Captain America may be the First Avenger, but Captain Marvel is the hero who started it all. This 2019 superhero movie is worth all the rage, with actors such as Brie Larson and Samuel L. Jackson in starring roles.
Luckily, there weren’t many clichés. The whole point of the movie was that it didn’t matter if Captain Marvel was a man or a woman; it was just the fact that she’s a hero who keeps getting up after being constantly pushed down. This may or may not be a spoiler but the only part where being a woman counted was when she was Carol Danvers, an elite Air Force fighter pilot in the late 1980s.
Set in the mid-1990s, it was a nice touch that all the props fit in the timeline. For example, when Danvers crashes on Earth, she lands in a Blockbuster! Along with props, the special effects (FX) were really cool, especially the FX makeup on the Skrull, one of the two main alien races in the movie. To put this in perspective—they’re all different shades of green, and their skin is bumpy. I thought that it was really well done, and they left nothing not to be awed at. With the addition of FX and period clothing and touches, the acting really made this film great. I did not research anything about Captain Marvel, so I was pleasantly surprised when I saw Jackson reprising his role as Nick Fury. I could tell that everything was well thought out, and nothing went over my head.
The plot involves an intergalactic form of colonialism and genocide. It isn’t revealed who the antagonist is until halfway through the movie, and what a game changer! Another big part was Danvers discovering who she really is when she crash lands on Earth … or Planet C-53. All the surprises kept the movie going, and the audience was never bored.
I went into this movie knowing nothing about Captain Marvel—which I believe made the movie better. Though having watched most of the Marvel films, my not having knowledge of the comics or knowing whether something was canonically right or wrong was a definite positive. I don’t recommend this movie to a first-time Marvel movie-goer. There’s a lot of background information you need to know before buying a ticket to this film. Without that background knowledge, not only will there be a lot of loose ends, but much of the movie would go over your head.
All in all, I strongly recommend this movie to a Marvel veteran, and for a rookie, my recommendation would be to watch the other Marvel films before heading to watch Captain Marvel.