Captain Marvel takes a risk by starting the movie at a point where the lead charater, doesn't know who she is. She doesnt remember, and that choice leaves the audiance in a strange place for the first 10 to 15 minutes of the film. Eventually she figures it out, and we who are watching come along for the ride. But the beginning, left me cold towards the film, the characters, and lost in a story that was setup poorly. Granted its poor form to knock a two plus hour movie for the first 10 minutes, but lets face it, the first 10 minutes are what usually hook you. In well constructed movies, in the classics, you get pulled in and want more. Here I had the sense that I stepped into the middle of a story that was complex, with lots of characters and I dont know what is going on, which is ok for a minute or two. This just went on too long, and to top it off, everyone was an alien, so I couldnt trust that I know what to expect of them. So, overall I was left with a feeling that I was confused and not engaged with any of the characters for too far into this film.
Ok, so enough about the start, after 15 minutes or so, Captain Marvel falls from the sky into a blockbuster video, and into the 1990's. Nick Fury shows up and we begin to build a sense of who she is. We get to see a bit of who he is and where he started and i connected with the characters. If only I had started there. The entire film to that point could have been a flashback once the viewer was connected to the characters and cared about them.
Taken in it entirety, this film introduces the most powerful MCU character we have seen and we get to see how she got there and a bit of who she is. Since it is set in the 1990's we also get to see why we havent seen her to this point in the MCU, but it also begs the question as to why she wasnt summoned into the MCU sooner given the threats that have been intoduced into this fantasy world. Of course if you can set aside your disbelief of super powers then you can get past some story inconsistancies. The production quality of the film is top notch as one has come to expect from Marvel, and the Mavel comics preroll common to all MCU movies was reworked as a tribute to Stan Lee, who make his final MCU cameo. A sweet and pleasent surpise.
Captain Marvel
Starring
Brie Larson - Danvers
Samuel L. Jackson
Ben Mendelsohn
Djimon Hounsou
Lee Pace
Lashana Lynch
Gemma Chan
Annette Bening
Clark Gregg
Jude Law
Directed
Anna Boden
Ryan Fleck
Written
Anna Boden
Ryan Fleck
Geneva Robertson-Dworet