Rank - 13/23 || Captain Marvel

Cast: Brie Larson, Samuel L Jackson, Jude Law, Annette Bening, Ben Mendelsohn, Lashana Lynch 
Director:  Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck

From breaking one glass ceiling with Black Panther to another with Captain Marvel? Well, I can be snarky and say that after stabilising their boat and making it into a monstrous ocean liner, Marvel decided to slowly move away from white characters and directors headlining its movies. Infinity War’s drastic ending meant that a new hero had to be found to teach Thanos a lesson. Or so we thought.

Filmmaking couple Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck were a brave choice to helm the first female-centric Marvel movie. Their filmography is pretty basic. I am sure even they would have been surprised. The first hour perplexes you, as well. This is a comic book movie, for Thanos’ sake! You shouldn’t have non-linear narratives. But it all turned out rather fine.

We are in the planet of a race called Kree. We meet with the strangely named Vers (Larson), an operative affected by amnesia. She is slowly coaxed into ‘being the best version of herself’ by her commander Yon-Rogg (Law). The planet is ruled by an Artificial Intelligence called Supreme Intelligence who appears to her in the form of Annette Bening. Bear with me.

During a routing operation against the Kree’s biggest enemy, the shape-shifting Skrulls, Vers crash-lands into the Planet C-53. Now, C-53 is a strange land. People dress and act like they are in 1995. In fact, Vers crash-lands into a Blockbuster video store. A group of folks from a shady organisation called SHIELD meet her and their leader, a young man called Nicholas Fury (Jackson), becomes a buddy. Vers finds out that she has history on this planet, whose inhabitants call it Earth and not C-53. She has to jog her memory and find all the missing pieces. In the meantime, she faces attacks from friend and foe.  

What works well for Captain Marvel is the plotting. The big twist is surprising for all except the hard-core comic readers. Considering that its audience won’t be bereft of intelligence is a bold move. What doesn’t work for it is the pacing. At times, it really is too slow. The non-linear narrative has worked in a lot of popular movies, but rarely was it so slow. 

The performances are top-notch, considering the pedigree of the staff. Brie Larson makes a smooth switch from Oscar-winning actress to kick-ass superwoman. She tries to maintain the right amount of disdain and bravado, not always successfully, though. She is part of three buddy movies within the same movie. The first with a digitally de-aged Samuel L Jackson. Great to see him in a longer role. Then there is a small segment with Maria Rambeau (Lynch) which is one of the poignant passages in the movie, even though a lot of it is fragments of Vers’ memory. The last, and sweetest, is with Maria’s daughter Monica (Akira Akbar). In between all this is Jude Law strutting his lovable rogue act.

Then there is the curious case of Djimon Hounsou. Comic book fans to come will scarce believe that one such as him in flesh and blood walked all over comic book culture. Just let this sink in: In the same year – 2019 – both Marvel and DC released a movie set in their own universes. Both were based on characters named Captain Marvel. This one and Shazam. The latter was always Captain Marvel until they lost a lawsuit to Marvel. And both movies starred Djimon Hounsou. This is the kind of trivia I live for!

There are two climactic fights, both done sincerely. But both show the inexperience of the directors. The first one is earth-bound and the second in space. Captain Marvel kicks intergalactic ass, in case you didn’t know. But they both feel forced and rushed at the same time. There was a really good movie somewhere here. But our directors were just not up to it. Sometimes, reservation and forced diversity does not bear the results you want.

Stan Lee cameo: A wordless salute. Classy. Stan had passed on by the time the movie had come out. But the Marvel logo in the beginning really showed the way. They changed all the heroes and put in stills of Stan Lee.

Post-credits scene: The first one is all about getting ready for Endgame. Then you had to go and mess up the effect with a silly, unnecessary bit.