My friend Ivan and I saw Captain Marvel this week. It was good. but before I get into the review I want to say a few things. I still hate how Captain Marvel was marketed. I hate all of the bullshit coming from all sides. I swear it’s like The Kree-Skrull War playing out in real life! To be honest, none of it was necessary. Captain Marvel would have been fine had they just marketed as what I feel like it was. A fun late 80’s early 90’s style action-comedy.

The views and personal politics the actors projected onto the film are not indicative of the film overall, neither were the trailers. I swear it’s as if they got the worst scenes from the movie and stitched them together incoherently, to then go on to not even have most of those show up in the movie. A lot of what you see in the trailer did not make it into the movie and I feel the movie was better for it. Was the movie bad? Not at all. Did it have anything that made me rage? Not really. When I got to the theater I did ask the lovely, lovely woman at the counter if she had worked the Captain Marvel Opening Weekend, and she had. She said it was crazy. Today, my auditorium was about half full. So in the end, anything that any of us said, myself included, did not affect the movie’s performance. I feel it would have made about the same amount of money without all the bullshit and boycotting.  

The Good

I’m going to start with what I liked, and actually was not expecting from Captain Marvel. I did not expect to get some major, major Roland Emmerich/ early Michael Bay vibes from Captain Marvel. Think Independence Day meets Bad Boys. Only swap Will Smith out for Jada Pinkett Smith. Lashana Lynch is definitely channeling Jeryline and Peaches when playing Maria Rambeau. (Bonus points if you know which Jada Pinkett Smith characters those movies are from!) If I must say, I did detect a splash of Regina King in her performance as well. She did a fantastic job. Akira Akbar, the little girl that played Monica Rambeau, she was perfect. I would have liked to have seen more of her in Captain Marvel. I am sure we will see more of her down the line. She was very cute and natural. Nick Fury and Goose deserve their own spin-off film. You see how Nick is like around Goose, that’s me when I’m around any cat, but here is the kicker. I’m severely allergic to cats. I can’t really say much more without entering spoiler territory.

Brie Larson, while I’m still not certain she was the best actress to cast in the role, she was actually about as cute, quirky and fun to watch as she was in 21 Jump Street and Scott Pilgrim VS The World, my two favorite of her movies. So, I’m happy with her performance. I feel like I have to go back and talk about the trailers once more. They fucking sucked! They really picked some of the most cringe inducing moments, most of which were edited out of the final movie. The last time this happened was with Jumanji Two: Welcome To The Jungle. That movie had the worst trailers of any movie that year, and it ended up being of my favorite comedies of that year. I’m not saying that Captain Marvel will end up being one of my favorite movies this year, but it was still better than it’s trailers. It’s like the reverse of Suicide Squad.

Special Mention goes out to Ben Mendelsohn, that handsome, handsome man. This was his best performance to date. Out of all the actors, he seemed to have had the most fun with his character. More fun than even Samuel L. Jackson playing a young, pussy-obsessed Nick Fury. OH COME ON! If you knew me at all you know I just could not help but make that joke, so there I did it.

Now onto what I did not like.

The Bad

I predicted they had retconned the hell out of her origin story, and I was right. They made it way too similar to another super hero in the MCU. I’m not going to say which one but you will know exactly which, when you get to the scene. I really hate what they did to Mar’vell. And while I understand why they did. I don’t agree with the reasoning behind it. But in order to talk about that I have to give you a major major, spoiler warning.

The only thing that stayed true to the character was the Impeccably Coifed Hair. They also made Annette Bening look a little too much like a certain female presidential candidate. Jude Law is an amazing actor. Arguably one of the best working in Hollywood today. He’s just not villainous. He was a phenomenal mentor to Captain Marvel. I still say they should have just let him play Mar’vell and changed the relationship from that of lovers to a more father-daughter one. I think they were trying too hard to build a similar relationship to that of Yondu and Starlord, but failed. There was not enough time dedicated to that particular arc. Or they could have held onto Jude Law and used him for another movie, in another super hero role. Like Adam Warlock. He would have looked great with gold skin and long wig.

End of Spoiler.

All of the villains felt as if they were too comical or comedic. It felt like they were trying to do the Guardians things with Yon-Roggs team, but fell a bit short. The rest of the villains did not even really have to be in the movie. They were pointless. In fact, defeating the villains isn’t even a big part of Captain Marvel. The movie goes in a whole other direction, which I was also not expecting.

There are a few minor retcons that really did not bother me as much as they have other people. As far as how I rate it in the MCU. I was really tired and may have fallen asleep a few times. My friend Ivan had to play the part of my living alarm clock. I swear this was me throughout most of the film.  I’m going to wait till more of my friends are back in town and catch another Tuesday Night Showing to make that verdict.

The Special Effects and CG were better than those in Black Panther, but a lot of sequences looked as if they came right out of Marvel VS Capcom Infinite. Whether or not that is a good thing, I will let you decide.

A lot of people were complaining about the soundtrack and how the songs were too obvious. Yeah, they could have tried a little harder. Both Hole and No Doubt had better songs in their libraries. There were also a lot of female rock groups in the ’90s that should have gotten a shout out. I guess the ones they picked did fit the overall tone of the movie though.

In closing. It was better than I thought it was going to be, better than the trailers and the marketing campaign made it out to look. But there was a lot they could have done differently – and arguably better. Is it worth watching in theaters? Yeah. We liked it, a lot actually. Enough to want to see it a second time. If you have the option to watch it at a discounted price like we did thanks to the AMC Stub Club. I think that is the best way.

Also I had predicted that the movie was only going to connect to the rest of the MCU and Endgame tangentially, and I was right. There are three post credit scenes. Some have already been leaked.

As far as how I feel about Brie Larson & Captain Marvel joining the MCU. I’m fine, With or Without Her. With or Without Her, I’ll wait right here, With or Without Her. Come on sing it with me. With or Without Her, I’ll be fine, With or Without Her!

God, I hate U2.

I hope you have all enjoyed this review and will check out this week’s (slightly delayed) Indie Comics Showcase!