Back in 2016 at the San Diego Comic-Con, Marvel Studios announced that newly minted Oscar winner Brie Larson would be playing Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel, in the hero’s first solo film and introduction into the famous Marvel Cinematic Universe. After the success of DC Comics’ adaptation of Wonder Woman, the excitement and hype for Captain Marvel was high, since many consider the MCU’s films to be superior to the DC ones.
Now, in 2019, the film has finally hit theatres and fans were finally able to see the iconic Captain Marvel’s big screen debut, but no controversy escaped it.
This being Marvel’s first film featuring a female lead, many were quick to make sexist comments about it. These comments were wild. Some said that Brie Larson should be smiling in the first trailer. Others said that she wasn’t wasn’s sexy enough to play the role. These comments make no sense: as if she needs to smile or be sexy to kick ass. Other brodudes were saying that this film was just made to further the feminist agenda since Brie Larson is a fierce advocate against sexism and the lack of diversity in Hollywood. She’s also been vocal about sexual assault and harassment. A lot of this stemmed from Brie’s beliefs, since people kept accusing her of being sexist against men (which basically means that you don’t understand sexism). Of course, these “accusations” come from her being a feminist and wanting to see more women work and succeed in the industry
Leading up to the release, trolls started to leave bad reviews in a petty way in IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes in honor to push people away from seeing it so that it would be a box office bomb.
All of that aside, it seems like all of the hate campaignings did not work because Captain Marvel made $455 million on opening weekend, surpassing the record set by Black Panther, and becoming the second highest grossing superhero film behind Infinity War. How’s that for not smiling in the trailer?
I was very excited for this film, it was one of my most anticipated releases of 2019 and it did not disappoint. From the moment it started, I was quickly immersed in this story, wanting to know more about the origins of Captain Marvel.
I loved how they opted to tell the story in a nonlinear way, creating more of an aura of mystery and making all of the reveals and the pieces of the puzzle that are solved more satisfying because the build-up was intense. All of our questions surrounding Captain Marvel’s origins are answered by the end of the film, which is quite nice that we don’t have to wait years to get those answers.
Since this film is set in 1995, which is years before the current MCU timeline, we get answers to many questions that have been in the MCU for years, like how Nick Fury lost his eye and what was the inception that inspired the creation of the Avengers Initiative. This was also Stan Lee’s second to last cameo before his death, so we get to see that as well and a tribute to Marvel Comics’ late creator.
I really loved Brie Larson’s performance as Carol Danvers. Going into it, I was a little nervous because this was the first time she would be headlining a blockbuster film since she has always had secondary roles in them and has mainly done comedy and drama films throughout her career, but I was incredibly relieved and happy that she did the role justice and showed us how powerful Captain Marvel is. She had great chemistry with Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury, exchanging humorous lines with each other and working as each other’s partner in defeating evil. I also loved how we got to see a softer side to Nick Fury since he is mostly seen as the hard-faced leader of SHIELD and people might not think that he has a soft side and a good sense of humor.
The star of the show was undeniably Goose the Cat. She was the cutest MCU character ever and the best sidekick to Carol and Nick Fury, I hope she appears in other MCU films because she was great and adorable.
I loved every moment of this film and was very surprised by some of the decisions that they made to develop the story. It is a film that was perfectly tied into the already established MCU canon and expanded more of this world and I am sure that we will see more of it as the MCU continues growing and changing as the years go by and more heroes are introduced.
It was a great origin story for this hero that had never appeared on screen before, and I’m so happy that she came in a moment where she was needed. Not only did she come to save us all from the despair that Thanos created, but she is now an inspiration for many young girls who will now grow up knowing that they can be the hero of their stories and that they are strong enough to fight for what they believe in.
This movie definitely gets its 5 out of 5 stars.
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