Not bad, but not what it could have been either. Both the central character and the woman who plays her deserves better

Rating: 7/10 (5 April 2019)

It's always a little unfair to judge a film against its supposed importance; but in cases like this it's inescapable. The MCU is a cultural phenomenon which shouldn't have taken as long as it has to give us a movie with a female lead character. It shouldn't have taken as long as it did to give us a black-led movie either, but Black Panther was in and of itself one of the best films of the series. In the DC universe, Wonder Woman was terrific. So where does this sit?
In truth, I was a little disappointed; I'm by now a little bored of the origin story formula, and though this tried to depart from it somewhat, the whole film seemed to lack a distinctive identity. It tries to be about memory, and occasionally suggests some of the same techniques that T2: Trainspotting used to such great effect - but fails to develop them. The whole first two-thirds of the film is pretty slow going, and Jude Law is out of place in a part that signals the movie's core twist far too early. The story more successfully touches on issues of refugees and terrorism - asking questions about who the real enemies are - but again, this undercut by overly signalled twists.
The final third is well put together; Brie Larson is a fine actor who fills the role admirably and deserves a stronger vehicle than this. There are some nice feminist nods - the destruction of the Arnie poster early has been mentioned many times, and is a powerful symbolic nod. But the film takes so long to deliver what it needs to. Ironically given the film's feminist position, it serves better as an origin story for Nick Fury (and his eyepatch); and the cat, of course, is a fine touch.
The problem isn't the character of Captain Marvel - I want to see more of her, both in the Avengers and possibly even a film of her own. But it needs a film that doesn't try so hard to make me nostalgic for 90's music and a time when the otherwise excellent Annette Bening doesn't appear to have been made up to look like Hilary Clinton. It's not that it's a bad film; it's just a let-down, a disappointment, a sense of what could have been when compared to Black Panther and Wonder Woman. Captain Marvel needs better service than this.