[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”17872″ img_size=”800×450″ alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]I had written in my last “Traditionalist” post that I would reserve judgement on a film until I viewed it myself. Well that moment has come for Captain Marvel. There has been much conversation about this film, with a lot of the talk centering about comments made by Star Brie Larson about diversity and inclusion that some took offense to. These comments had little or nothing to do with the film itself. Other objections were based more on the fact that the film’s main character was a woman and a bad ass one at that which seems to intimidate some. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and we at GVNation encourage people to share them. Now that I have seen Captain Marvel, I can express mine and it has been confirmed…Carol Danvers is here and she kicks major ass.
Lets do ahead and get the one negative that has been mentioned about the film out of the way and I can see it. The film starts out a bit slow. This is probably a necessary evil as not everyone is familiar with Carol Danvers and some background is needed to be filled in. Once that is accomplished, it picks up speed in a hurry. Truth is, I thought that Spider–Man Into the Spiderverse also started slow. Stay with it, you’ll be rewarded in the end.
Brie Larson does a great job as Carol Danvers and her chemistry with Samuel L. Jackson is a joy to watch. The younger Nick Fury was a much looser dude and he really had a sense of humor. The Age reducing software they used on Jackson worked well ( Not that Sam looks that bad for his age to begin with). I thought in his fight scenes he still fought kind of like the older guy. I thought he would have been a little more spry. But that’s a very minor complaint. Especially since he was fighting a Skrull. Speaking of the Skrulls…
The writers made some changes to the Skrull story as opposed to their comic presentation. In the comics, they were presented much like they are in the beginning of the film. Alien shapeshifters who use their abilities to infiltrate and take over worlds. (Think the aliens on John Carpenter’s They Live). But by the third act, the Skrulls are revealed as a more sympathetic race who have been pretty much defeated by the Kree. They have been using their abilities to seek refuge on places like Earth until they can find a new home for their remaining people away from the Kree. Speaking of Skrulls, Talos as played by Ben Mendelsohn did a great job, playing the role with both the necessary fierceness and a nice comic touch. It’s not easy to make a race of “green lizards” as Fury called them sympathetic but Mendelsohn helped to pull it off.
They also made some significant changes to the character of Mar-Vell but they kept the spirit of the character. The film retains the comic book’s mentor-figure role with Carol, as well as the mission Mar-Vell had of being an undercover operative for the Kree. However, the original Mar-Vell was a soldier while Annette Bening’s Mar-Vell is more of the scientist. Her goal is to develop a lightspeed engine using the Tesseract (that thing keeps turning up) to move the Skrulls to a new home, safe from the Kree. She does this while working in a cloaked orbital lab. The other minor difference is the name used, changing the name to Wendy Lawson, as opposed to the comics’ Philip Lawson, which is of course to reflect the gender change. Lawson is shot and killed by Yon-Rogg after being intercepted by the Kree commander in his attempt to obtain the light speed engine.
The rest of the cast did a great job as well. Jude Law’s Yon-Rogg was another character, like the Skrulls, who you felt one way about in the beginning of the film and the polar opposite by the end. Special shout out to Lashana Lynch as Maria Rambeau who was bad ass in her own right. She got a chance to shine as a pilot to save the day and more importantly, along with her daughter played with spunk by Akira Akbar, helped Carol rediscover some of her memories and her “humanity.” Really Good Stuff. Oh, and there’s Goose the scene stealing cat. I won’t go into detail about what he’s all about but he plays a major role and I think he might have been borrowed from Men in Black. That’s all I’m going to say about that.
Over all it was a good time and one of those films, like Guardians of the Galaxy and Dr. Strange that you probably need to watch more than once to glean everything there is to learn. It’s worth it in the end. As per usual, there is a mid-credit scene to setup Avengers: End Game and a end of credit scene with Goose getting the last word.
So if you have the chance, go see Captain Marvel and make your own opinion. But don’t forget to share your experiences with us at GVNation.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Senior Writer at GeekVibesNation – I am a 50 something child of the 70’s who admits to being a Star Trek/Star Wars/Comic Book junkie who once dove head first over a cliff (Ok, it was a small hill) to try to rescue his Fantastic Four comic from a watery grave. I am married to a lovely woman who is as crazy as I am and the proud parent of a 18 year old boy with autism. My wife and son are my real heroes.
