I walked into Captain Marvel with some nerves. Perhaps I should be better about leaving my “gender lens” in my classes, but I’m not. From last week’s Rotten Tomatoes Controversy and the unending hate that this movie got long before it opened, I was worried that Captain Marvel would suffer from the same unreasonable standard applied to many women, real and fictional. Maybe the movie would need to be incredible in order to be deemed passable.
Before I get into my review, I feel like I should establish my credibility. I did not watch Captain Marvel because I am a feminist. I have seen almost every single MCU entry, including the first two Thors and the Incredible Hulk. I was going to this movie no matter what gender the protagonist was.
Was this movie the best movie in the MCU? No. Was it better than Wonder Woman? No, but that could be because Wonder Woman simply beat Captain Marvel to the punch and I didn’t feel that same rush of joy from seeing a woman kicking butt in her own movie for the first time. Does that mean the world only needs Wonder Woman and there’s no place for other female superheros in DC or Marvel? Absolutely not and that question is Scarlet Witch and Black Widow erasure. Did Captain Marvel have a significantly better final act? Absolutely.
FROM HERE ON CONTAINS SPOILERS!!!!!!
Maybe I read too many theories, but I wanted the twist with the Skrulls to be more complex. Maybe “some Skrulls are evil but the Kree are persecuting all of them indiscriminately.” Simply flipping the dichotomy from Skulls= evil and Kree= good didn’t do much for me. I think I would have enjoyed it more had there been some Kree who stood with Carol when they learned that the Skrulls weren’t all evil. There have to be some good Kree, just like their had to be some bad Kree. Did she really not make any real friends in six years?
I really did not like how Fury lost his eye. My theater loved the cat and kept yelling, “the cat!” whenever it showed up on screen but given how seriously he said, “the last time I trusted someone, I lost an eye,” I wanted and expected more. The cat was cool though, even if the CGI was obvious at weird moments.
I liked the characterization of Carol as funny, though not quite as quippy as Tony (by the way, shouldn’t she be dropping Kree pop-culture references?). I loved the fact that one of her greatest strengths is that she always stands up. Also, I absolutely adored the moment that Carol refused to play by Yon-Rogg’s rules. The internet is full of exchanges where men demand nine sources in APA format before they’ll listen to a woman or even consider educating themselves. That exchange was a really good reminder to me that emotions aren’t the enemy. So what if I am more emotional? There’s no requirement to alter yourself in order to compete on the same level as someone who is less extraordinary than you.
Where would I rank Captain Marvel? Probably on par with Captain America: The First Avenger and about 7/10. I should probably rewatch it soon though, to see if the movie is more fun when I’m not scared that it’s going to be awful.