"Captain Marvel": a fun with original tale

"Captain Marvel" is the twenty-first (!) Full-length film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the first solo film with a main female character in the Marvel / Disney universe. It is also a prequel to all Marvel films since 2012: it takes place after Captain America: The First Avenger, but before Marvel's The Avengers in the 90s. last century.

So, in the courtyard of 1995, the Avengers have not yet smashed New York and have not torn Zokovia apart, Asgard is intact, Ronan the Accuser has not yet gone off the rails, and Thanos has not even begun to collect stones for his mighty glove. Captain America rests under the ice, Nick Fury is a private S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, and Phil Coulson is a rookie at all, whom his senior colleagues call nothing else but a rookie. Not a single SHIELD superhero no. At the same time on Hala, the capital planet of the Kree Empire, Vers, a Kree Special Forces agent, trains under the guidance of his mentor Yon-Rogg, recovering from an injury sustained during a previous operation, and tries to recall his past. The Kree fight the insidious Skrulls, a race of dangerous werewolves that can take the guise of any creature.

During the operation, in which Vers and Yon-Rogg participate (air support is provided by Ronan the Accuser, whom we know from the first Guardians of the Galaxy ), something does not go according to plan and Vers ends up on Earth, where she is met by young Nick Fury and Phil Coulson. The girl must understand what happened to her on this planet six years ago, and protect the Earth from what might threaten her.

Captain Marvel might just as well be called SHIELD Beginning or Nick Fury: Origin. After all, it is from this film that we learn how the Fury / Coulson tandem was born, where the name "The Avengers" came from, how the Teseract came to Earth, where Fury lost his eye and where did he get the pager that was shown in the scene after the credits in Avengers : Infinity War . Sometimes one gets the impression that Fury in the film, which is still called Captain Marvel, is even more than Captain Marvel herself. If anything, Samuel L. Jackson's character looks brighter.

Captain Marvel's digital rejuvenation technology used by Lola VFX (they also rejuvenated Michelle Pfeiffer and Michael Douglas in Ant-Man and the Wasp and Kurt Russell in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 ) literally works wonders. And if in the case of Clark Gregg, playing the role of Agent Coulson, some unnaturalness of the skin and facial expressions is sometimes visible, then Samuel L. Jackson in the image of a young Nick Fury is simply incomparable. If it goes on like this, the virtual old age of Hollywood stars is not threatened.

The second task assigned to Captain Marvel is the introduction to the MCU of a new character, one of the most powerful in the Marvel comic universe. Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel is the product of the fusion of human and Cree DNA, in its full strength it is capable of accelerating to superluminal speed in a second, absorbing the energy of stars, igniting extinct stars. Superman, compared to this girl, is a botanist student who always skips gym. In game terms, Captain Marvel is imba, too strong, unbalanced character that can break the whole gameplay. It is not clear what a creature of such power can do in the company of the same Hawkeye and the Widow with their cheap spy tricks. However, let's see what role is destined for Captain Marvel in the upcoming Avengers: Endgame.

By the way, about him. In the scene after the credits of Avengers: Infinity War, Nick Fury signals the absent Captain Marvel, and in the scene after the credits of Captain Marvel (there are two of them here), we will be shown a whole fragment of the upcoming Endgame, so we will definitely meet with the Captain.

All this fan service, cross-links, eyeliner and 90s nostalgia is certainly very good (the soundtrack is incomparable), but what about Captain Marvel with the story of Carol Danvers herself? Did Disney / Marvel manage to create a worthy response to Wonder Woman? Unfortunately no. As an independent story, Captain Marvel is very weak, as a seemingly feminist film, too. The writers dump slogans at the viewer that seem to be necessary for a modern film with a woman as the main character, but they do it so clumsy and straightforward that they rather have the opposite effect. Yes, it is still necessary to repeat the truism that a girl can dream of a career as a fighter pilot or a scientist. Yes, instilling in adolescents the idea that no matter how many times you fall, the main thing is how many times you rise, it is also important ... But why, for example, change the gender of Mar-Velu, who from a lover and partner Carol Danvers turned into some kind of mother figure? What is, in fact, a feminist message here?

Despite the fact that Brie Larson herself looks very organically in the role of Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel, her character practically does not develop. He is only a bearer of giant plasma cannons in his hands, piercing spaceships with his forehead, not a living person. But who came out very lively and natural, so this is a difficult ginger cat Gus, who is destined for a very important role in this film. I wish I had such a cat.

Special thanks to the filmmakers for the revamped Marvel logo in the intro and Stan Lee's very touching posthumous cameo. We will meet with the great dreamer in Avengers: Endgame.

Perhaps Captain Marvel's problem is that too much has been put on it. This is both a presentation of a new character, not featured in any MCU film, and a kind of "origin" of the SHIELD agency. and Nick Fury personally, and a lead-in to the final confrontation of the third phase of the MCU in the upcoming Avengers: Endgame, and Disney / Marvel's response to Wonder Woman. Too much for one movie. Captain Marvel looks assembled from different pieces that, although connected to each other, create the effect of a patchwork quilt. No, there is nothing wrong with patchwork, patchwork sewing, but it does not suit all interiors.

Alas, Captain Marvel did not manage to become a full-fledged film, he is content with the role of a spy, leading us to the events of Avengers: Endgame. However, it cannot be said that the picture is completely bad, just Avengers: Infinity War, Black Panther , Thor: Ragnarok and Spider-Man: Homecoming raised the quality bar too high. Well, let's see if Endgame manages to take this height. We will remind, before the premiere of Avengers: Endgame, scheduled for April 26, 2019, there are exactly one and a half months left.

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