Could be better, but still not terrible

Rating: 6/10 (12 February 2020)

In the already large list of superhero films which have been gracing the big screen between 2010 - 2020, the MCU brings its latest origin story, Captain Marvel. Taking place before the events of pretty much all of the previous MCU films (apart from of course Captain America), Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) used to be a test pilot in the American military, she doesn't really remember that though as she has a new life on a strange planet far across the universe. Living with the Kree she is being groomed by Yon-Rogg (Jude Law) in an elite Starforce Military. When a mission takes an unexpected twist she finds herself working with two enemies, the Skrull and Humans. As the journey advances and Danvers grows she begins learning things about her past, things that lead her to realise that there is a lot more to her than she's being told by the Kree race that saved her.
This film as a whole is fairly entertaining, nothing spectacularly new to cinema, but still a good yarn to pass away some time. Having a central female lead was important to the MCU to show diversity in their universe of characters. Brie Larson does good, without really being outstanding, she shows a good range of emotions and delivers a generally believable performance. The rest of the cast actually do well too, notably Jude Law. I haven't ever really been a big Jude Law fan but in this he makes a good bad guy that I was happy to buy into.
The pace of the film is decent, at times it can be a little slow, but that tends to be as story is uncovered. With Danvers not really knowing her past there are notable moments where she needs to take stock of things, and these moments tend to slow the film down, but are acceptable as the action in the film is strong enough to keep the audience engaged. As well as the action and adventure element of the film its packed with fun and humour too. There are nods to other things in the MCU and 90's culture (in which decade the film is based). The humour tends to be driven by Samuel L Jackson and Clark Gregg's characters who somewhat resemble and odd couple cop due in most of the 90's films I grew up with. In comparison to a lot of other superhero films there is a lot of CGI, however this is an accepted trope to superhero films. What I would say is that at no point did this look too cheesy and forced though.
All in all I enjoyed the film but it wasn't something that I think will change cinema or the MCU - it was a good middle of the road film and a good way for Marvel to introduce a strong female character to its movie franchise. 6 out of 10.