Captain Marvel, directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, is a Marvel superhero movie where Carol (Brie Larson) crash lands on Earth and gets the attention of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Nick Fury himself (Samuel L. Jackson) who work together to fight back against the alien race which has also crashed on Earth.
From when I very fist saw the trailer I knew Carol was going to be a bad ass female who takes nothing from no one. It didn't disappoint. Her character was so sarcastic that it would be impossible for me not to love her, she was so well written and the perfect female superhero that I've waited to see again since Wonder woman. There's nothing that I would change about her if I had the chance, I also couldn't imagine anyone other than Brie Larson playing her who made me love her even more.
It made me so happy to see the Stan Lee tribute inside the Marvel logo in the beginning, I wasn't expecting it which made it sad at the same time but I really appreciated it and think that they should add it permanently. Seeing him on the train during the chase scene made my heart swell and his little smile forced me to beam too. I'm going to miss his guest appearances and hope that they will find a way to continue adding them.
The narrative was fun, easy to follow and light-hearted for what it is which I enjoyed. The twist towards the end was well placed and personally I didn't see it coming which added a lot to the arc and made it not as linear which I liked.
In my opinion the aesthetics and visual effects were on point and created a perfect back drop for the story to take place. I loved the inclusion of the blockbusters when she first crashes to show the era and appreciated other nods to the time period. The effects that were used to show her 'energy' were impressive and I can't wait to see them again in Avengers: End game. Carol's outfits were something I was also impressed with, her superhero attire was perfect for her character and didn't objectify her which I appreciated as the practically of super heroes costumes isn't usually considered for women. When she was wearing casual clothes I was obsessed again as she wore jeans and flannel which is an amazing outfit choice in my books! Throughout the film she was makeup free which I believe is a huge step in the right direction for female super heroes and think there should be more of this from others.
Getting to see a younger Nick Fury before the Avengers, which was done using effects to make him look younger, was a lot of fun and I especially loved learning how he lost his eye and the back story. As always, Samuel L. Jackson played him extremely well and I enjoyed his character. Especially partnered with Carol where together they created such a heart warming relationship that could most probably take over the world is need be.
Before I went to see this film I was told "it's just another super hero movie" but I believe that it's more than that, it had great super hero elements and I can't fault it for that but I couldn't honestly say I think that's all it's good for. Even just the scenes where it shows Carol standing back up every time she got hurt or told she couldn't do something because she was a girl were empowering and demonstrated perfectly how every time someone knocks us down we get up, stronger than before and carry on fighting.
"I've been fighting with one arm tied behind my back but what happens when I'm finally set free?"
This character type is so underrepresented in films that it made a refreshing change to see it from such a big film producer. It was done with such dignity and grace that I was almost shocked they wrote her so well but I must admit personally I believe this has a lot to do with Anna Boden, a female director and writer on the project. We need more strong female characters in Films!
Not only is Carol amazing but she represents something that all women can relate to in one way or another, I saw a post the other day that described things in the film that women go through everyday and said how they've been through the same. Some of them were 'that scene where she's told she can't pursue her career because she's a woman', 'the scene where she's told to control her emotions', 'when she's told she has to prove her worth for no reason' this resonated with me because it's true and things like this are going to keep happening especially when people are saying that captain Marvel is 'too feminist' which is ridiculous in its own right. One of my favourite lines of the entire film was"I have nothing to prove to you."
Overall, as you can probably tell, I loved this film and think it brought so much more to the table then being 'just another super hero movie' if you haven't already you should go and see it so that we can love it together and so that you can be clued in on the awesomeness that is Captain Marvel ready to see the new Avengers film which comes out really soon.