The brain trust behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe has finally gotten around to producing a movie with a female character as the star. "Captain Marvel" tells the tale of Carol Danvers (Brie Larson), who goes from a test pilot dealing with gender bias to one of the most powerful heroes this side of Asgard. This unfolds when Earth ends up the battleground for two warring alien races. Why Marvel didn't turn to the established Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) is a curiosity, but the company should be praised for taking a big first step into the world of superhero gender equality.
It's just sad that step was more of a stumble that a stride.
Danvers, known as Vers, is living with the Kree, an alien race that acts as intergalactic police officers. She is haunted by flashes of memories of what would eventually become clear to her were glimpses of her past. She becomes strong enough to join her chief trainer, Yon-Rogg (Jude Law), and other members of Starforce on a rescue mission. But when that goes wrong, she ends up tumbling to Earth and crashing through the roof of a Blockbuster video store.
The film is set in the 1990s and unfolds before anyone had heard of Iron Man, Captain America, Thor or the other Avengers. Vers ends up with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), a young agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. who has yet to lose his hair or his left eye. Together, they go on a quest to find out more about Vers' past and the battle royale about to unfold. Any additional discussion of the plot would give away spoilers.
The tale of this all-powerful female hero slips and slides through Marvel mythology because of a so-so script by co-directors Anna Boden ("Billions") and Ryan Fleck ("The Affair") plus Geneva Robertson-Dworet ("Tomb Raider"). The efforts to mix massive action scenes with down-to-Earth humor is less of the smooth transition it needs to be to work and more of a jarring trek.
All setting the production in the '90s does is establish a few of the threads that will show up in other Marvel movies that were made before "Captain Marvel" but set in the time period after. Because of when the film is set, one moment begs a question so huge it creates a crack in the Marvel Cinematic timeline.
The other problem is the casting. Annette Benning plays a person from Vers' past who played a key role in the hero she would become. Benning is a superb actor and continues the trend in the genre to cast superstars in key roles. The problem is Benning is so stiff and unbelievable that scenes with Larson play very flat. When an actor doesn't look comfortable with a role, no amount of special effects can conceal the problems.
Ben Mendelsohn is a superb actor as shown in "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" and "Robin Hood." He could get away with that Australian lilt to his voice in those cases, but hearing his voice come out of the alien-looking Skrull feels wrong.
Then there's Larson. The Academy Award-winning actor does her best, but the writing is so sloppy that there doesn't seem to be any consistency. There are times when Vers is a fun-loving person and there are times when she is faced with devastating details of her life. Larson plays both under so much control the result is the scene lacks a real feel.
Even when she gets full control of her powers, Larson never takes over the screen the way someone like Chris Evans does when playing Captain America or Gal Gadot does in her role as Wonder Woman. Those actors make their characters feel larger than life, while Larson only manages to make Captain Marvel come across as a few inches taller.
"Captain Marvel" gets huge points for creating another female hero. It is not enough points to counter a script that has plot holes and mythology confusion to go along with a cast that's good but not the perfect selections that have become a trademark of projects in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film could have been great, but ends up falling short of Marvel-ous.
