A big-budget, low-plot outing from Marvel Studios catches the eye with typically excellent action and canned comedy, and little else.

Rating: 6/10 (15 June 2020)

MARVEL'S big budget action flick, meant to catch eyes before the release of "Avengers: Endgame", has just made fans wish "Endgame" would be released earlier. "Captain Marvel" suffers from uncharacteristically stilted writing, from a forgettable, erratically planned plot, to an absolute lack of character development. Let's start with some positives. Marvel's usual formula of bottled humour, canned effects and tinned side characters informs this film, with some degree of success. The film manages to capitalise on Samuel L Jackson's portrayal of a young Nick Fury, who provides some respite from Brie Larson's almost one dimensional performance.
"Captain Marvel" lives up to its name, providing scene after scene of dynamic, eye-catching action, with Marvel's VFX teams providing another masterclass in superhuman powers. Brie Larson's Carol Danvers is at the very least likable and she does a passable job in this film to bring Danvers to life, held back, however, by a substandard script. Well-choreographed and slickly shot action sequences, tinged with slightly excessive CGI to double up the effects of watching a Marvel film, "Marvel" at the very least is enjoyable in its action, which is well done. The presence of too much CGI again presents the problem, how much is too unbelievable? The producers had no such questions, as CGI ran rampant throughout the film, to disorientating and sometimes distractingly bad. The main flaws in the film are instead, however, in its underdeveloped plot. "Marvel"s plot line is relatively simple, skipping over plot points quickly in favour of more action sequences.
The film provides cliches instead of characters, with the majority of the characters trotting out lines with no real impact or persuasiveness. Plot-wise, "Marvel" is standard Marvel fare, a forgettable plot with throwaway villains and badly handled back-and-forth "mystery" of who was the villain. In terms of writing, Danvers gets no real character development, with internal conflicts and relationships quickly formed and glossed over entirely, making her an uncompelling hero. More so when Danvers' only true struggle, against the Intelligence, is overcome by gaining more power, not through guile or intelligence. This makes her seem like nothing more than her powers, and really, that's exactly what it feels like when she blasts Jude Law in the chest instead of accepting his fight. Sure, it's a decent laugh, but drains the movie of all tension, since now she can just blast stuff.
For all that power, Captain Marvel sacrifices any real stakes. She has to retrieve a power source she barely remembers, against a group of Kree who are easily blown to bits. The movie just doesn't feel tense, with pop punk soundtracks and quips erratically placed, breaking the rhythm altogether. Much more should have been made of Danvers' memory loss, instead of turning flashbacks into exposition dumps. Overall a standard, bland but still entertaining film, "Marvel" successfully sets up a promising character for future films, despite its many flaws.