Film: Captain Marvel

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Much has already been written about the significance of the arrival of Captain Marvel into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

Happily by others! 😁

Welcome then, to my spoiler-free review of Captain Marvel.

The Film was released on March 8th and Critics (the paid ones) had already pronounced that although it was no Black Panther, nor Wonder Woman, they broadly gave it the thumbs-up. 👍👍

But hey, what do they know? Just a week after its release, it had already raked-in £347m globally, making it the sixth-largest opening weekend ever – just ahead of Star Wars: The Last Jedi – and more than halfway to matching Wonder Woman‘s total haul of a whopping great £626.7m.

In food retail terms that’s a hell of a lot of Beans! I think I’d quite forgotten how big the Marvel franchise is!

But actually, all I’m looking for is a great action-packed movie with an easy-to-follow plot (it’s my age and I’m still jet-lagged! – that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!!) In its favour, this is a super-hero origin story and they tend to, in my experience, be the better stories.

So, Jo, Janet and I headed for the local Odeon (via their Costa Coffee concession) to see this latest 124-minute super-hero romp from Marvel Studios. We caught the 7pm performance and perhaps, surprisingly, it wasn’t packed – just 24 of us! Perhaps we were the last to see it, given the mania for Marvel at the moment – or perhaps it was a turkey?

Curtain up!! Wow! A subtle (but great) tribute to the late Stan Lee as part of the opening credits. We’re straight into the action – so do pay attention as the first-act is pretty pivotal in terms of what’s to come.

It’s a good story, with a measured amount of SFX (for this type of movie); the acting is very credible, especially Brier Larson as our titular hero (heroine?). Probably though, amongst everything that’s going on, the stand-out moment is the digital ‘de-ageing’ of Samuel L Jackson and (to a lesser effect) Clark Gregg. This effect is now a semi-regular feature in MCU films – and it’s used to great effect this time round, especially given the amount of screen-time for SLJ. He’s been de-aged by around 35 years.

Just take a look at the photo below…

Impressive huh? How do they do that? More information HERE.

All-in-all then a very watchable movie. For me, perhaps not (quite) up there with with 2011’s Captain America, the First Avenger nor 2017’s Wonder Woman, but well worth two-hours of your time as it’s pure escapism at its best. Clearly they’ll be a sequel, but I don’t think that will surprise anyone!

Oh, and if you’re a lover of cats, you’re in for a treat! However, if you’re uncomfortable around these furry friends, take it from me, you WILL need therapy after watching this!

Another staple of MCU movies is the post-credit scene and in more recent movies, the mid-credit scene. I won’t reveal their details here, but the former is surprising and clever (but perhaps a bit disappointing) whilst the latter is a MUST-SEE.

Enjoy! 😁