“I keep having these memories. I see flashes. I think I have a life here. But I can’t tell if it’s real.” – Carol Danvers (Captain Marvel)
Summary:
On the Kree Empire’s capital planet of Hala, Starforce member Vers suffers from recurring nightmares. Her mentor, Yon-Rogg, warns her to control her abilities while the Supreme Intelligence (AI), urges her to keep her emotions in check. While working with Ronan the Accuser to rescue an undercover spy, Vers is abducted and subjected to a memory probe by a group of Skrulls. The Skrulls are alien shapeshifters with whom the Kree Empire as at war. Vers escapes from the Skrulls’ ship in an escape pod, and ultimately crash lands on Earth. Her presence quickly attracts the attention of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Nick Fury and Phil Coulson, whose investigation ends up being interrupted by a Skrull attack. A Skrull impersonates Coulson whom is killed by Fury. Fury agrees to work with Vers while Skrull commander Talos disguises himself as S.H.I.E.L.D operative Keller.
Thanks to Fury’s security clearance, Vers learns she was a pilot who is presumed to have died six years earlier while testing a light-speed engine. “Keller” confronts them but Fury and Vers get away and pilot to Louisiana, where they met Maria Rambeau and her young daughter, Monica. Monica reveals that Vers’ real name is Carol Danvers. Talos tracked them to Louisiana and asks to speak with them. He uses the black-box recorder of the plane crash that Carol was in, and she learns that an alien spaceship had taken them out. Because of the black-box recording, Carol finally remembers Yon-Rogg killing Wendy Lawson, the person she sees in her recurring nightmares, and her warning to destroy the experimental energy-core to keep it from getting into the wrong hands. Carol shot the experimental energy-core which resulted in an explosion, leading to her body absorbing the energy. Yon-Rogg brought “Vers” to Hala. Talos then explains that the Skrulls are simply refugees, and Lawson’s energy-core was to help them escape the Kree. By using the coordinates that Lawson had given her, along with Fury, Monica, and the fearless cat Goose, fly their cargo jet, which was modified by the Kree to a cloaked ship in orbit.
Once there, they find the Tesseract, which is the source of the energy-core’s power, as well as some Skrull refugees. Yon-Rogg’s Starforce tracked them down and they capture Carol. They place her before the Supreme Intelligence. Carol, enraged at the fact that they used her, fights back and discovers that the implant that was given to her by the Kree was limiting her powers instead of helping her. Now accessing her full force, Carol escapes, and gives the Tesseract to Fury for safekeeping and proceeds to battle the Starforce to give Maria, Fury, and the Skrulls time to escape. They escape, Carol quickly defeats Yon-Rogg and sends him back to Hala. Carol agrees to help the Skrulls find a new home and gives Fury a modified pager to contact her in case of an emergency. At the very end, Fury later drafts his proposal for the Avenger’s Initiative, naming it after Carol’s old call sign of “Avenger.”
Review
There are several things that I thoroughly enjoyed about Captain Marvel. For one, I really appreciated that Captain Marvel is a female superhero and that she is seen as someone who is strong. In my opinion, it is a superb example of what positive representation looks like. She did not need the help of a man to fight off the enemies. By fully using her powers, she took down the enemies within no time flat. Brie Larson was a phenomenal Captain Marvel – I cannot picture anyone else in the role. She brought her to life and made her seem real. I appreciated that the fact that emotions are powerful and can cloud judgment was present throughout the movie. Why? Because it is true. Emotions are extremely powerful and people need to be able to control their emotions to avoid doing something they may regret.
Another thing that was particularly enjoyable about Captain Marvel is Goose the Cat. Now, Goose is not your everyday house cat. He is actually Flerken. For those who do not know what a Flerken is – they are essentially a gateway to pocket dimensions. Goose definitely provided comedic relief throughout the movie, with some of the most memorable ones being when Nick Fury attempted to have Goose attack the Kree that were trying to keep them from escaping towards the end of the movie.
The third thing I enjoyed about Captain Marvel was that the twist about the Skrulls being refugees was not one that I saw coming. Solely going off of their appearance, one would assume that they are the bad guys – which is exactly what the director wants the audience to think. The Skrulls having the ability to shapeshift also made them seem like they would be the perfect villain for Captain Marvel to encounter throughout the movie. However, in war, things are rarely what they seem. The Kree had fabricated the entire story about the war they were waging with the Skrull, making them seem like the bad guys in it all. However, the Skrull are simply trying to get away from the Kree and find a home for themselves.
The fourth thing that I enjoyed about Captain Marvel is that it is a different take on an origin story. Captain Marvel has her powers right from the start of the movie, meaning that we are immediately thrown into the action, with her past being the mystery. It was a nice refresher to watching Carol’s past unfold alongside her instead of watching how she got her powers in a linear way.
The fifth thing that I really enjoyed about Captain Marvel was the decision to make the original Mar-Vell a woman instead of a man. The Marvel Cinematic Universe made the right choice by deciding to make Captain Marvel’s predecessor female, which is where Annette Bening’s character came into play. It is not only another twist on the story, but it made it, so Captain Marvel is not simply following in the footsteps of a man. I personally think that this was an excellent decision on Marvel’s part and is pointing them in the right direction. Continuing on the same topic of character choices, Jude Law was superb as Yon-Rogg. It is safe to say that Jude Law certainly has the talent to play both the good and the bad guy. He seems like the perfect fit to play the self-assured mentor-turned-adversary to Carol.
These are just some of the things that I thoroughly enjoyed about Captain Marvel. I think it goes without saying that I highly recommend that you see this movie in theaters to get the most out of your movie-watching experience. What are your thoughts on the movie? Let us know in the comments below!