Mediocre and Forgettable

Rating: 7/10 (14 March 2019)

Marvel Studios' 'Captain Marvel' introduces the world to the MCU's newest hero, Carol Danvers, a woman without a past. The film tells Carol's origin story (which takes place in the 1990's), and the plot revolves around her trying to figure out where she came from because, as far as she knows, her name is Vers and she's from Hala, capital planet of an alien empire called the Kree. However, she cannot remember her past, and she keeps having dreams of a life she doesn't know in a place she doesn't recognize. She's also a member of an elite Kree military unit called Starforce, and during a rescue mission gone wrong, she ends up captured by the Skrulls; alien shapeshifters with whom the Kree are at war. She escapes, but crash-lands on Earth and meets S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Nick Fury, thus beginning their adventure together. The story starts off strong, but slows down drastically during the second act and never really regains it's momentum. There are a few unexpected plot-twists, such as the revelation that the Skrulls are actually the GOOD guys and the Kree are actually the BAD guys, and the identity of the mysterious older woman from Carol's dreams, but the plot itself is overall pretty mediocre and bland. The action is cool, but the CGI in the third act is very messy and takes away from the enjoyment of the film. The acting is okay. Brie Larson's performance felt wooden and one-dimensional, and she basically had like, 2 facial expressions the entire movie: stoic and smirk. Unfortunately, I feel like Brie was miscast as the character. The standout performances were Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury) and Ben Mendelsohn (Skrull commander Talos, who stole every scene he was in). Goose the Cat was also a scene-stealer, although I REALLY don't like that he was responsible for Nick Fury losing his eye. What irks me is that there really wasn't a 'main' villain, just a bunch of secondary villains. The closest we got to a main antagonist was Jude Law's Yon-Rogg, but there wasn't even a final battle between him and Carol, which I found disappointing. I also felt that the film had no real STAKES. Once Carol unlocked her full power, she didn't really have anything to lose because nothing was a challenge for her. The Earth wasn't in danger or anything, and she beat everyone SUPER-easily. The humor was good though, and Brie and Samuel had great chemistry and bounced off of each other very well. Overall, 'Captain Marvel' was a forgettable Marvel movie and felt like an appetizer, when everyone's hungry for the main course...'Avengers: Endgame'.