CAPTAIN MARVEL (2019) ***

Captain Marvel does not deviate from the tried-and-true Marvel formula.  It tells a predictable, well-worn superhero origin story with just enough flourishes to make it still feel somewhat fresh.  The big difference is that it’s a woman in the cockpit this time out.  The fact that Brie Larson arrives locked and loaded, ready to rock, kick ass, and takes names certainly helps.  She was already a star and an Oscar winner, but if this doesn’t put her over the top, nothing will.

Larson is an amnesiac Kree solider fighting in the ongoing intergalactic Kree-Skrull War.  While hunting a green-faced war criminal (Rogue One’s Ben Mendelsohn), she winds up crash landing on Earth in the mid-‘90s.  S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) gets swept up in her pursuit for the shapeshifting villains and tries to help jog her memory for clues to her past. 

Some of this is predictable and rote.  The seams are starting to show on the whole amnesiac hero plot and the big villain turn at the end of the second act will come as a surprise to no one who has ever seen a comic book movie.  However, it’s the way directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck color outside the lines that makes Captain Marvel soar. 

Brie carries the film with charm and swagger and makes it all look easy.  She finds a great partner in the (two-eyed) Jackson.  Their banter is often very funny, but it’s her pet cat, Goose who winds up stealing the movie.  In an age where nearly every comic book character gets their own spin-off, Goose is about 90% more deserving than most.

Speaking of the ‘90s, the nostalgia factor is high.  As someone who lived through the ‘90s, I can say they were pretty much accurately represented.  The good-to-bad ratio for song choices was about 50/50, which isn’t too shabby as far as these things go.  (If anything, the box office success of Captain Marvel will lead to a resurgence in the popularity of Elastica.)  Naturally, all this only served to make me feel old. 

There are also some great Easter eggs for the fans.  I won’t spoil how it all connects back to the other films, but it’s most satisfying.  We also get what is probably the best Stan Lee cameo of all time, which takes some of the sting out of his recent death. 

The action is kind of spotty.  The various car chases and fight scenes feel a tad familiar.  However, once Captain Marvel realizes her true power and singlehandedly takes on a fleet of alien warships, it’s one of the best sequences of carnage we’ve seen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Luckily, we don’t have to wait very long to see Captain Marvel kick ass again as Avengers:  Endgame is a mere seven weeks away.

Marvel Cinematic Universe Scorecard:

Avengers:  Age of Ultron:  ****
The Incredible Hulk:  ****
Iron Man:  ****
Thor:  Ragnarok:  ****
Ant-Man and the Wasp:  ****
Spider-Man:  Homecoming:  ****
Iron Man 3:  ****
Captain America:  Civil War:  *** ½
Ant-Man:  *** ½
Guardians of the Galaxy:  *** ½
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2:  *** ½ 
Avengers:  Infinity War:  *** ½
Black Panther:  *** ½ 
The Avengers:  ***
Captain America:  The First Avenger:  ***
Captain America:  The Winter Soldier:  ***
Captain Marvel:  ***
Thor:  ***
Thor:  The Dark World:  ***
Iron Man 2:  ***
Doctor Strange:  ** ½ 

2019 Comic Book Movie Scorecard:

Alita:  Battle Angel:  *** 
Captain Marvel:  ***