Captain Marvel

(★★★✩✩) WHEN the best parts of a Marvel movie are the opening studio logo animation (granted, it’s a very special clip this time), the Stan Lee cameo (which connects to a whole other shared cinematic universe!) and the first endcredits scene, something isn’t clicking.

At least, not clicking as well as the slickly synchronised beats of past Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) standalone standouts like Winter Soldier and Black Panther.

Captain Marvel – which introduces superheroine Carol Danvers, as hinted at the end of Avengers: Infinity War – certainly shows that a lot of thought went into integrating her in the MCU at this one-decade milestone.

The film craftily plays around with our expectations of good guys and bad guys, and has fun yanking the rug out from under many a Marvelite’s feet. And I have no complaints about Brie Larson’s spirited performance as a character who has been determined all her life to prove naysayers wrong. We should all have more grit in our gizzards like that.

But this is a superhero origin story, and my main issue with it is a curious, almost glaring lack of exuberance at the character’s transformation and eventual metamorphosis into the cosmic powerhouse of the comics.

Without this unifying sensation – oh, and also because of some sudden swerves and the cramped final third of the film – the experience is that of watching many good scenes, set-pieces and characters that do not quite gel. It’s still solid entertainment, just not the take-your-breath-away kind that some comic-to-movie triumphs have been.