If you have been paying attention to the internet at all over the past few weeks, you would have without a doubt heard at least something on the controversy of the most recent entry into the MCU: Captain Marvel. Between Brie Larson's attempt to use the film's PR to push her own personal politics, and the media trying to protect the film from criticism, this film will probably go down as having one of the biggest PR fiasco's of the genre. That being said, this is not what I am here to talk about, instead, I am here to talk about the film itself as I watched it yesterday, so without further ado, let's talk Captain Marvel.
There is a big question I am going to get out of the way right now. First is Captain Marvel a dumpster fire of a film, no. Speaking objectively, Captain Marvel is another solid, C rated movie in the collection of Marvel, if you are a standard audience member, this film will be akin to movies like Antman where it was certainly fun for a watch, but you probably wouldn't be looking to watch it again. This has a lot to do with the film's very disjointed storytelling and AWFUL pacing. However, the film successfully plays off its visuals and 90's nostalgia to distract the audience from all of the film's problems, so again, from an objective standpoint, I would give this film a 6.5 out of 10. That being said, this is not good enough. It's certainly interesting to see Marvel play the verbal punching bag in a contest to a DC film for once because, for all the same reasons Wonder Woman was great, this movie found itself lacking. Gal Gadot brought charm, charisma and a physical presence to her role as Diana, whereas Brie Larson's performance attempted to bring out those qualities of the character but instead is constantly finding herself falling short. They try to write her with a Tony Stark-like whit but it doesn't come off as being smart, she instead comes off as condescending, and all that I have to say about her physical presence was that watching her attempt to run was a very clear indication that this woman hasn't done a physical anything in her life. Frankly, we deserved better from Marvel's first female-led film, but this is only part of my disappointment.
When making a film based around comic stories, finding the middle ground between artistic license and source material is very important. As a comic book fan, that's something that I use to ground my expectations, and so long as the characters ring true to how they feel in the books, I am fine. However, watching this film and seeing what they took license with, and how they did, I have never felt more personally slapped in the face for investing my time in these stories. Now as a warning I am going to be writing some big SPOILERS here, so if you haven't seen the movie and don't like spoilers, you might want to stop here. That being said, I am going to move on forward. First, let's talk Captain Marvel, and in this, I don't actually mean Carol Danvers, the film's protagonist, but the original Captain, Mar-Vell, whose part in this film is a complete disservice to one of Marvel's most cherished characters for fans of the Silver and Bronze Age of books.
Created by Stan Lee in 67, Mar-Vell was initially sent to Earth as a spy for the Kree but instead turned his back on the Kree after being inspired by the heroes of Earth as a protector. During his tenure in the books, Mar-Vell has fought foes like the Kree, Skrulls, and even taken on the Mad Titan Thanos BY HIMSELF. I want to point this out because, Mar-Vell is in Captain Marvel, but despite his importance as a character in the books, the MCU treated him like garbage. The first slight to me was the gender swap. Rather than portray this character the way he was meant to be, they gender-swapped Mar-Vell because god forbid the first female to have any male role models, we absolutely can't have that! However, this isn't the greatest disservice. If they had gender bent the character, but at least made them have the presence and impact that Mar-Vell has in the books, I could forgive it. However, they didn't. Instead, the character of Mar-Vell was reduced to a damn easter egg. We find out she's Mar-Vell and then two seconds later she is shot and killed. She actively does NOTHING, and while I realize this is Carol's movie, Mar-Vell is an integral part of her taking up this mantle and deserved a good helluva lot more than what he got. Bad as this is though, Mar-Vell wasn't the only thing from the books they messed up horribly.
In the comics, there are two warring factions on the cosmic side of things. Two foes, that can never really put their differences aside, and both are treated as antagonizing forces in the books: The Kree, and the Skrull. The Kree people already had been introduced to through previous entries such as Guardians of the Galaxy, but Captain Marvel introduces the Skrull, and because of how Captain Marvel portrays the Skrull, they have completely disabled the MCU from ever using the Skrulls as villains, EVER. The Skrulls have been turned from the shape-shifting conquerors of the books to helpless refugees hunted by the Kree and in search for a home. If any comic book fans were hoping for an adaptation of Secret Invasion, sorry to disappoint, but that's NEVER going to happen. With Skrulls being turned into a commentary on the Syrian refugee crisis, they will never be used as villains again, and if they are it will be in the same way Ronan was used in Guardians: a group of extremist zealots, because again, god forbid we have a race of evil aliens without any good intent. Are we going to try and humanize the Chitauri next?
At the end of the day, Captain Marvel has no excuse to be anything less than the best this genre has to offer, and it just is not that. This movie does not even come close to my top 10 favorite Marvel films, in fact, it's in a fight with Thor: Dark World for my least favorite entry in the franchise. While it's by no means a bad film, the mixture of its mediocrity and the blatant disrespect to the source material make it one of the most difficult entries to watch, and if this is an indication for the future of this franchise, I might be hopping off the train after Endgame and Far From Home.
This has been another edition of Comic Relief! I hope you have enjoyed and we will see you again soon!
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