Disappointing Entry From Marvel

Rating: 2/10 (11 March 2019)

Went to see the movie on release day as I do with ALL Marvel movies. I tried to avoid bias reviews prior to its release. I don't trust access media or overly negative reviews. That said I really wanted this movie to be good. I don't usually write movie reviews but I feel so let down by this movie that I need to vent.
POSITIVES
The tribute to Stan Lee implemented well. The effects for this movie were outstanding. The de-aging technology used on Fury and Coulson was brilliant. It was a little weird at first, but after a few scenes I didn't even notice it.
The child actress that plays Maria Rambeau's daughter did a fantastic job. She evoked a true emotional response and, in my opinion, outshone Brie Larson in the scenes they were in together.
Ben Mendelsohn was another standout performance for me, his character was funny and likeable. He was able to portray a layered character with minimal scene time. I liked how his accent changed depending on the character he was impersonating.
NEGATIVES
STORY: The story weak, is full of plot holes, inconsistencies and retconning. Retconning plot points from a DECADE long franchise is criminal, especially as they were not used to advance the story in any meaningful way, except to push a political agenda. Captain America is the first Avenger. Changing Nick Fury's inspiration to name the Avenger's is disrespectful to established MCU cannon. Why was Captain Marvels callsign even "Avenger", she was a test pilot; she didn't fly any combat missions. Changing Mar-Vell gender was annoying and felt like a political move, which I understand, because these days, men aren't allowed to inspire, mentor, influence or empower women. That said, changing the gender of characters doesn't necessarily hurt the story, what hurts this story was the fact that Mar-Vell was never called Captain Marvel in the film and she never passed on the name, so why is the movie called Captain Marvel. Also, why does Fury call the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, Shield; as its being established that they didn't decide on the acronym until the first Ironman film.
Using the amnesia trope was annoying, its already being done in the MCU with Bucky. What was worse, was that that they didn't even add their own spin on it. Other films have managed it like in Memento or more recently Alita. Because of this, the story suffers. There is almost no real emotion in Brie Larson's interaction with other characters. I didn't feel a emotional connection between Carol Danvers and Maria Rambeau. Lashana Lynch who portrays Maria Rambeau did her best, but there simply wasn't enough time to address their relationship properly. It felt rushed. Captain America had three movies to build the relationship between Bucky and Cap.
Shield is not acting like the Shield we come to know. Why does Fury trust Captain Marvel? He has no way to verify what she says, all he can verify is that Skrulls exist, he doesn't know the motivation of the Skrulls or the Kree. When Fury and Captain Marvel speak at the bar, she asks him questions based on his past, but we've been made aware that Skrulls can't assimilate long-term memories. So how can she verify his answers. Why would Fury take a dangerous, potentially hostile combatant to a Top-Secret government facility?
There is no real villain. They elude to Ronan and the Accusers all the way through, but do not follow through. There is no battle at the end, Ronan loses one ship and just runs away. Captain Marvel wipes the floor with her former team, at no point did I think anyone had a chance in hell of hurting her.
It felt like the only reason they included the final exchange (I wont even call it a battle) between Yon-Rogg (Jude Law's character) and Captain Marvel was to completely emasculate him.
Also, the overuse of the Tesseract is becoming unbearable, I feel like I need a chart to follow its whereabouts.
I think it would be helpful if the movies need to do some explaining on how Captain Marvel seems to be powerful. Both on screen and off-screen its being alluded to that she is powerful enough to confront Thanos. Her powers originate from one infinity stone and Thanos has five of them. Remember Scarlett Witch's powers originate from an infinity stone yet she was unable to stand-up to Thanos. This movie raises concerns about the Avengers: Endgame and more worryingly the MCU. It's becoming unnecessarily political. It seems like Captain Marvel has being inserted into the MCU so a woman can be the one to defeat Thanos. I believe this is disrespectful to established MCU continuity. I have no problem with a woman defeating thanos, I feel like many other characters "deserve" from a story point of view to defeat Thanos. For instance, Nebula (Tortured relentlessly by Thanos and had her sister murdered directly by Thanos) or Thor (Half of his people Asgard slaughtered, his best friend and brother murdered before his very eyes), or Starlord (his partner murdered).
ITS MESSAGE: Marketing this as a feminist movie was a political move built on the success of Wonder-Woman (A great movie BTW). The marketing alienated a massive chunk of the MCU viewers. The most jarring being the "HER-O" trailer and Brie Larsons divisive comments pre-release. That said I don't have a problem with people who hold feminist viewpoints, or viewpoints that differ from my own. I welcome discussion and debate. If you want to inject "empowering" themes into their movies that's fine, but what people first is a good Super-Hero movie. I think it failed in that respect.
Its message is a façade. Publicly endorsing popular social justice politics. For instance, Women don't need men. Men are misogynists. The only reason women aren't doing better is because men hold them back. The film tries to empower a group of people, but does it at the expense of another. There are quite a few on the nose moments in the film, the Army training scene and motorbike scene come to mind. These were just cringeworthy. The film promotes to women the message that career is more important than the role of a mother. There is a section in the movie where Maria Rambeau's daughter give a monologue, to absolve her mother of guilt for prioritising the "mission" above her own daughter's well-being. I find myself asking: When did society decide that men can't inspire women and women Can't inspire men?

SHOULD YOU GO SEE IT?
CASUAL MOVIE GOER: If there's nothing else to watch, go for it. But don't set your expectations too high. Personally, I'd recommend Alita: Battle Angel. Its better in almost every way.
MCU FAN: As someone who is a casual comic book reader and an MCU fan I can acknowledge that they're never going to be able to make a film exactly the same as the source material, but this film doesn't even try to fit into the established MCU. This film was a HUGE disappointment. If you're a fan like me you may want to give this one a reluctant watch. If you can wait, I'd recommend waiting till its available online or on a streaming service. Some people are adamant that you shouldn't see this movie and protest it by not going to see it, essentially voting with our wallets. I can understand that position, and in a way, I am voting with my wallet. I usually see an MCU movie 3 times or more. With this movie however, once is enough. I don't have any desire to see this movie again.