Want to hear what my opinions are after seeing it?
(p.s. I wrote this whole review well BEFORE Endgame came out, so there will be no Endgame spoilers in it)
4 Stars
Like I said, I went into the movie with low expectations. This far in the game, Marvel should NOT be bringing in a new character to be a cop-out of sorts in Endgame. And honestly, I almost want to give it less stars because of that? But WITHOUT thinking about Endgame, and considering this just another Marvel movie...I have to say, Captain Marvel was pretty good XD.
- The setting was amazing! I loved the 90's vibe. I wasn't so into the space-stuff at the beginning of the movie (which is probably why Guardians of the Galaxy isn't totally my thing), but once Carol fell to earth and started working with Nick and figuring out her past? Yeah, I LOVED IT. The older setting was tons of fun.
- Talos and the skrulls. WEIRD, I KNOW. As villains I hated them (duh), but the minute they were standing in Maria's backyard and Talos says "we just want a home" I was immediately thinking (since I was still skeptical of him at that point) PLEASE BE A GOOD GUY, PLEASE BE GOOD. And then when he finds his family later? I was basically melting into a happy puddle of "YES". Needless to say - yeah, I liked the skrulls XD. I Wish we'd gotten to know more about them!
- Baby Nick. Was absolutely. The best part. Of this movie. Honestly, I didn't even recognize him in the trailer until my friend told me that's who it was? Because he looks so different? And yet, in the movie, he's still very NICK, just a younger kind of Nick. I'm glad they had the same actor play him, because I don't think anyone else could have pulled it off, ha. The movie wouldn't have been even half as good without him. HE WAS SO FUN. (I just hated the part about how he lost his eye) (because it was the epitome of stupid) (and we don't speak of it) (*zips lips*) (it was also fun to see baby Coulson ;D)
- "I have nothing to prove to you". <------ One of my favorite scenes in the WHOLE movie. I hate it when the bad guy in a movie is like "hey, fight me hand-to-hand and don't use your epic power! Because! You'll! Prove! That! You're! Stronger!" I mean, geez - if you have an epic power, use it, don't let the baddie tell you that using it makes you weaker somehow. Anyways - when Carol just up and smashed him anyways, I wanted to shout "YAS, GIRL" in the middle of the theater. And then I wanted to yell it even more when she walked up to him and said "I have nothing to prove to you" XD. Because I've always wanted a scene like this to happen (because LOGIC)! And I greatly enjoyed when Captain Marvel fulfilled that wish.
- Carol. Pre-watchung-the-movie, I didn't know how much I was going to like Carol, honestly. I was worried she'd be flat, or shallow, or that Marvel would use her to try and push a feminist agenda. BUT! But! She didn't feel like that at all! While Carol did fall a little flat now and then, I actually really liked her more than I thought I would. Her sass was just awesome ("I could have sworn I put it in there"), and she was so perfectly stubborn XD. While she wasn't a perfect main character by any means (I mean, she's being held up to Cap and Stark here in the realm of Marvel MCs, and can anyone actually beat them?) I'm glad to say that I very much enjoyed her and her movie. Asking if I liked her powers is a different story, but as for Carol herself--yeah, she gets a yes from me. A worthy addition to Marvel's MCs.
- Project Avengers Initiative. That part at the end of the movie where Nick is typing out the Protect Initiative? And then sees the word "Avenger" on the side of Carol's plane? And then changes what he was typing, but the camera never shows it? SO MUCH YES. I love how the directors just knew that everyone would know what Fury was typing, they didn't even have to show it. So much yes to the Avengers Initiative.
- The Stan Lee tribute. The movie was worth it for that alone. (and the Stan Lee cameo is, as usual, just perfect)
- The villains. Oh, geez. I could go on for a long time about how much I disliked the villain/s. First of all, there was too many of them. There was the Skrulls, then there was the Kree, then there was Ronan - you never had time to really fear one of the villains before another one was showing up. And then the villains weren't ever actually very powerful? The Skrulls turned out to be good. Carol beat her trainer without batting an eye. Ronan kind of just...walked away. I want to really fear for the main character, not know that everything's going to be just peachy! I'll probably do a post about this at some point, because I have a LOT to say about the villains in Captain Marvel XD.
- They never called her Captain Marvel? Not exactly a dislike...I just found it strange? The entire movie is called Captain Marvel, but by the end of the movie, I didn't feel like that's who Carol was. I actually wasn't really sure who she was--they honestly could have titled her anything. Captain Marvel didn't make as much sense for her as, say, Captain America makes sense for Steve. It was weird. But it is what it is *shrugs*.
- Untied threads! Confusion! Unanswered questions! WHEE. Yeah, this too. Plenty of this. There were multiple threads at the end of the movie that never got tied up---i.e. Who is the Intelligence? Why is he/she important? How does he/she affect the Kree?---there was a bit of confusion, and a lot of questions that it raised but never answered. Like, if Nick was already contemplating the Avengers initiative in 1990s, why did it take him so long to find the first person (Stark) to recruit for it? There was also the question of why on EARTH did Nick wait to call Captain Marvel until Endgame? Why not Sokovia? Why not New York? Why not Winter Soldier, even? Lots of things that could have been done better, and that left Captain Marvel feeling like a last-minute addition to the Marvel universe.
- Deus Ex Machina. I thought before, and I still think, that Carol is definitely a Deus Ex Machina character for Endgame. I don't like it. So I was doubly annoyed when there was some Deus Ex Machina going on at the end of Captain Marvel--I mean, her powers came when she realized she was strong and took that thing off her neck. Why on earth didn't she do that early? That neck-thing seemed awfully easy to pop off. She could have done it years ago. And then her powers were so incredibly strong that the villains didn't even matter anymore. It definitely felt...lacking. Like she didn't fight for it enough, and that it could have happened way early. Most certainly could have been handled differently.
- It tried to steal some of the Avengers' thunder. Until this movie, it seemed like Iron Man, Cap, and the rest were the first people of their kind that Fury had ever dealt with. Why didn't he ever mention Captain Marvel? Or the Kree? Or any of the other things that happened? In all the other Marvel movies we're made to think that, oh cool, here's this new weird thing that the Avengers and SHIELD are going to have to deal with --- only to have Captain Marvel reveal to us that some of it was actually old news. It just felt a little like the movie was trying to steal some of the Avengers' thunder. (It didn't work though.) (Because nothing can steal the thunder from the Avengers XD.)
- However, the language and content weren't that bad. Which was great. I would rank it somewhere around Thor in the matter of language and content, I think. Actually, this movie can pretty well be described as a mashup of Thor and GotG. Huh. Didn't think about that until just now XD.
Despite the amount of bashing I'm willing to give Captain Marvel, I mostly bash it because of how it affects the Marvel universe as a whole, not because of the movie itself (though I do still have some bones to pick with it). As a standalone, Captain Marvel was a good movie that I greatly enjoyed, and I'm glad I went to see it. Carol was a great (and very interesting!) character who I really loved, Nick Fury was awesome and hilarious, and it definitely raised some questions for the fate of Endgame. Captain Marvel is absolutely worth seeing before April 26th (aka The End of an Era and the Day we Die of Feels).
Keep being epic, my friends! <3
~ Savannah Grace
have you seen Captain Marvel yet?
what are your thoughts on this movie?
I adore Captain Marvel!!! But I also 100% agree that she should not have been brought in this late in the game. It's especially unfair to her because she hasn't had the time that the others have had to become so developed and beloved and known by the fanbase, so she's always going to be The Outsider. I could write a book on why she is a good character and has so much potential, but no one has asked for that. XD
ReplyDeleteYES, it was such a good movie! And same - I just wish they'd handled its placement better, but *shrugs* we can't have everything XD. (I WOULD 100% READ THAT BOOK - you should do a blog post about Captain Marvel someday!)
DeleteYour reviews are always in such detail and written so well, teach me your ways!!!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to the writing post about this movie, that sounds like fun! :D
THANK YOU!! I fully blame this review's through-ness on the fact that when my sisters and I watch a movie together, we discuss it down to the tiniest details for DAAAAAAYS XD. (and GIRL - your reviews are always so good, too! I'm always happy when one pops up in my blogger feed)
DeleteOKAY BUT I AGREE WITH EVERY SINGLE PART OF THIS. This was such a great review!
ReplyDeleteI, too, was suuuper skeptical and worried about this movie. But, in the end, I ended up very much enjoying it! It was just a FUN movie. And Carol ended up being rather endearing (I was so worried she'd just be there for some feminist agenda, but she WASN'T and it was a relief!). Also "Baby Nick" was the best. Absolutely yes. XD It was 100% worth seeing this movie just for him.
With that said, it really did kind of...I don't know, cheapen the other Marvel movies? You made such great points about that! Just the fact that Fury already knew aliens existed and all this stuff was a bit of a shock. AND the way he lost his eye. SERIOUSLY??? I love Marvel's humor, BUT way too often they choose to use humor where, instead, there should be an emotional impact, and it bothers me. Please have funny lines, absolutely. But don't make the big, deep threads end up being a JOKE.
This movie was also definitely lacking in the plot department. Ronan just...ran away? Ooookay then. The villains and plot and trying to tie it all into the other Marvel movies wasn't handled well. It didn't feel like the writers really tried as hard as they should. It felt more like a fun action flick than part of this huge, deep cinematic franchise.
BUT, irregardless, I did still like it. Waaay more than I thought I would! I do wish they had either brought Carol in WAY earlier, or AFTER the Endgame stuff, and tied it into the Marvel universe more gracefully. But still. It was a super fun movie! AND I LITERALLY GOT TEARY-EYED DURING THE STAN LEE TRIBUTE. The movie hadn't even STARTED yet and I was already crying. UGH. Marvel, what have you done to me???
Oh gracious, SAME - I literally wasn't even that interested in watching it, honestly. But I figured why not, because a) Marvel, and b) probably should see it before Endgame XD.
DeleteI totally agree - in and off itself, I was glad it didn't feel like a half-baked movie, but in and off the entire Marvel universe ... yeah, it was a half-baked movie that tried to take too much from the rest of the movies. Nothing will ever beat the Avengers, not matter how much it tries XD.
AGH, YES - the villains annoyed me SO MUCH, gah XD. I have SO much to say on that count. And I agree that it felt like a fun action flick, not so much a grand addition to the epic Marvel universe. I liked Carol, though! She was a lot more fun than I thought she was going to be ;D.
OH MY WORD, THE STAN LEE TRIBUTE. That was the most golden part of the whole movie <33333. Would 100% go see it again just for that. Marvel has no right to give us such feels, NO RIGHT WHATSOEVER XD. (*cough* and yet, here we all are, waiting for the next feelsy Marvel movie*cough*;D) Thanks for reading, Lauri!! <3
aww, i loved Captain Marvel!! and i agree completely with all your thoughts...especially since i feel like Black Widow should have gotten her own movie before Captain Marvel. and the 90s vibe was amazing! especially the scene when Carol crash-landed into the Blockbuster. xD AND CAROL & FURY'S FRIENDSHIP WAS THE BEST.
ReplyDeleteTHE SCENE WITH "i have nothing to prove to you" WAS AMAZING. <3 <3 our theater literally cheered and started clapping when it happened.
i can't wait for the next Captain Marvel film! <3
I was literally just thinking now that a Black Widow movie would've been a more appropriate one to make first! :D Captain Marvel *could* have been taken out of Endgame entirely and become part of phase 4.
DeleteOh my gracious, I agree with both of you! A Black Widow movie would have been the MOST AMAZING THING to have right before Endgame, my word. (and YES, THE BLOCKBUSTER SCENE WAS SO GREAT XD)
DeleteABSOLUTELY, isn't it so great when the theater goes insane over a scene? SUCH MAGIC. I'm super interested to see what Marvel does with the next Captain Marvel movie - I hope it holds up to this one. We shall see!
Honestly, I agree with all of this! I was so grateful that the feminist agenda wasn’t pushed too hard. But yeah - they should have brought her in sooner. -_- Great review!
ReplyDeleteYES, same - I was super worried that it would be a boring, agenda-pushing movie, but it wasn't! Huzzah! ;D It was a great movie. Thanks for reading, Nicole! <3
DeleteI've been meaning to watch this one, I'm here for the 90's aesthetic if nothing else.
ReplyDeleteThe 90s aesthetic was pretty cool, even if it was only a light aesthetic. 100% think you should give it a shot ;). (and let me know what you think after you watch it!)
DeleteOKAY, YES, you put into words a lot of what I've been feeling about Captain Marvel! Loooove the 90's aspect and the banter with Fury. I actually don't mind the backstory about his eye, though.
ReplyDeleteBut I do agree that it raises a lot of questions about the universe as a whole. And, after seeing Carol in Endgame, she seemed pretty flat there without Fury to bounce any humor off of. I hope to see her personality round out as time goes on. She has so much potential!
YES, FURY WAS THE BEST THING EVER - how did we not know how badly we needed to see Baby Fury on the big screen? BECAUSE WE NEEDED THIS XD. (*cough*no, I'll forever hate the eye thing*cough* XD)
DeleteYeah, I was sad about that - she was so sassy in her own movie! I'm looking forward to seeing her second movie, hopefully they'll turn her into a more fully-fleshed-out character.
I agree with you!! Nick was my absolute favorite part of the entire movie! Although UGH I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT'S HOW HE LOST HIS EYE. I'M SO ANGRY. >:(
ReplyDeleteI didn't like the villains either. There was no build up! I didn't know who I should have been rooting for Carol to defeat...there didn't seem to be a singular villain. Because even with twist villains (which Marvel likes to do A LOT), you still have someone to root against. Captain Marvel...didn't really.
Also, yes, all the unanswered questions...I was so confused about the plot most of the time while watching. XD It raised more questions than it answered, that's for sure. XD
And even if we WERE able to figure out who we should be rooting for her to defeat (SUCH! CONFUSION!), we wouldn't even be able to PROPERLY root for her, because she was just too strong? This movie had issues XD.
DeleteHonestly, I really hope they give her a second movie and do it better. Because I feel like I could like Captain Marvel if they did her properly! I'm hopeful for what they'll do with her character in the future - I guess we'll see!