LogFAQs > #950345209

NBIceman
Even in the comics, Carol Danvers is not a very interesting character, and this movie really doesnt do a whole lot to challenge that perception. Brie Larson does what she can, but most of the instances where some personality shines through are just very brief moments like her mockingly hissing at a Skrull or the oh, shit, its on now grin after her powers get unlocked. Unlike another Phase 3 Marvel movie, though, the rest of the cast actually does manage to make up for it here. Young Fury brings great Buddy Cop energy, the Rambeaus contribute some legitimate emotional depth, Talos is immensely likeable (I actually love everything the MCU has done with the Skrulls so far), and its always good to see Coulson. Im also a huge fan of Fury being inspired to name the Avenger Initiative after Carols call sign - its a small detail all things considered, but it still somehow feels really momentous as a piece of the lore. Even with all those great individual moments, though, it does feel like the collective film is missing something with how dull its main character is. Hopefully she can build off of her Endgame portrayal in the future.

Paratroopa1
I really wanted to like this movie more than I actually did. After all the dumbass discourse that this movie went through, it would have been really satisfying if it was one of the best movies in the MCU, and if Brie Larson had one of my favorite performances, but she didn't, and it wasn't. It's fine, but it fails to elevate itself above fine. Carol Danvers just isn't an interesting character in this film. She's like... sort of vaguely tormented by not being able to remember her past life, but it doesn't really affect her that much, and the performance doesn't really elevate her to anything more than normal person who is kind of sarcastic sometimes - she doesn't really have any sort of growth from the beginning to the end of the movie. Which is a shame, because after the boring first act, the movie is a ton of fun and has some high peaks. I like basically every other character - Talos is cool, young Fury is cool, Mar-Vell is cool, Maria Rambeau is cool (little wonder that Lashana Lynch got the 007 role). The Skrulls are probably more fun as enemies than as allies, but I think that was a sensible direction for the movie to go in since, well, the Kree are pretty awful, but all of the mistaken identity stuff is fun in both roles regardless. I liked the scene where they go through Danvers's memories through the POV of the 'bad guys' and I liked all the scenes with her and Fury together at SHIELD and everything at the end is pretty fun, I just feel like there was missed opportunity to give Captain Marvel herself some actual depth here instead of feeling like a faceless protagonist. It's a fun movie that feels like it has no meat to it.

XIII Rocks
I like the 90s stuff, even if it was a particularly American brand of 90s and slightly too early for me (I was only 5 in 1995), so not all of the references clicked or got the nostalgia going. This is a superhero origin movie told in reverse, which is an interesting way to structure it, and there is an appreciable upgrade in Danvers' powers once she uncovers all the information so it still works. Something about this feels like a phase 1 movie - maybe it's the focus on the tesseract, or maybe it's the fact it feels like such a "basic" superhero movie, I don't know. This movie is kind of aggressively "fine". I think there's a lot of good to it and some laughs but it's not a particularly remarkable one. That said, one particularly cool thing it did was the casting of Ben Mendelsohn and Jude Law. Noted villain actor Ben Mendelsohn (see Rogue One, Ready Player One) is playing a guy called Talos - which just sounds villainous - on the side opposed to the protagonist. Jude Law, who often plays charming and/or heroic characters (Dumbledore, Watson), is her mentor. But soon enough things are revealed and there's a double turn. Nice touch! I think Brie Larson does a good job, she has some great moments of attitude. I love her read of "...ok," when that guy says "don't make me do this", for example. Solid movie, unspectacular, but a good watch.

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