Captain Marvel (12A)
Starring Brie Larson and co-written and directed by filmmaking couple Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (Half
Nelson), Captain Marvel isn’t just the first made female-led Marvel superhero movie (or the first time Marvel has hired a woman to direct one of its films), it’s also the first movie in what’s set to be a new phase for the ever-expanding comic book movie franchise that’s dominated mainstream cinema since Iron Man in 2008. That makes it a big deal and, depressingly, the insecure misogynist fanboys have already launched pathetic online campaigns trying to sabotage the movie.
As it happens, those kinds of retrograde attitudes are woven into the fabric of this origins story, set in the 1990s and revolving around a character chastised by her mentor (played by Jude Law) for being “too emotional” to control her powers.
Although the sci-fi heavy opening salvo is baffling – she’s part of an elite alien military unity but is plagued by Jason Bourne-style amnesia regarding her previous life on Earth – the fun gets properly under way when she crash-lands on US soil circa 1995. As you might expect from a studio that gave us the 1980s-riffing
Guardians of the Galaxy, the period signifiers are pretty jokey and on the nose, but there’s also a nice ironic touch to a lot of the pop-culture references that subtly challenge the sexist attitudes of the era. It’s a little frustrating, then, that the action sequences can’t break free from the generic house-style that ultimately makes all Marvel movies blend together, but that’s perhaps also a result of the film having to function as a direct prequel to the whole MCU by having Larson’s character partner up with a pre-eyepatch-wearing Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson, de-aged with CGI). Jackson’s always good value in this role, though, so it’s fun to see Fury’s backstory expanded.
As for Larson, the Room Oscarwinner quickly comes into her own in a role that never quite conforms to expected superhero conventions.