STAR POWER
Marvel’s latest superhero film soars thanks to lots of good- natured fun and Brie Larson in the title role
Origin stories for sci- fi/ fantasy franchises are notoriously tricky affairs. The creators aa ( and the studios behind them) cer- tainly want a debut film that leads to a series of money- making sequels.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture ( 1979) certainly got things off to a rocky start as it sought to revive the classic 1960s television vv series. But fans stuck around for later instalments despite how long it took for the big reveal about V’ger ( yawn!).
In the case of Captain Marvel, it’s a character that’s been male and female over oo the course of many decades and incarnations. Carol Danvers first came to life in 1968 and has even had a different superhero name in the Marvel universe.
The trick, it would seem, for director/ co- writers Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck is to launch the newly reimagined captain without cluttering things up
with too much back- story. Actually they do the opposite, taking a risky gambit
on making the superheroine’s origins part of an intricate (and initially confusing) plot.
So in the film’s early goings, we meet Vers as a soldier of the alien Kree civilization doing battle against the evil, shapeshifting Skrulls. But wait — why is Vers having these vivid dreams (or perhaps memories) of another life as a woman fighter pilot on distant Planet C-53 (Earth)?
The script has plenty of other surprises in store as the audience’s perceptions of who the good guys and bad guys are undergoes a major shift. It also has, as expected, copious tie-ins to the Marvel universe, including a brief opening homage to Stan Lee along with a brief Hitchcockian cameo for the legendary creator of SpiderMan and others.
It also has a rich streak of sly and cheeky laughs throughout to remind us not to take things all that seriously, including a high-altitude crash into a Blockbuster video store (which will help nail down the time period the story is set in), a guy’s snarky assessment of Marvel’s “dressed for laser tag” outfit, an alien autopsy, a very unusual kitty and references to clunky 1990s technology.
When Vers finds herself on Earth, she draws the attention of S.H.I.E.L.D., a secret agency that tracks the strange and the alien, which provides an opportunity to meet a much younger Nick Fury (still a two-eyed agent and not the boss) and Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg), both of whom are persuasively digitally made to look about 20 years younger. Fortunately, Samuel L. Jackson, reprising the Fury role, keeps a lid on his oratorical excesses and turns in an appealing performance.
But the film will sink or swim on Brie Larson’s performance as Marvel and here, the directors have chosen wisely. Larson is a top-notch actor and, despite the withering (though not unexpected) assessment of digital trolls, creates a fully fleshed character of pluck and intelligence, self-doubt and tenacity.
As much as the plot delivers some interesting and unexpected twists, it’s probably best not to dissect it too closely lest its internal inconsistencies cause the entire structure to collapse. Directors Boden and Fleck also fall a bit short in executing the film’s somewhat unwieldy conclusion.
But the film looks great on an IMAX screen, Larson is sublime and the fantastical plot is buoyed throughout with lots of good-natured humour — reason enough to wish a return engagement for Captain Marvel.