The MCU has expanded

Rating: 9/10 (11 March 2019)

Captain Marvel: Goose the cat is all important to this film as he adopts Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) in 1995. Vers (Brie Larson) is an elite Alien soldier, a member of Starforce, on Hala she trains with her commander, Yon-Rogg (Jude Law) as she prepares for a mission. She and the rest of the team are ambushed and she is taken captive for interrogation by enemy shape-shifting Aliens. Escaping she lands on Earth (1n 1995) where she links up with Fury in a search for the Holy Grail of power sources as the planet becomes a battleground for two competing Alien races. But Vers also has memories of a time when she was a USAF pilot, Captain Carol Danvers. We also learn how NIck lost his eye.
The planet Hala is brilliantly imagined, a brighter Los Angeles from Blade Runner, advanced by centuries of development. The flying vehicles and spaceships convince as do the armour/suits of Starforce, they transform into aquanautic outfits as Vers and her SEAL Team plunge into the sea as they head towards their target. The fights are well choreographed but perhaps go on too long on occasion. Brie emerges as a new Superhero as she learns how to tap into her inner resources, powers she gained through an explosion rather than a bite from a radioactive insect. Some real comedy as the shape-shifting Aliens morph into surfers as they emerge from the ocean on Earth. Vers causes consternation on a train as she punches an old lady who is in fact an alien.
The storyline remains coherent and the effects are consistently powerful and convincing (especially in IMAX 3D). Directors (and co-writers) Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck have delivered a worthy addition to the MCU. 8.5/10.