REVIEW: 

Nick Fury: So... you're not from around here.
Carol Danvers: It's hard to explain.

People of C53 (Earth), another other worldly piece has been added to the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) playing board and this one means business. So she’s not exactly from around here, or is she? First, a disclaimer, I know very very little of the comic book character Captain Marvel other than the little I’ve heard from my boys who are comic book gurus. So I speak entirely about the character I met in this film. I am unsure of how true she is to any other representation. That being said, DAMN!, this woman is quite powerful, quite determined, and quite human. The human and determined part gives it away that she must be from around here originally. The power part is undoubtedly other worldly. A good chunk of the movie is presenting the origin story of Miss Marvel, to the point that Priscilla was starting to get impatient with it. I didn’t mind too much cause I was entranced by Brie Larson (Captain Marvel a.k.a. Carol Danvers). I must say, she is a breath of fresh air. Her acting is so fluid, real, and natural, you know, down to earth (pun intended), that it’s a pleasure to watch. Even though it is meant to be this way, her being the main character and all, she does steal every scene she’s in. I first saw her in Scott Pilgrim, she’s won an Oscar for Room, and now she’s a superhero. This particular superhero is a badass and Brie filled those shoes well. I had two major reasons why I was looking forward to this flick: to learn more about this superhero I knew so little about, and to see Brie in an ass kicking role. I was pleased with both. I was also hoping for some good ties to the rest of the MCU, with all that’s going on, and we get some of that too, whew. On the down side however, not too pleased with this younger, somewhat innocent version of Nick Fury (Samuel Jackson). I mean this is Nick Fury, the alpha male, the man in charge, and yet in this film he is a bit silly at times . . . weird. Sure, he wasn’t the Director of Shield yet, but still, this representation weakened his character a little. Another character, and he is the ULTIMATE character, that shows up nice and strong in this film is the one and only Stan Lee. There is an awesome little tribute to him during the opening credits, don’t miss it; touching and well deserved.


I feel like a broken record with these Marvel movies, but yes, there is good action, good amount of emotion, a pretty good storyline (better than I thought it would be), and of course, amazing special effects and visuals. You can’t expect anything less. Oh yeah, and it’s good fun too. For us older folk, the 90s nostalgia was pretty cool too, especially the soundtrack. The dialogue in the movie is worth mentioning as well. It was casual and comfortable, but not dumb. The banter between Carol and Fury was especially enjoyable, credit to the Writer/Director team of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. They did a great job with this film making it relatable and easy, but not too easy. Kudos to them, especially considering it’s their first major mainstream superhero flick. I picked up on two major underlying themes with this film. The first is the focus on girl power and it was refreshing to see women in the forefront of a superhero film again. The second is the life lesson: if you fall and no matter how many times you do, you get back up. This is what Carol Danvers is all about.