In a Nutshell

The story follows Carol Danvers as she becomes one of the universe’s most powerful heroes when Earth is caught in the middle of a galactic war between two alien races. Set in the 1990s, Captain Marvel is an all-new adventure from a previously unseen period in the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

[imdb]http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4154664/[/imdb]

Review

I have the feeling I’m not the only reviewer who’s been asked to ‘provide a female perspective’ on this one.

I’m generally loathe to give credence to the myth that films with female leads are for women, male leads are for everyone. But on this occasion I’ve decided to lean in, hoping that if we get this talk out of the way now, the  more likely it’ll be that future viewers of my sex will just be asked to provide a ‘perspective’ – without the qualifier.

Walking out of the screening of Captain Marvel brought to mind the memory of leaving the cinema after seeing Frozen for the first time with my then 8-year-old brother.

I watched him enjoy that essential post cinema activity of pretending to be the hero on the way home, swooshing his arms around, high-kicking at lamp posts proclaiming: ‘I AM ELSA! THE SNOW QUEEEEEN!’

It’s the first time I’ve felt distinctly separate from the next generation, and slightly envious. It didn’t occur to him to qualify the fact that Elsa’s a girl and he isn’t. He just wanted to be the hero.

Is There Room for a Nineties Warrior Princess?

It’s a feeling I sense the team behind Captain Marvel want to acknowledge – that the kids watching have grown up without that uniquely nineties warrior princess heroine; the new market won’t accept female leads that are half naked and two dimensional, able to be summed up by empty phrases like ‘kick-ass’ or ‘feisty’.

But there’s an acknowledgement of older viewers, too, and what we’ve missed out on. Overt Top Gun references and the smashing of a cardboard cut-out advertisement for True Lies (sorry Jamie Lee, I love you but what the hell was that mess?!) provide an undercurrent of rebellion, bolstered by an eclectic indie-leaning soundtrack.

Moments of nostalgia are juxtaposed with open-critique of trappings that feel eerily remote, despite being only two decades old. ‘You should smile more’ is placed firmly (and optimistically) in the past, alongside painfully slow CD-Rom progress bars and flannel shirts tied at the waist.

Where the film gets a little on the nose is in Jude Law’s admonition that real warriors don’t have feelings. ‘Too emotional’ is a phrase that every woman in the audience will have winced at countless times, but here it serves to a) flag up a big ol’ plot twist and b) neglect the other half of the audience who are perhaps more in need of convincing.

Debunking The Myth that Emotion = Weakness

‘Emotion =  weakness’ is a myth that needs to be debunked perhaps more for young male viewers – the toxicity of some dark corners of the Marvel fandom is proof of that. The franchise has excelled in creating male leads who embrace and utilise their vulnerabilities, and having this message seem so explicitly directed to the little girls in the audience (complete with a montage that comes across as a gender-swapped Gillette commercial) is a bit disappointing.

Otherwise, the movie understates any messages and just goes for real character, the kind that stands out in comparison with the limited roles Gwyneth Paltrow and Scarlett Johansson started out with back in the late noughties.

It’s a wise move, and gives viewers space to appreciate the self-referential nods that have delighted Marvel devotees since Tony Stark first decided that ‘Gold-Titanium Alloy Man’ just doesn’t roll off the tongue.

There’s less of the internal infighting, politics and ego that have made otherwise outstanding installments feel a bit too much like a pissing contest. How Carol Danvers will fit in with what’s left of the gang in Endgame is yet to be seen, but if her quick rapport with Fury and easy reunification with estranged pal Monica Rambeau are anything to go by I’m optimistic that it’ll be fun to watch.

A Quick Fix Heroine?

If I decided to be cynical I might see this as a late attempt by Marvel to put out an installment that does more than scrape a pass on the Bechdel test, having let DC test out the waters first.

But this doesn’t feel cynical. A quick-fix heroine wouldn’t have the depth or clearly set out long-term character plan in evidence here. What could be easy crowd pleasers are underplayed – we’re not asked to be surprised by a woman doing what the guys have been doing for fifteen years – we’re just supposed to enjoy it.

It’s testament to the franchise’s power that fans have the patience for an origin story this late in the game, and they’re rewarded with a fresh take. Vers is neither reluctant to accept her powers nor inept in adapting to them. She just doesn’t know their extent. Her origin story is reverse-chronological, and she’s easily assimilated into a new planet and new team on account of compassion and military-trained pragmatism.

Brie Larson is an intriguing choice for the role. She has nothing approaching the star power of her fellow Avengers and Kong: Skull Island is the only big budget blockbuster on her CV.

Carol is also a character who needs to be an in-between in a whole host of ways. She’s a rookie and an experiment on one planet, a bona fide soldier doing her own experiments with world-changing tech on another. Whether her next solo outing will follow what she’s been up to between 1995 and now, or pick up in the present, remains unclear. Larson certainly has the youthful edge and gravitas to pull off either.

Verdict

Overall Larson brings the same to her role as Downey Junior, Paul Rudd and Mark Ruffalo – she’s cool in that ‘someone you’d want to go for a beer with’ way that can so often misfire as try-hard, hammy nonchalance.

I avoid attachment to comic book adaptations for the same reason I avoid sports entirely: I like things that end at some point. But the Avengers juggernaut shows no sign of slowing, still bringing in new lead characters and new threads connecting across the MCU.

And to be honest, I think I can make my peace with the idea of taking my future children to watch an even more digitally de-aged Sam Jackson, if Marvel continues to show the same commitment to real comedy writing, real characters and narratives that genuinely challenge audiences.

In Captain Marvel, we have something quietly revolutionary and thoroughly refreshing: A hero who has nothing to prove.

Sarah Firby (BanterFlix)