THE MARVELOUS MS. DANVERS

“Captain Marvel” is the 21^st installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and serves as an origin story for one of Marvel’s most powerful heroes, Carol Danvers AKA Captain Marvel. While we hadn’t seen been introduced to Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel in previous MCU before her solo movie (unlike Black Panther and Spider-man who were both introduced in “Captain America: Civil War” before having their own standalone films “Black Panther” and “Spider-Man: Homecoming” respectively), audiences were given a slight tease during the post-credits scene in “Avengers: Infinity War” where (*Spoiler Alert*) Nick Fury contacts her via modified beeper before turning to dust as a result of Thanos obtaining all six infinity stones and killing off half the population, making all things balanced . . . as they should be. Flashback twenty-plus years to sometime in the ‘90s and that’s when “Captain Marvel” takes place. Set during the war between the Kree (an advanced civilization of varying humanoids) and the Skrull (which can take the form of anyone they touch), Carol Danvers or as her squad calls her “Vers” leads a team of Kree alongside Jude Law’s character  in skrull territory to retrieve a covert spy believed to be on the Skrull’s radar. When the team is ambushed, Vers is separated from the group and ends up on Earth. Vers slowly comes to learn of her superhuman abilities and her past.

Like the other Marvel films, the lead is great and you can tell their having fun being their respective hero. It will be fun to see more of Brie Larson in “Avengers: Endgame” and any future installments in the MCU. Samuel L. Jackson is great once again as Colonel Nick Fury. The de-aging effects used on Samuel L. Jackson are phenomenal. We are in the future. The effect is hardly noticeable unlike some previous attempts at de-aging. The action is fun and the cat, Goose, is a scene stealer; which is tough to do when Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Jude Law, and Ben Mendholson are all in the film. The script isn’t the best and features some very on-the-nose dialogue. The CGI is good but in a few scenes its quality is questionable.

In the end, “Captain Marvel” is a fun, but imperfect, movie that does a good job at introducing Larson as Captain Marvel and what we can expect of her come “Avengers: Endgame.” While it isn’t top-tier MCU like “Captain America: Civil War” or “Black Panther,” “Captain Marvel” easily earns it title as a good film and another fine installment in the MCU.