Captain Marvel has nothing to prove to you...

Rating: 8/10 (7 March 2019)

After a nice acknowledgement of the late Stan Lee (and all his cameos throughout the Marvel films) in the MARVEL opening logo and a special tribute to him, the film begins with us introduced to Brie Larson's Carol Danvers (currently going by the name Vers), who has a blue nosebleed, has clearly been in a fight and/or accident, and as a result is suffering fragmented memories of her previous life. First thing you'll have to adapt to with this film is its non-linear storytelling. We shift between past and present, which gives you an idea of just how confused Carol must be feeling. She's a Kree, which are 'noble warrior heroes' who fight against green aliens called Skulls. She's part of a team led by Yon-Rogg (Jude Law). They have an interesting relationship, trading jabs at one another, but clearly respecting each other too.
Also of note in the film are the relationships between Larson's Carol and the other characters. When something happens that leads to Carol crash-landing into a Blockbuster video store on Earth, it's not long before she encounters a younger version of Nick Fury (a de-aged Samuel L. Jackson, who's actually *likeable* here thankfully, as I'd been getting tired of him appearing in everything and pretty much playing himself every time). Their relationship is pretty much the 'heart' of the movie. Fury starts off wary of her, but eventually comes to respect/admire her and a trust forms between them.
One reason why Fury's so likeable in this film is his dynamic with Carol, but another reason is his love for the scene-stealing not-cat named Goose, who got the biggest laughs, though isn't the only source of humour in the movie. It also comes from the 90's being...the 90's (slow typing and loading on computers, movie/TV show/music references, etc) and Carol herself. Despite what certain others have said, Carol is NOT 'unlikeable'. Claims of her trying to make snarky comments like Tony Stark and coming off as a worse person than him couldn't be further from the truth. I personally have had enough of Mr. Snark and his mumbled speed-talking. Carol has a wry sense of humour and comes off as a pretty cool person you'd actually *want* to hang with (five minutes spent with Tony and I'm fairly sure most people, even his 'fans', would be punching him like Carol punches a Skrull disguised as an old lady in this film).
Speaking of Skrulls, Ben Mendelsohn's Skrull character, Talos, starts off as your typical villain. He looks alien, but acts quite 'human' with his line deliveries/references/etc. However, he actually proves to be not quite what he seems and it allows for interesting character development. Another important relationship Carol has is with her former fellow fighter pilot, Maria Rambeau, and her daughter. Their friendship proves crucial to the story. The movie really hits its stride once all these^ characters come together. Carol surrounds herself with a good group of characters who prove useful, but who don't take away from her.
The story of Carol Danvers is about what makes her who she is. Those against her try to make her a 'better'/'the best' version of herself, but we're shown that what makes her special isn't her powers, but rather her humanity and who she is as a person. Having said that, when she finally lets loose with her powers in all their glowing, gravity-defying-hair glory...it's quite something to behold (and set perfectly to classic 90's music). Some will claim she's 'overpowered', but she's no more 'overpowered' than Superman or various other male superheroes.
And that's^ the crux of the issue here for some people...that she's doing what male superheroes can do. For certain types of people there seems to be five stages when it comes to seeing a female-led movie: 1) Anger ("How DARE a female be the lead! Women should only be side characters/love interests/villains!"), 2) Denial ("This movie isn't successful! It's a flop!"...despite all evidence to the contrary), 3) Attempting to 'rationalize' the film's success ("This movie's only successful because..." insert lame excuse here such as people only liking it because of some 'agenda', people being 'paid' to say good things, etc), 4) Whininess ("WHY do they keep doing this?! Making more female-led movies...don't they know these genres like sci-fi, superheroes, etc are meant to be MALE-oriented?") and 5) Seeking out new targets, starting all over again/lather, rinse, repeat (sadly, there's no 'Acceptance' stage for these people). Seeing the negativity regarding this film only proves one thing: there's a LOT of insecure people out there.
This is a 'different' sort of Marvel film...but in no way 'bad'. It's about time they shook things up a bit and gave us something new, as it prevents things from getting 'stale' (the only expected thing here is two credits scenes, one in the middle and one at the end...both of which are worth sticking around for). And if Captain Marvel is to eventually take over from Tony Stark as head of the Avengers...I, for one, welcome our new alien DNA-infused leader.