Captain Marvel is a little disappointing

Rating: 6/10 (14 March 2019)

When Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) sent that message for an adapted pager seconds after Thanos' snap, the expectation went up there. After all, almost a year ago we were awaiting the arrival of Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) as the potential heroine who would save the day in a universe that is in a lot of trouble and that was 50% decimated by the villain.
And perhaps the biggest problem of "Captain Marvel" is that expectation generated. Ally, too, to other factors. For example, the threshold that some Marvel films have hit a few years ago. The work of director Anna Boden and director Ryan Fleck unfortunately can not be placed on the same shelf of films as "Black Panther" (2018), "Avengers: Infinite War" (2018), "Captain America: The Winter Soldier", "Captain America: Civil War" (2016) and "Guardians of the Galaxy" (2014), only to stay in some films of phases 2 and 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Nor is it better than "Wonder Woman" (2017), just to compare it with the best DC has created in recent years.
In fact, "Captain Marvel" is an uninspired movie, its action scenes are far from being among the best ever produced by Marvel and fails to explore important aspects of the narrative around which the heroine was inserted.
The question is: Why instead of showing the umpteenth origin story with the same tiresome elements that we have already seen in other films of origin, "Captain Marvel" was not straightforward? In the case, the war between Skrulls and Krees, one of the most classic stories in the comics.
It is understandable the need to introduce the character. After all, so far, in the movies, Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) had never even been mentioned. But the old bow "Who am I really? "Where did I come from?" "What's my job in the world?" "Why am I doing this?" "What are you hiding from me?" - I finally rediscovered myself" it seems a tiresome formula that leaves us with the impression that this story could be better told in another way. Or worse, it seems like a lazy movie.
Of course looking at everything Marvel has built up so far, making the Captain Marvel movie in this format was a well-calculated risk. The studio bet on the late novelty of having a female protagonist in a film of superheroes, while it was overtaken by DC at this point, which launched well before the Wonder Woman´s movie. And the numbers multiplying every day in the cinemas, show that Marvel, at least from the economic point of view, had made the right decision. We hope she now has the boldness to move on and make the Black Widow´s movie, so desired since "The Avengers" (2012).
However, "Captain Marvel" turns out to be a somewhat anodyne film. It has a confusing first part that refers to flashbacks to try to locate who is Carol Danvers, a medium with a long rediscovery and accounts and an end that lacked the figure of a villain who really confronted her while she discovered the full potential of their powers. For a race of warriors, however, the Krees have given up very easily to face it only because it prevents some warheads from reaching the Earth.
The impression is that "Captain Marvel" served more like a movie like "Ant-Man and Wasp" (2018). While it located the viewer where Scott Lang was when Thanos snapped his fingers, it served to give a fairly generalized overview of who Captain Marvel is before the inevitable confrontation with Thanos in "Avengers: Endgame." All the best seems to have stayed for an eventual second film. Especially the Kree-Skrull War.
About Brie Larson, the actress seemed to have been a wise choice for the role. She is a good actress who does not have great performance, but has qualities for the development of the character from now on. And the partnership with Samuel L. Jackson worked well in the film. Let's see what it will be like now that she will insert herself into "Avengers: Endgame".
Another positive point is the soundtrack. As "Captain Marvel" takes place in the 90s, the film brought a collection of hits from the decade with songs by Garbage, No Doubt, Nirvana, R.E.M. It was a trip back in time and full of references to the decade, from the Blockbuster network of movie theaters to Tarantino. But some songs seemed a bit out of place. It did not make much sense to "Come as you are" while Carol confronted the Supreme Intelligence Kree.
"Captain Marvel," so got owed. It's ok fun, but it looked like the best kept in store for the future.