Captain Marvel is a blast (literally)

Step aside, boys. The most powerful Avenger is here, and she wears flannel.

Captain Marvel follows Vers, a warrior in an extraterrestrial war, as she crash lands on Earth in 1995 and is pursued by Skrulls, her enemies. She is at the same time struggling with the fact that her memories before she joined the galactic race of alien soldiers are missing, but the ones she does have are starting to make Earth look very familiar. Along the way to discovering her past life as Carol Danvers and the truth of the Skrull/Kree war, she teams up with Nick Fury (played by Samuel L. Jackson), and Air Force pilot named Maria (played by Lashana Lynch) and a cat named Goose (played by Reggie, Gonzo, Archie, and Rizzo, who all have fantastic performances).

This movie is good from a critic’s perspective. The cast proves their acting chops can hold up in a big-name, big-audience movie like Captain Marvel, and Oscar-winner Brie Larson shines through as the pillar of the movie, a woman is trying to find out who she is in the middle of a dangerous time. The relationships at the center of the film – two women who are best friends and raise a child together – pulls through as the human element in a movie about superheroes and aliens. The film has it’s humorous moments, a staple of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. These light, comedic moments serve as a balance to the very serious consequences of war and ignorance. I particularly love the costume design, and I applaud Sanja Milkovic Hays for her work on both the iconic Captain Marvel suit and the the Kree and Skrull wardrobes, with emphasis on Talos’s (Ben Mendelsohn) outfit.

Captain Marvel proves itself with every new marker it hits. The film made  $153,433,423 in domestic grossing during its opening weekend, propelling it to Number #1 in the country. It had the 18th biggest opening weekend of all time, sixth-biggest domestic debut for a female-led movie, biggest IMAX global launch for a non-sequel, biggest opening weekend for a female-directed feature, biggest overseas debut for a female-led movie, biggest worldwide debut for a female-fronted movie, and several more.

Although the movie is good, critics find there is not anything mind-blowingly exceptional, but then again, why should it be? I’ll tell you something, though; in the movie theater I went to, there was a girl of about ten a few rows in front of me. After the movie was over, she danced around, talking excitedly to her brothers about Carol and her glowing powers, her enthusiastic flying, and how she’s totally definitely going to defeat Thanos. That is the reason I love this movie. For every girl in every movie theater who don’t care that that maybe the plot was a little too predictable or some lines fell flat or there were a few too many unexplained coincidences. They care because there’s a superhero who saves the world, and that superhero is a girl, just like them. It’s about time.

Star Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ 3.5/5