Film Review
Even though S & I live in different countries, we still ended up watching the new MCU film Captain Marvel (2019) around the same time. This movie was hyped up for quite a while prior to its release, because this is the first Marvel movie that stars a female superhero! (Warning: Spoilers below)
On one hand, it’s insane that it took 20 movies in The Infinity Saga before a female character had her own film. Of course, characters like Black Widow in the Avengers and Captain America movies, Pepper Potts in the Iron Man series, Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy, and Shuri, Nakiya, Okoye, Ramonda and the Dora Milaje army in Black Panther are just a few exemplary female characters in the saga thus far. Needless to say, viewers around the world were ecstatic to finally have a film headlined by a female character. After watching Captain Marvel, S & I agreed that we both left the theatre feeling empowered and excited.
Before delving into the film analysis, I’d like to say that the continuity in the MCU films are always excellent. The Easter eggs peppered throughout Captain Marvel were thoroughly enjoyable. Some of these included the addition of a young Agent Coulson, the Tesseract, and finding out how Nick Fury lost his eye. As well, the 90s nostalgia came through in full swing, intact with full paraphernalia and a well-curated soundtrack.
While I have heard critiques on Larson’s acting in the film, or for the movie not packing enough of a punch in the way of feminist movement, we have some thoughts on that. When compared to a film like Black Panther (2018), which was grandiose in both its construction of the fictional Wakanda as well as its sociopolitical overtone, Captain Marvel was definitely more simplistic. The grandiosity worked extremely well in Black Panther and in fact was a very important part of its structure, as Wakanda is meant to symbolize a part of Africa that was not colonized. Black Panther and the award-winning visual effects that went behind creating Wakanda were mandatory for the film, since the richness of resources that Wakanda had were extremely significant. Black Panther was also just as much led by its female characters as its male characters, if not more – there’s no doubt about it that Black Panther was not only a pivotal film in the way of PoC visibility, but for feminist visibility as well.
In comparison, Carol Danvers comes from a simpler background, but one that still comes from a place of marginalization, albeit on a smaller scale than those in Black Panther. While Captain Marvel may not deliver the same glamorous impact as some of its MCU predecessors, Carol Danvers is a character that can stand on her own without the glamour. At the heart of it, Carol, Maria Rambeau and Dr. Lawson are three strong female characters that achieve their goal in serving in the Air Force, in a time where women were given an incredibly hard time for even attempting to do so. The presence of the resilient and warm-spirited Maria, who is played by PoC actor Lashana Lynch, is a wonderful one, because it adds a further layer of depth and diversity to the movie. I’m also overjoyed that instead of throwing a heteronormative romantic storyline into the mix, the writers focused instead on the narrative of Carol and Maria’s friendship. Annette Bening, who played Dr. Lawson/Mar-Vell and the Supreme Intelligence, did an electrifying job in both roles, contributing to the roster of amazing female leads in this film.
The movie very much relied on humour above all else. Though the buddy-cop, relatively light hearted humour might not be everyone’s cup of tea, S & I both enjoyed it for more than just surface level reasons. Though some might critique that Brie Larson played the role too aloofly, or didn’t bring enough emotion into it, we disagree with that. One should consider that when we first meet the current Carol Danvers, or “Vers”, she is a Kree soldier who is constantly told not to joke around, to suppress her emotions. She is a relatively blank slate, as she doesn’t remember much from her human past. It’s only as the film unfolds that she begins to come to the realization that she’s been betrayed, and that she has to regain the information she’s lost. So naturally, there’s a ton of conflicting emotion behind it all. Carol’s main outlet just so happens to be humour, and what’s wrong with that? Not having her be outwardly intensely emotional is perhaps a way of subverting the one-dimensional stereotype that women are more emotionally impulsive or “hysterical” than men are. To call her too aloof or disconnected is almost unfair, because her character both as Carol and as Vers has been told time and time again to be “tough”. And remember, if this were a male character, their toughness very likely wouldn’t be criticized.
Her toughness doesn’t limit her, either. As human Carol Danvers, she is shown to be fun, carefree, and playful; an ambitious and driven person, a daredevil. Even though she doesn’t often outwardly display her grief, this doesn’t mean she lacks emotions. Carol’s attributes only reinforce that gender stereotypes are often one-dimensional: that humans, no matter our gender, are complex beings, and that our traits vary from person to person. One of the best scenes comes at the very end of the film, when Jude Law’s Yon-Rogg asks Carol to prove herself to him by engaging in a fight, even after she has single-handedly fought off the Kree army. In the most epic of ways, Carol delivers a simple yet insanely powerful punch to Yon-Rogg. She goes over to him, and holds out her hand to help him up. She then says, “I have nothing to prove to you”. I can’t stress enough how powerful this line is, as it embodies a sentiment that all women should remind themselves of.
There has also been critique that Nick Fury comes across too bumbling for a man who comes from an extensive CIA background. However, something important to bear in mind is that this is the Nick Fury who, up until the point of meeting Carol, has no understanding of the alien world. He is not the hardened, almighty Nick Fury that we’ve seen in Avengers. This is the Nick Fury who has just come to realize that there’s a whole universe out there that he has no clue about, and he doesn’t quite know how to react. In Captain Marvel we see more of his personality – he’s silly, he’s funny, and he loves cuddling cats/Flerkens. Most importantly, we finally see why he trusts Captain Marvel more so than he does anyone else on the Avengers team, and that’s pretty monumental.
On a side note, the twist involving the Skrulls was a very welcome surprise, making for the film to be less predictable than I thought it would be. In fact, this storyline reminded me of Black Mirror episode “Men Against Fire”, which similarly played with the concept of brainwashing in the military. The film did well on multiple levels in terms of subverting expectations.
Ultimately, this is all to say that we really enjoyed this film. Perhaps our only grievance is that Carol’s updated costume is a little too Star-Spangled-Banner-patriotic for our liking. S & I thought Captain Marvel conveyed some important messages in the way of female empowerment. Yes, ultimately this was an origin story, and sometimes the pace was a bit slow. However, we both appreciated that this movie was not brimming with extreme violence, that it was balanced between plot and action. As well, an important thing to remember is this: feminist empowerment is not always depicted or shown in the most obvious of ways, and women (or anyone who identifies as a woman) know this to be true, perhaps more so than anyone else. While heavy-handedness in the way of a powerful feminist message can be wonderful, it can be equally as wonderful to find these messages in the finer, subtler details.
All in all, was it one of my favourite Marvel movies? Maybe not, but that doesn’t mean that the film’s content were not enjoyed – and there’s tons of potential for the future films in this franchise. S & I absolutely cannot wait to see Avengers: Endgame which is set to come out on April 26th, and to see Captain Marvel’s role in it!
~ Z & S ~
Feature photo by Jeremy Thomas on Unsplash
