Captain (Mar)vel

Rating: 2/10 (9 March 2019)

In a simple sentence, Captain Marvel is a bad version of Wonder Woman. To further elaborate will be significantly more complicated, and to keep it simple I will avoid talking about the controversy around the film. Captain Marvel accentuates all of the shortcomings of the Marvel film format whilst bringing much less wit or charm, constantly falling back on 90's nods rather than creating original content of interest. The film in most part copies the trippiness of Doctor Strange, the nostalgic soundtrack of Guardians of the Galaxy, the setup of Thor, and the plot of Battlestar Galactica for some reason.
Brie Larson's performance is unfortunately lacking, and I feel this was the main issue with the film. Captain Marvel's lines are meant to be funny quips but they are delivered with such a lack of enthusiasm that the character comes across as bored and arrogant in the face of danger, sucking out all tension from every action sequence in the film. Her powers are so strong that she makes Superman seem moderate in comparison, as she manages to feel invulnerable even at her weakest and the capabilities are astronomical to the point where she undercuts the rest of the MCU to this point. If she was this powerful and she's been around since the mid 90's, why did Nick Fury wait until it was already practically too late to page her in Infinity War? All of their issues could have easily been solved with some basic planning. Captain Marvel's introduction into the MCU is one which drags the scale to ridiculous levels, and raises many more questions than it answers. Back in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, many were asking why the Avengers weren't around to help with this massive crisis threatening the planet, and now we have to ask why Captain Marvel wasn't here to defeat Thanos in a single anticlimactic punch before he could threaten the entire universe.
The cinematography was mostly awful and obnoxious. In most action sequences, there's some of the harshest shaky cam since The Bourne Supremacy, which leave said scenes incomprehensible and frustrating as well as visually unimpressive. It also leads me to believe that Marvel for all of its work in the special effects and its massive budgets can't afford to do proper choreography for even its simplest action sequences. There's also an abundance of post production editing techniques which are reminiscent to overdramatic Indian soap operas, with numerous blur and exposure as well as a misguided attempt at some creative non-linear storytelling right at the start of the film, making the dense exposition dump all the more confusing, leading into a slow dull lengthy period of film which equates to Vers being a fish out of water on planet Earth with the only main highlight being when she punches an elderly woman in the face. Slow, action-free scenes are refreshingly shot at times in contrast to the normal Marvel films, but action sequences are much worse making it more of a roller coaster ride as opposed to the usual predictably decent, easy to digest Marvel formula. The creative aspects are often a welcome flair, but the less-nuanced elements of the film more than overpower what good it has to it, leaving me to believe that the director, Anna Boden, only has a partial knowledge of artsy filmmaking.
Samuel L. Jackson steals the show every time he is on screen as he's easily the most charismatic character with the most depth, which is a serious problem when you're trying to push for an integral new superhero this late into the story, as she's greatly overshadowed. The bar was set very high for Brie Larson, but her performance feels lazy in comparison to her costars as even most of the side characters seem to be trying to push her up by doing the emotional acting on her behalf and simply stating character traits rather than leaving that for Brie to portray in her performance. If I were to watch this film again, I would probably just skim through the Nick Fury scenes as well as that scene where Captain Marvel punches that elderly woman in the face, otherwise there's nothing else that really sticks positively.
I'm only happy when it rains, and it never actually rains in this film despite using that song. Must be a tongue-in-cheek song, like when they used "Just a Girl," but then again these songs are much more memorable than the lackluster generic score. Remember Hole, The Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana, and Blockbuster? This movies desperate for that 90's kid approval. I don't typically mind nostalgia, but there needs to be more. This film seems to stop trying once they have their base idea without adding depth or making any of the elements integral to the actual story. Nostalgia for the sake of nostalgia, and a social justice message instead of a thought-provoking story.
Most Marvel films have at least one element which is largely flawed, but Captain Marvel seems to try to combine the best elements from each previous film, but instead manages to combine all of the worst tropes from them instead. Even at their worst most Marvel films are still at least fun at a primitive level, but this film loses that by trying to play it safe. Also, can I end this by mentioning Captain Marvel's awful fire-chicken suit?