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

A bit of a mixed bag really, this doesn't seem like an MCU film, the tone of it was out of whack, something reminiscent of Green Lantern but better. There seems to be some inconsistencies with the rest of the MCU films but will have to check them out to confirm. I struggled to enjoy this film even the jokes were misplaced as evident by the rest of the cinema not engaging either. I love any fantasy, sci fi spectacle but this fell short and couldn't keep me engaged. I think Brie Larson was miss cast in this role, I know she's a great actor but I think she does better in more dramatic roles, she was totally unconvincing as Captain Marvel and I struggled to invest in the character. Carol's relationship with Maria was difficult to accept or believe, there seemed to be no chemistry or emotional investment between them. I think Charlize Theron would have made a better Captain Marvel, she has the stature and gravitas that is required to bring the character to life.

Sam l Jackson was great as Nick Fury but what is the MCU without him, he seems to carry most of the film for me. However, the digital de-ageing was a bit hit and miss, sometimes it looked good but at other times it didn't even look like him at all which took me out of the moment on a few occasions.

Ben Mendelsohn was another highlight, he played the antagonist beautifully with a great menacing quality, the depth and believability of his character showed in spades.

The CGI again was also hit and miss, for the most part it was OK, not great. At times it was like watching a well rendered cut scene for a AAA PC game and other times, cartoon like, as I mentioned earlier it reminded me of Green Lantern.

This film was marketed as a feminist film fighting sexism (and Aliens), did this reflect the sexism of the 90's? At the time I was at UNI studying "Social Theory and Communications", basically a liberal left viewpoint and a big part of the course involved media manipulation, prejudice, sexism and critical theory so I was quite sensitive to any form of sexism. This film was more like sexism from the 80's where the older generation were still living in the world influenced by the 50's and 60's and were still using the phrases like "Smile, it may never happen" or "Cheer up". In essence Carol throwing off the shackles of patriarchy actually belonged in that time as by the end of the 90's, in the UK at least, equality was ingrained into society so status, rights, and opportunities between the sexes was on a level playing field.