Reserving My Judgement!

Rating: 7/10 (4 April 2019)

As an origin story, Captain Marvel is pretty long and convoluted in the telling, with no great surprises in the pay-off. To me, it just seemed early on, way too dependent on special effects to maintain the pace in space and on Hala, rather than being story driven. Things pick up appreciably when Vers arrives on Earth hooking up with Nick Fury, reacquainting herself with Maria and Monica Rambeau and just generally interrelating amusingly with Terrans, such as we see during the train sequence.
For all its twists and turns, the story is pretty slight. I mean really how could the homeless Skrulls as we end up seeing them in the film, really pose such a threat to the advanced world of Kree? And why does Captain Marvel end up disappearing from Earth again, for some 25 years (off screen), when she'd just arrived back from a 6 year absence. Surely it didn't take 25 years to help the Skrulls find another home world? In terms of entertainment value (and its hard not to compare them), I think Wonder Woman is a more polished, complete product and one which doesn't give rise to so many questions after viewing it.
However I thought Brie Larson was an excellent choice for Captain Marvel, displaying just the right balance of plucky feminism, empathy, humour and heroism. The supporting cast were very good too, particularly the "de-aged" Samuel L Jackson. And I love the "Goose" character, but shouldn't he/she also get some sort of back story? The puss just seems to step out of nowhere and later of course we find that he/she is not your typical run-of -the-mill cat.
In terms of production standards Captain Marvel looks like just about any other $150+ million movie. No better, no worse.
It's going to be interesting to see how the Captain Marvel character is used in the upcoming Avengers sequel. She seems powerful enough to take down Thanos, by herself. I guess it's a case of may be watching this space.