First Take: Captain Marvel- it begins, and ends with a hero

Spoiler free as usual. Because we’re well and truly in the Endgame now.

SYNOPSIS: Carol Danvers becomes one of the universe’s most powerful heroes when Earth is caught in the middle of a galactic war between two alien races.

Well, here we go with the ‘go-home’ release for the road to that elusive Avengers finale in April. Marvel have had a lot of extra expectations with the production of this one, especially knowing how some people on the internet react to major properties featuring female talent. But as ever, this is another solid release, but there are some problems.

It is directed very well by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, who pace it well (this is a 2 hour 4 minute film, one of the shortest releases in the Marvel Cinematic Universe) and build upon the stylistic freedom that Kevin Feige has allowed directors to utilise in more recent MCU films, however, as they co-wrote the script with Geneva Robertson-Dworet and devised the story with 2 other credited writers, at points, it does feel like it was written by committee, utilising the same origin story tropes that we’ve seen in Iron Man, Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger- but it does handily tie up a lot of loose ends across all 3 phases of films. The cinematography from Ben Davis is top class, and the score from newcomer Pinar Toprak does create that 1990s feel, especially combined with a soundtrack album that could rival the Awesome Mixtapes seen in another Marvel franchise.

That, of course, brings us on to the performances. Brie Larson is able to prove her critics wrong once again, adding depth to the character of Carol Danvers- working with her to create some magic are Jude Law, Ben Mendelsohn, Gemma Chan (of Channel 4′s major series Humans), Lashana Lynch (who plays a very important role in the second and third acts) and the legendary Annette Bening- but obviously there are some major returning characters. Samuel L Jackson and Clark Gregg once again head up S.H.I.E.L.D operations, Lee Page is back as Ronan the Accuser, and Djimon Hounsou is back as Korath- better known to cinemagoers as the guy Star-Lord encounters at the start of the first Guardians film- but this cast, as is tradition on every Marvel release absolutely kill it. Including Goose, the cat. She’s awesome.

THE VERDICT

Captain Marvel feels like the natural way to begin the swansong of this 10 year journey for the Avengers storyline- having seen her powerset in action, it’s understandable why her film is the last one before Endgame, but because we’ve seen the same origin story tropes time after time, it is not the best film Marvel have put out, but it does set up what will come in April very well. 

RATING: 4/5