The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Brie-filled appetizer
Larson rules in ‘Captain Marvel,’ a decent, lighter adventure bridging ‘Avengers’ epics
“Captain Marvel” is the heavy hors d’oeuvres. ¶ The film a hearty snack from Disney-owned Marvel Studios meant to tide you over until — and whet your appetite for — late April’s highly anticipated “Avengers: Endgame.” “Captain Marvel” plays like a prequel not just to that movie but, considering it’s set in 1995, also to most of what’s already unfolded in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. ¶ And, much like pre-dinner nibbles, it can be tasty but ultimately isn’t all that filling.
Early on in the science-fiction-heavy adventure, it feels as though we’re breathlessly playing catch-up.
We’re introduced to Brie Larson’s titular character — who, as the story begins, is Vers, an operative for Starforce, an elite military group of the Kree people of the planet Hala.
However, Vers is having memories of what seems to be a life on Earth dating to childhood. Like us watching the film, she seems rather confused by the whole situation.
On the latest night during which dramatic, imagery-filled dreams are keeping her from a restful sleep, she runs into her commanding officer in Starforce, Yon-Rogg (Jude Law).
“Wanna fight?” she asks him.
They proceed to engage in one-on-one combat training, YonRogg working to hammer home lessons he clearly already has been imparting on her. Vers, on the other hand, voices frustration that her mentor hasn’t set her loose with her mysterious ability to shoot powerful laser beams from her hands.
“What is the point of giving me these if you don’t want me to use them?” she asks.
He responds that he wants her to use them, but when she’s ready.
On a mission against the Skrulls, a Kree enemy with pointy ears, Vers is taken prisoner and hooked up to machine to extract key information from her memories. The Skrulls are interested in a woman Vers sees in her dreams (Annette Bening), but whom she doesn’t remember, and, more importantly, technology the woman was developing.
Vers escapes the alien craft and crashlands on Planet C53, better known to us as Earth — specifically onto a Blockbuster Video store in what proves to be 1995.
After an entertaining interaction with a security guard who obviously wants no part of tangling with this spacewoman but who politely points her to a Radio Shack when she asks where she might find communication equipment, Vers runs afoul of S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) — a character now well-known to followers of the MCU as the director of said intelligence agency.
Following a thrilling sequence in which Vers takes on a couple of the Skrulls, who have followed her to C53, aboard a speeding commuter train, she and Fury race to figure out what the Skrulls are after before the aliens can find it. Complicating matters is that the Skrulls are capable of taking the appearance of anyone they see, a skill at which the invasion team leader, Talos (Ben Mendelsohn), is particularly adept.
“Captain Marvel” is helmed by the directing tandem of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (“Half Nelson,” “Sugar”), who wrote the screenplay with Geneva Robertson-Dworet. (Nicole Perlman and Meg LeFauve get story credits, along with the other three.) All of these cooks are very interested in serving up a hot plate of nostalgia, from the period-setting businesses, technology and pop culture to the younger versions of Fury and MCU regular S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg, who, like Jackson, is young-ified for the film largely via the addition of hair). Also, expect to see a couple of familiar faces from 2014’s delightful “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1” — just maybe not ones you’d choose.
As directors, Boden and Fleck are more successful at times in the film than at others. “Captain Marvel” dazzles early, even amid the confusion, drags in the middle and then picks back up — at least somewhat — for its stretch run.
And the flick is better at delivering comedic moments than topnotch action sequences. (One sequence late in the movie, set to No Doubt’s 1995 cut “Just a Girl,” doesn’t deliver on its potential. Strong song choice, though, guys.)
That said, they certainly accomplish what’s undoubtedly the top priority with “Captain Marvel”: establishing Larson’s version of the character, who also will come to be known as Carol Danvers. If you didn’t already realize Captain Marvel will figure significantly into the events of “Endgame,” you will after seeing the first of two post-credits sequences, which ties to a similar sequence from last year’s epic “Avengers: Infinity War.” (Hang out for the second “Captain Marvel” sequence, too. It’s fun.)
Of course, the work Larson — a deserved Academy Award winner for 2015’s “Room” who also played a key role in 2017’s “Kong: Skull Island” — goes a long way in making this Captain Marvel memorable. Before showing her dramatic chops in “Room,” Larson appeared on a number of TV comedy series, and she reminds us here she’s the total package, nailing the funny moments.
She is, if you’ll forgive us, marvelous.
Jackson (“The Hateful Eight”) also is a good bit of fun as the younger Fury. He’s not quite the man in total control we’ve come to know in movies set chronologically years after this one, and he has a major soft spot for a cat that, for some reason, really freaks out the Skrulls.
Also worth a mention is Mendelsohn (“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” “Ready Player One”), who, despite being covered in prosthetics for most of the movie, is able to show a bit more than his typically villainous roles allow.
As we comfortably digest “Captain Marvel,” consider us as hungry as ever for “Avengers: Endgame.”
“Captain Marvel” dazzles early, even amid the confusion, drags in the middle and then picks back up — at least somewhat — for its stretch run.