuss is the character development of Vers. Throughout the movie, Vers character development is not gradual: little to no growth in 75% of the movie and sudden character growth in the final 25%.  This makes it feel like Vers character change was sudden and rushed, which I personally didn’t like. On top of that, the action sequences in this movie are lackluster compared to those seen in movies such as Black Panther and Avengers:Infinity War. This is a major disappointment to me, as I personally believe that Marvel movies are action movies, and you can’t have an amazing action movie with lackluster action. The final thing I was disappointed in is how the movie handles Vers memory loss and her search for her past. Throughout the movie, I felt it weird how easy it was for Vers to accept any information regarding the past. Furthermore, at the end of the movie, it is unclear whether Vers fully knows her past or whether she still doesn’t know but just accepts whatever she is told


When it comes to critical reviews for this movie there was an entire debacle where Rotten Tomatoes audience reviews were being review bombed by internet trolls. However after Rotten Tomatoes rectified the issue, the scores given were: 79% by critics and 62% by the audience. Personally, I would give Captain Marvel 65%. It does have its good parts, but there are some problems which I feel decrease its score.


Finally, when it comes to whether I would recommend Captain Marvel, my answer is that it depends. If you are a diehard MCU fan, then my opinion is irrelevant because you most likely watched it already. If you want to watch a superhero movie that is actually pretty funny, then I would recommend Captain Marvel. When it comes to the necessity of watching this movie in terms of understanding the up-and-coming Avengers: End Game, I feel it’s not really that necessary. However, if you’re looking for a good film to watch or an amazing action movie, then I believe that Captain Marvel isn’t the movie you’re looking for.