Okay let's get this out of the way... Brie Larson is fine as Carol Danvers/Capt. Marvel. I don't know what people wanted from her that they didn't get from the trailers but I see comments STILL that she's somehow dull or has dull line readings. She's more deadpan than dull and it's quite apparent. She's a character that doesn't have a history but she has a fully formed personality. The film simply illustrates how this personality operates under two different circumstances. And this personality is one where she's got tons of dry wit, is confident in herself and is willing to take risks regardless of what others think of her. The struggle is one where she's vulnerable because due to her amnesia she doesn't REALLY know who she is. Which I found interesting. Jude Law as Yon-Rogg was a different spin on an antagonist in that his whole role is about holding Carol back. His concern with her revolves around keeping her in check so she can be used within the confines of the Kree agenda. This gets into the theme of the film, that you have to know who you are first before you can wield your own power effectively. The resolution between Rogg and Carol is pitch perfect and I thought was actually, despite his utter defeat, a good call on Rogg's part initially. He was outclassed power wise but he figured there might be some gas in the tank still with his mentor/authority figure influence over Carol.
Now... That's not to say that there isn't an issue with the writing and performance of Carol as played by Brie but it's not the one you are hearing, at least, not precisely I don't think. Brie is more than fine in this part. She's in that Han Solo/Hal Jordan mold of the confident hot shot filled with dry wit and sarcastic come backs. This is in most ways not at all out of line with what a live action Carol Danvers should be. If anything I think we should have gotten maybe a bit more vulnerability from Brie at some points. No, the issue for me, and for me it's minor though it's an bigger issue for Marvel in general, is that this isn't exactly groundbreaking or new in the MCU. I'm sorry to all the Marvel heads out there but if you were "bored" by Carol, I have a feeling it's because she speaks in a voice that the majority of Marvel Studios' heroes already do. Whatever distinctions you think are apparent between so many MCU characters is more cosmetic than anything. Sure there are some specific aspects of character that belong to each one but in broad strokes how many MCU heroes don't fall into the "Brimming with confidence to the point of coming off borderline arrogant/off putting, fast with the glib sarcastic one liners, ultimately revealed to be a good person despite a facile and flippant exterior"?Whether that's the majority of characters as one sees it or not... There's still a crap metric ton of characters in the MCU that could easily be thought of to fall into that description. Maybe that doesn't quite describe Steve Rogers, Black Panther or Peter Parker, but it certainly describes Iron Man, Star-Lord, Dr. Strange, Thor, hell I throw even Black Widow, Hawkeye and Ant-Man into that pile. If the general thrust of Carol as written or Brie's performance didn't wow someone I have to ask if they should consider that it might be because you've seen this all before in a Marvel film? That it's a woman doing the schtick now is the only real difference.
What's funny is that I think this archetype fit Carol better than it did some of those other characters. To me her deadpan sarcastic wit totally felt right given what we shown of her character. I LOVED that while she was in situation that was bat guano crazy they didn't go with some tired "fish out of water" thing. If anything this was about a fish going BACK to the water, so to speak, so there's nothing gained by giving us scenes of her acclimating to Earth society. And besides, she was being employed by the Kree as an operative for over six years going from place to place one can assume. So she's found herself on stranger worlds than Earth so her being unfazed was not only cool but it makes sense.
The inclusion of Jackson as Fury was very welcome and they get her and him together rather quickly, but it works from the get go. And it was very nice to see Fury "in his prime" so to speak. They wrote him in a way that made you see the fictional master spy he's always touted as. Brie and Jackson had good chemistry and they threaded the needle well in terms of how these two would react to one another.
I think the movie is one of the better paced superhero movies in that it doesn't waste any time getting you into the action, which works well since the building of the audience's understanding of Carol is threaded through the film rather than starting with a lengthy first act designed to give us the main character's backstory or somesuch. Which I find refreshing. This indeed allowed us to go full tilt right off the bat with what I though were very well done action sequences, another complaint I don't at all recognize from the film, because the Star Force introductory scene is damn tight and the action was clear and easy to follow for me. From her capture to the landing on doesn't drag and then we are already into the thick of the main plot. Carol is on Earth, she's on a mission and is awaiting extraction and this will eventually dovetail into her unknown past.
Making the Skrulls, or at least the Skrulls we meet here sympathetic is not at all quite what I expected. Granted this is kind of a nutshell history between the two races as described in the comics. And I think there is more than enough wiggle room to bring them back in the MCU in a more villainous role. They gave us lines that hinted as much with Talos talking about how his own hands are far from clean in the conflict between the Kree and his people. There's also the fact that the Skrulls are looking for "a home" and while this group might be simply "refugees" that's hardly defining of the race as a whole or indicative of what their rulers/ruling class think. Then there's just me thinking about how some things from the comics get introduced into the MCU and I don't know... The Skrull home planet does get destroyed by Galactus, whom I am confident will be seen in an FF MCU film. Before release I was very confident that this movie would be used to "back door pilot" the elements that would be used in a Secret Invasion arc post the Infinity Stones mega arc being wrapped up post Endgame. Now? I'm a lot less sure. Could they still do that? Yeah, I think they could EASILY still do that. The question is would Marvel now that they've established the Skrulls in the minds of the mass audience in such a sympathetic light?
Regardless of the placement of this film in the MCU on it's own this was a very solid and I found, fun action romp that did very little to undermine itself with humor which, I'm sorry, I do have a problem with far too often with these films. The one in my mind EGREGIOUS example of the Marvel Studios injection of humor where it's not at all needed was the reveal of Fury's eye and the "hyping" of the Goose character. Full disclosure I was aware of the alien nature of Goose from the start so the reveal didn't work for me as surprise thing so it's already less impactful than it could be, though that's not the film's fault I suppose. But the cat for the most part is... It's ****ing cat. Big deal. And then at the end we get the most awkward reasoning for Fury to have lost an eye, and is it just me but... Fury sure doesn't act all that affected by it. It's a perfect example of how the humor in these films too often undercuts EVERYTHING. Here it undercuts the seriousness and stakes they had built up and it undercuts Fury's character and it just makes no sense. Did he even ATTEMPT to get something done about the eye? And all for what? A joke at the end with Coulson. The film was doing SO good reigning grating tendencies of MCU films in only to fumble right at the end for me. Other than that though... This was a superhero tale running on all cylinders. It had a breezy pacing and never left you bored or impatient. Nothing felt like filler and I thought it really delivered on the third act action finale, neither being too abrupt nor overstaying it's welcome.
Some final stray observations, both pros and cons which fall more in the nitpick category:
Cons-
1. They needed to give us just a bit more insight into the Kree society. Sure... We can infer a lot by the way the Supreme Intelligence was some kind of Techno God to these aliens but maybe just a bit more to put things into a bigger context, even if it was a misdirect given the film is about the reveal of how Carol is being used and lied to by the Kree.
2. Uh... Why was Come As You Are being played in Carol's mind? I know... Nitpick. Still... It was a flub to do that given she left Earth in 1989.
3. There needed to be WAY more scenes between Carol and Lawson/Mar-Vell. This was a big misstep for me. I honestly couldn't care less that they gender swapped Marv in this... But I think if you are going to keep the idea that this person inspired Carol and had a lot of influence on her that you needed much, MUCH more of this relationship.
Pros-
1. Given that there is still lots to explore with the character and what was introduced it was nice to see that the supporting cast of characters was mostly all intact by the end of the film. I would love to see rematched all around. Hell... Bring Minnerva back to life, why not? Rogg is certainly not done with Carol and there might still be room for a Skrull heel turn as it were. (In fact, not to bring up any Marvel/DC nonsense BUT... I think you could do with Carol what is being done with WW at WB. Have Carol's solo films be in the past. There's no need to have her in the the present day and you side step a bunch of issues. In the Avengers films proper you can have her in the here and now. Best of both worlds. )
2. The Stan Lee tribute was epic and his inclusion in what I assume is the last cameo we will see quite bittersweet. Still though... To think that he was able to live long enough to see what Marvel has become and was so appreciated by so many at the end is heartwarming.
