Matt Mcgloin reviews Captain Marvel

[Mike_Murdock]

True. Though, I think they had a number of opportunities to give Monica her power during this movie

That would be depriving her of an opportunity to get her power in a movie that gives her more screentime while distracting from the story they were telling. Just because they could do it in this movie doesn't mean it's the better choice.

[Korath]

Having had some time to digest the movie (I saw it Wednesday morning) I think I'll stand by my first impression : it's a filler episode and what's really sad about the movie is that it had a lot of potential but failed to realize it.

For me, Brie Larson played such a BADASS female character that her Carol Danvers ended being very flat and uni-dimensional, as if nothing which had happened or was happening to her left a mark on her. And I don't begrudge Brie Larson here - I'm pretty sure that she played her role exactly as the peoples making the movie wanted her to do. But they tried so hard to make a perfect "Strong Independent Woman" (God, I hate to have to use this "catchphrase" to describe Brie's Carol when she had everything to be a very deep and relatable character - but flaws) character that, somehow, Talos and the Skrulls ended with far more character development than the main character !

The craziest thing is that when she dealt with Yon-Rogg the way she did in the movie, with the phrase she said, I 100% agreed with her, and I smiled when she said that. But I never cheered for her, because she never felt like an actual person to me. I think she lacked both her No Man's Land scene and her Bombing of the Belgian Town (I don't remember the name of the town in Wonder Woman), a scene to make her regal and heroic and one to see her down and hurt, and still thriving to do the right thing.

And yet, she had everything -EVERYTHING- to be just as powerful an awe-inspiring. She has a tragic and poignant backstory, she could have had inner frailties or moments of doubt. The moment she met with Maria and Monica should have been such a visceral moment, where Maria could have broken down, happy to see her best friend alive and sad that she wasn't remembered and Carol feeling terrible because she couldn't remember her, even when she felt she should have. And it fell flat, at least for me. The movie director was so preoccupied by depicting to badasses female characters that he or she forgot to develop them.

Compare that to Black Panther -who proved that one could be introduced without a solo movie, like Spiderman. T'Challa failed, he had flaws, and his whole arc was to realize that not only he had to change but his whole country had too. And while he was a King, with super-powers, and crazy tech to boot, from a culture with whom French culture has no ties, as a white dude, I felt taken away by the whole cast and the movie.Something Captain Marveil failed to do.

The movie was obviously not helped by extremely weak villains (Yon-Rogg is not better characterized than Carol, despite what some people who I feel had a bias with the movie even prior its release says. He's just a toxic man and that's about it. The rest of Starforce are even thinner and Ronan's just an over-extended cameo). Which is a shame, because Spiderman - Homecoming and Black Panther had some of the strongest villain of the MCU, proving that solo movies could do just that without the need of several movies to develop them. Hell, even Thanos had only one movie to be developed and it was Infinity War, and he stole the show.

Overall, an average movie, definitively not what I was hoping just before endgame. In a sense, I'm happy that the movie doesn't seem to be stronger to me, perhaps it'll give Shazam! some space to breath and attract peoples -I hope it will. But I still recommend to go and see it, to have your own opinion. It deserves at least that much.

[skyvolt2000]

Opening weekend (not counting today) $455 million.

The highest world wide opening for a solo Marvel (& DC) movie. Second (for now) for all Marvel films. Second highest for all comic films.

3rd highest March opening. $13 million from passing Batman vs Superman.

[Pav]

I saw it.

Thought it was pretty good -- a fun sci-fi action romp with some fun twists. Not one of the very best Marvel movies, but certainly an enjoyable film -- second-tier for sure.

-Pav, who doesn't follow the character in the comics...

[Mike_Murdock]

Opening weekend (not counting today) $455 million.

The highest world wide opening for a solo Marvel (& DC) movie. Second (for now) for all Marvel films. Second highest for all comic films.

3rd highest March opening. $13 million from passing Batman vs Superman.

It also got an A on Cinemascore, which measures audience reaction to a movie using statistically meaningful methods, which bodes well for the movie in the upcoming weeks (I could see Us passing it but more likely Dumbo will be the first to pass it).

[CaptainMar-Vell92 of the Kree]

To be honest I’m still on the fence about going to see this movie, I’m annoyed with Marvel for always belittling Monica to make Carol more prominent and this film seems to be the epitome of that.

You think that's bad? Try to be a fan of Mar-Vell and Genis-Vell.

[CaptainMar-Vell92 of the Kree]

Most of this is guff and I'm not giving CosmicBookTwattery the honour of my clicks but I couldn't sit on this one:
The - not - wh - *spluttering*

The WH40K Imperium ARE irredeemable villains! They have always been so! They slaughter every element of their own people that doesn't measure up to arbitrary standards of 'purity', they leave outlying systems to rot because they redirect funds and attention from governance toward making bigger guns, their upper echelons are full of schemers playing with trillions of lives by the day just to one-up each other in the pecking order, the whole reason they're constantly attacked by Chaos is because they tore open the warp in the name of unrestricted expansion and colonialism...and yes, the Kree are very similar, because outside of the Mar-Vell family line and some renegades, they're all bad guys.

The only times the Kree have ever seemed 'nice' is when they've had their asses kicked so hard and so visibly you can't help be a little sympathetic (e.g. Annihilation Conquest), which is also true of 40K fiction. The only good parts of the Imperium are the folks stuck on the front line, paying for the mistakes of their predecessors and the belligerence of their leadership. A few good men does not a good empire make.

I'll leave it at that since I'm not seeing the movie until tomorrow.

That's my point. They can be used as a platform to tell over the top military Sci-fi stories filled with satire and dark comedy, much like the comics of 2000 AD (Ronan Is basically space Judge Dredd). Or stories about small groups of sympathetic soldiers like Gaunt's Ghosts.

[CaptainMar-Vell92 of the Kree]

Having had some time to digest the movie (I saw it Wednesday morning) I think I'll stand by my first impression : it's a filler episode and what's really sad about the movie is that it had a lot of potential but failed to realize it.

For me, Brie Larson played such a BADASS female character that her Carol Danvers ended being very flat and uni-dimensional, as if nothing which had happened or was happening to her left a mark on her. And I don't begrudge Brie Larson here - I'm pretty sure that she played her role exactly as the peoples making the movie wanted her to do. But they tried so hard to make a perfect "Strong Independent Woman" (God, I hate to have to use this "catchphrase" to describe Brie's Carol when she had everything to be a very deep and relatable character - but flaws) character that, somehow, Talos and the Skrulls ended with far more character development than the main character !

The craziest thing is that when she dealt with Yon-Rogg the way she did in the movie, with the phrase she said, I 100% agreed with her, and I smiled when she said that. But I never cheered for her, because she never felt like an actual person to me. I think she lacked both her No Man's Land scene and her Bombing of the Belgian Town (I don't remember the name of the town in Wonder Woman), a scene to make her regal and heroic and one to see her down and hurt, and still thriving to do the right thing.

And yet, she had everything -EVERYTHING- to be just as powerful an awe-inspiring. She has a tragic and poignant backstory, she could have had inner frailties or moments of doubt. The moment she met with Maria and Monica should have been such a visceral moment, where Maria could have broken down, happy to see her best friend alive and sad that she wasn't remembered and Carol feeling terrible because she couldn't remember her, even when she felt she should have. And it fell flat, at least for me. The movie director was so preoccupied by depicting to badasses female characters that he or she forgot to develop them.

Compare that to Black Panther -who proved that one could be introduced without a solo movie, like Spiderman. T'Challa failed, he had flaws, and his whole arc was to realize that not only he had to change but his whole country had too. And while he was a King, with super-powers, and crazy tech to boot, from a culture with whom French culture has no ties, as a white dude, I felt taken away by the whole cast and the movie.Something Captain Marveil failed to do.

The movie was obviously not helped by extremely weak villains (Yon-Rogg is not better characterized than Carol, despite what some people who I feel had a bias with the movie even prior its release says. He's just a toxic man and that's about it. The rest of Starforce are even thinner and Ronan's just an over-extended cameo). Which is a shame, because Spiderman - Homecoming and Black Panther had some of the strongest villain of the MCU, proving that solo movies could do just that without the need of several movies to develop them. Hell, even Thanos had only one movie to be developed and it was Infinity War, and he stole the show.

Overall, an average movie, definitively not what I was hoping just before endgame. In a sense, I'm happy that the movie doesn't seem to be stronger to me, perhaps it'll give Shazam! some space to breath and attract peoples -I hope it will. But I still recommend to go and see it, to have your own opinion. It deserves at least that much.

Agree. I couldn't have said it better.

[ed2962]

Yeah it's HIM.

I mean sometimes you have to do something like that to get your name out there. Priest did not care for Black Panther and we all know how that worked out.




Folks are willing as long as the toxic side does not try to interfere.

Review bombing films.
Rallying of boycotts of books.
Harassing creators.
Spreading rumors.
Having a double standard.
Making up stuff.

Sure. But when he finally got the opportunity he'd been begging for, he couldn't step up.

[ed2962]

To be honest I’m still on the fence about going to see this movie, I’m annoyed with Marvel for always belittling Monica to make Carol more prominent and this film seems to be the epitome of that.

That's really not what happened concerning the use of the Capt Marvel name.

[ed2962]

For all the cat calls about why this film was NOT about Monica-I would REALLY want to see all these complainers put their MONEY where their mouth is and support a Monica book or a movie if it ever gets made.

Because I HIGHLY doubt they would.

Black Panther & Blade were risks but at least you had a history of black male lead action films that did decent in the theaters to weight in the risk vs rewards.

You don't have that with black female action films (not starring Pam Grier)-every time someone tries we get calls of her being too MANLY looking or acting.

A lot of these guys who are trying to use Monica as prop to beat up Carol don't seem to know that Monica has co-starred in a few different titles over the last several years and is in one now.

[lucius121]

That's really not what happened concerning the use of the Capt Marvel name.

I’m really not referring to the name I know Monica gave up the moniker to Mar-vell’s son before carol took it.

[ed2962]

I’m really not referring to the name I know Monica gave up the moniker to Mar-vell’s son before carol took it.

Ok but that's who they sidelined Monica in favor of. She wasn't pushed aside to make Carol more prominent.

[Michael Watkins]

Yes, but they have frequently helped the heroes against common threats like in Annihilation and Infinity.

We saw a handful of corrupt Kree (and they are just as bad in the comics). Mar-vell was still a noble warrior.

[Valamist]

Is this the review which states that the film is anti-male because Fury... washes some dishes?

Anyway, I saw the film the other day, my first midnight showing, and really enjoyed it. It was fun, well-acted and just a great film. Honestly up there in my MCU Top 5 I think.