Captain Marvel: Breaking the formula in the worst way possible

By Sam Cooperman

     Marvel Studio’s latest film Captain Marvel has a marvelous post-credit scene. Other than that it’s nothing new. Captain Marvel is the 21st movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and introduces us to a very important character in the upcoming Avengers: Endgame. She is officially the most powerful hero in the franchise so far, and this film shows us why that is. The film actually has a very big difference from all the Marvel movies before it, but when you watch it, Captain Marvel still feels the same.

     The reason I say this film is different is that there is no traditional “big bad” as they are often called that our hero needs to take down. Instead, Carol Danvers aka Vers is just a soldier fighting a war between two alien races (the Kree and the Skrull). The reason she becomes important is that she crash lands on Earth and learns a very important secret about the war. I won’t reveal what that secret is as it is a very important part of the movie, but it is actually pretty unexpected. There are also two more plot twists but they are much less interesting and very predictable. 
     ​Samuel L. Jackson reprises his role as agent Nick Fury and is easily the best thing about this movie. Captain Marvel takes place in 1995 meaning this is a pre eyepatch, Nick Fury. The movie plays with its audience by including many fake outs, as most people watching are probably just waiting for him to lose his eye. I won’t tell you how it happens but it is extremely disappointing. Fury gets many funny lines and it is interesting to see how he acts as a new agent at S.H.I.E.L.D when aliens and superpowers are first popping up in this world. He also gets a lot of time to play with a cat named Goose who holds a very strange secret which leads to a hilarious scene between the two. 
     Brie Larson as Carol Danvers on the other hand is not as fortunate. There is nothing wrong with her performance but her character is written in a strange way. She lost her memories before she gained her powers but can still get glimpses at her previous life as a human. Most of the film is dedicated to her discovering her past, but we only get to see the same general thing happen to her over and over again. Carol gets knocked down, and people tell her she can’t do whatever she is trying to do so she stands back up. However we never actually see her succeed at what she is trying to do in these flashbacks. This is part of a greater problem of Carol not being a well-defined character. 
     Most of the film is very well-paced and written until the third act. First, we see what the war and Carol’s life is like. Then Carol gets to Earth where she learns about her past with enough jokes and developments to keep us engaged. Once she decides to do what she thinks she needs to do to end the war, the plot is all over the place. This is where not having a traditional “big bad” turns into a crutch because the movie doesn’t make it clear who exactly she is fighting. This leads to a somewhat brief, and very underwhelming final fight scene. At least there is no sky beam like so many other superhero films have in the finale for some reason. 
     What I mean when I say that Captain Marvel is nothing new is that it follows the same basic formula as all Marvel movies  (except for Avengers: Infinity War). Even halfway through the film you know it’s building to a large-scale final fight, and that sometime before that the hero is going to get some kind of advantage because that is what always happens. And the way this film follows the formula doesn’t work. Captain Marvel’s leg up is so obvious that my friend and I both figured out what it would be within the first fifteen minutes. 
     ​If you are a fan of the MCU then I would definitely see this film. While it won’t surprise you for the most part it was still entertaining and the first ¾ are very well written. Nick Fury plays a very big role which I think he deserves considering he’s been with the franchise since the beginning. The post-credit scene was very cool and helps to build excitement for Avengers: Endgame, so I am rating this film 5 photon blasts out of 10.