Stellar with one flaw

Rating: 7/10 (11 March 2019)

It's about time. It's about time we got a female superhero in a superhero movie that's actually good. At least in the MCU. What's more, it's about time we got a movie in which the protagonist is adept at not only action-movie dialog but also the normal-movie stuff - you know, acting. Carol Danvers isn't meant to be the savior of the female box-office draws. She's not some stand in for feminism, she IS feminism. She is powerful before gaining any superhero powers. She's all the qualities you'd expect to see in any superhero, but the fact that she's female isn't played as an asset in and of itself - why, it's as if she were a fleshed-out character who just happens to be female. Maybe that's not really a hot take, but it's mine. And Brie Larson is the perfect choice to play her. If you thought her work in Room and Short Term 12 and others was a fluke, this should dispel those notions. Now, for the rest of the movie. The only real problem I have with it is that it's a little too easy to see the double crosses or triple crosses coming. It's too easy to see who the bad guy really is. That's not much of a debit, in the grand scheme of things. Take the first several scenes, in which Danvers, I mean Vers, is with a group of Kree led by Jude Law. I knew none of these characters, and yet I was entranced by their shenanigans. A lot of this is due to, again, Larson, who seemingly willed clarity to the weirdness, but it also has a lot to do with the writing. I thought the nods to the 1990s were fantastic and spot on, including the music choices. I thought the acting was universally solid, and I loved seeing Annette Bening. There was a LOT to like about this movie, and I'm glad I saw it in the theater.