Captain Marvel: Avengers Moving Towards Endgame (FILM REVIEW)

Marvel and the MCU, have once again managed to squeak out another fast paced, special FX-filled superhero thriller with Captain Marvel.

Though this film in many ways felt somewhat forced so as to meet the timing demands of the final Avengers film, Endgame, squeezed seemingly in at the last minute to provide the necessary backstory to Carol Danvers (played by Brie Larson), aka, Captain Marvel; it was not, in this avid Marvel fan’s opinion, a bad movie.

The opening starts off seemingly arbitrarily, with Ms. Danvers, a human, on the non-human (though humanoid planet) of Hala.

Identified early on to be somewhat of an outcast and clearly considered unequal among her peers, we meet our future hero to be training for a mission to fight against what seems to be, from the viewer’s perspective,an evil and violent race of beings intent on the destruction of the Kree planet home world Hala, of which Ms. Danvers is inhabiting.

We notice early on that Ms. Danvers has some abnormal abilities not shared by her fellow humanoid peers. As the film reaches its momentum building stride, more is revealed about Carol Danvers, her history, her origins, and her life prior to her finding herself on the Kree home world.

Marvel keeps the film edgy with their typical humor and witty dialogue. Though again, it does feel as though perhaps Avengers Endgame could have been put off a bit longer in order to take the time to create a less reticent and a more flowing storyline.

The backlash from Marvel fans worldwide for the previous sentence concerning delaying the release of Endgame aside, given the involved nature of all the main Marvel character storylines prior, this movie was, for a seemingly rushed production, well portrayed overall.

As we discover the truth about Captain Marvel, we begin to see how from her view the last several years of her life had not quite been what she had previously been lead to believe to be accurate about what is true and what is not, as she begins to take control of who she is to become.

Marvel is cleverly famous for integrating terrific action scenes with emotional tugs that most viewers seamlessly often tend not to realize the integration of until long after the film’s end, and even with the last minute release of this film, Marvel once again managed to fill this movie full of those moments.

Whether with future S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury (Sam Jackson), Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg), her former U.S. Air Force wing-woman pilot, Maria Rambeau (Lashana Lynch), Rambeau’s daughter Monica (Akira Akbar), an alien cat, or any of the other many characters we find Ms. Marvel and company connecting with, it certainly leaves the viewer feeling confident about how she will fit into the Avengers’ team, in Endgame.

In terms of the superhero wow factor, Marvel definitely delivered with Captain Marvel’s photon blasts, flight abilities, indestructibility, and overall humanness of the character.

Thanos (Josh Brolin) will find himself very unfortunate to have to face her along with Thor and company, in Endgame. No doubt Marvel will find a way to draw out the last battle, but I hardly see Thanos being able to put up much of a fight.

Authored by Jake Sallerson in Vermont’s Mad River Valley.