Muddled social commentary distracts from muddled plot

Rating: 4/10 (18 July 2019)

Captain Marvel has excellent production values and a lot of action and special effects to keep the audience wrapped up in the fantasy. However, a number of elements in the film are sufficiently distracting to undermine willful suspension of disbelief. The most obvious are the CGI effects to make Samuel L. Jackson look three decades younger.
But honors for the single greatest incongruity may go to the all-female Air Force test-flight crew, which seems vaguely reminiscent of a low budget Andy Sidaris film from the 1970s, but with soccer moms in baggy jumpsuits rather than former Playboy playmates in body-flattering outfits that leave little to the imagination. The rationale given is that female airmen are not allowed to fly combat missions, so are relegated to test-flying the most advanced combat aircraft, including one capable of reaching light speeds. This is about as ludicrous as the premise in Independence Day (1996), that the government has a surfeit of planes but not enough pilots, so must recruit crop dusters and amateur pilots to battle an alien invasion. (The Air Force has a perennial shortage of pilots and has difficulty keeping experienced pilots from being lured away by higher wages in civil aviation, but has better than three pilots for each aircraft, not counting instructors, mechanics and others who could fly in an emergency, such as an alien invasion.) It would make no sense at all to have untested pilots fly untested aircraft, particularly one designed for aerial combat. You'd want test pilots who had extensive experience flying similar aircraft of various designs under all types of conditions, including combat, and who have contended with mechanical failures and other unexpected circumstances. Even experienced pilots are given additional training before becoming test pilots.
Most of the incongruities seem designed to promote various social agenda, including feminism, inclusion and immigrant rights. At one point a group of illegal aliens from outer space are dressed in a manner evocative of Hispanic migrants detained at the border. At another point, one extraterrestrial alien asks another if she had ever been to the planet earth. The second one replies that she had and it was a real %$@*!, an obvious dig at President Trump, which takes the audience out of the action and shatters the willful suspension of disbelief.
Captain Marvel is far too powerful and seems to have no vulnerability, such as kryptonite or anything else, a characteristic shared with many other contemporary superheroes. When the protagonist possesses superhuman strength, the villain must also possess superhuman strength and the film devolves into an extravaganza of CGI effects. I much prefer heroes who have vulnerabilities and must push the limits of their abilities, ultimately relying on ingenuity or superior knowledge to exploit some vulnerability in their opponent. I want scenes of the hero failing while coming to grips with their newly discovered powers. I want to see Tony Stark crash through his ceiling and destroy an exotic car as he tries to learn to fly or encountering an unexpected problem with his visor icing over. Captain Marvel experiences no learning curve, so the film suffers.
The movie also suffers for lack of a B-story love interest. In its place, Captain Marvel plays a sort of auntie/surrogate mom to a friend's daughter. Tony Stark needs Pepper Potts; Superman needs Lois Lane; John McClane needs Holly. Diana Prince used to need Steve Trevor. They killed him off at the beginning of the 2017 film, although he'll apparently return in Wonder Woman 1984 (2020). But Marvel doesn't seem to need a love life. In fact, there seems to be a concerted effort to avoid making her the least bit sexy. She spends most of the film dressed in an outfit that looks like she just stepped off a luge and makes her look about ten kilos heavier. When a male character makes an impolite pass at her, she responds in a manner that women may applaud, but men are likely to consider a gratuitous display of misandry. Sexually aggressive men have joined the ranks of Hollywood stock villains.
The plot involves a race of alien shape-shifters who seem more like dramatic role shifters as they are contrived to play whatever dramatic role seems most convenient at the moment - villains, victims, wise counsel, allies. Little thought seems to have been given to making them three-dimensional. When they're not channeling migrants, they are standing around looking the same but diverse. The producers obviously cast actors of various ethnic backgrounds, but gave them identical bluish complexions. Perhaps it is intended as some form of social commentary.
The movie does offer a couple of well-choreographed fight scenes. Compared to Elektra (2005) or Catwoman (2004), the scenes are extraordinary, but they can't hold a candle to female fight scenes in Hong Kong movies.
The various social themes and messages are distracting, but not so obvious or distracting as in many other films, such as The Equalizer 2 (2018). As a female-empowerment film, it might have been more effective if Marvel used her brains more and spent less time unleashing boundless energy by waving her arms to the accompaniment of hokey CGI effects.