Captain Marvel (2nd viewing)

Rating: 8/10 (19 February 2020)

As you may know, I've covered CM before. And having done so, I actually found myself to enjoy, unlike most of the mass majority. That being said, I'm sorry to say that I still had a lot of fun watching it upon second viewing. And the reason I'm covering it again is because of the endless comparison between it and another superhero movie that came out two years earlier, but I'll get to that in a little bit.
Now before I begin, it is necessary for me to address the elephant in the room. The main star (that of course being Brie Larson) has received endless backlash for some ... comments that she made a while back. Since then, the actress's reputation has been in boiling hot water, with people across the internet (cough right-wing cough) chastising her; some have even gone out of their way to mocking her.
I, as a conservative white male, really couldn't care less about the mediocre impressions Larson has made in recent years. Sure, technically she verbally attacked a massive group of people. But must I remind everyone that it was only that one time? I assure you all that Brie Larson does not Hate "white men" and everyone (left and right) should know this.
Now with all of that being said, let me flat-out say that Brie Larson KILLED IT as the titular character. She was assertive, a wise-cracker, and took no nonsense from anyone. Many of said that Larson lacked emotion which is flat-out BS if you ask me. 1. Perhaps everyone focused to much on her facial expressions and not enough on the expressions from her EYES. 2. The character was told on multiple occasions by Jude Law's character, Yon-Rogg, that it was necessary to shelf all forms of emotion, as I recall it being a code of theirs.
Samuel L. Jackson was fine as Nick Fury, but he was not as great as he was in all the previous films. The gripe that I had was that he seemed to be played mostly for comic-relief. Many have also taken issue on the fashion in which he loses his eye. I (no pun intended), on the other hand, didn't mind it all that much. The thing is though, Fury said in CA: Winter Soldier, and I quote "Last time I trusted someone, I lost an eye." I guess some (if not most, including me) assumed that it'd be in a more SERIOUS fashion. But surprisingly enough, that wasn't exactly the case; spoiler, Fury gets clawed by Goose.
I've seen a lot of reviews saying that the movie was boring. Yeah, next you'll be telling me that Ad Astra was ENTERTAINING. There are also reviews saying that there was little to no character development. Um ... did you people even WATCH the damn film!? There have even appeared to be reviews saying that Carol Danvers is a Mary Sue ... Yeah, allow me to go over this, and I quate, "Mary Sue is a term used to describe a fictional character, usually female, who is seen as too perfect and almost boring for lack of flaws." Now what flaws does Carol Danvers have exactly? Well at the start of the film, she is basically the odd one out, being held back and ridiculed constantly by her "mentor" Yong-Rogg. Even after arriving on Earth, she is gawked at by numerous bystanders. She is powerful alright. But for the majority of the film, she has slight trouble controlling said power.
The point is that Captain Marvel has been condemned moviegoers for all the wrong reason, while Wonder Woman was flat-out PRAISED for all the wrong reasons. There have also been people comparing Brie Larson to Gal Gadot; specifically, the majority of them pretty much favor Gadot over Larson. Let me just say what the difference is between the two is that Brie Larson is an actress while Gal Gadot is a model. Larson might not be as attractive as Gadot, but she has been acting since she was at least 7-years old. Gadot, despite having served in the military, has been "acting" for only about 15 years, and her assets are nothing more than physical.
Overall, Captain Marvel is an underrated gem, and the fact that people all over the internet call it inferior to Wonder Woman drives me nuts. It may not be great, but it is nowhere near to being a bad film, and hopefully it'll gain more respect in the future.