Review of Captain Marvel (2019) by Canisrah — 08 Mar 2019

I'll try to focus on the film itself notwithstanding the controversy of Brie Larson's conduct.

As a super hero movie goes - it's just boring. Even if one ignores all the political messaging with in my view is unnecessary and annoying; one is left with a bog standard plot and some terrible performances (though to be fair the actors have very little to work with as the script is very poor - some of the dialogue is just cringe-worthy).

But the absolute worst disappointment of the film is Brie herself - she just can't carry it. That overarching sense of boredom that robs the story of any real impetus or excitement emanates from the leading actor herself. It is so obvious we have an actor playing a hero. Compare this performance with Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman and the difference is night and day - Gadot owned the character, became the character and brought the audience along with her. Larson on the other hand has all the emotional range of a house brick and it shows in every painful scene the audience is forced to watch.

So the film is hamstrung by a poor story but totally let down by the miscasting of Larson. I do wonder whether the marketing folks saw this early and so decided to try and stir up controversy with all the political virtue signalling in an effort to distract from a very weak and disappointing performance.