Captain Marvel

I've been looking forward to seeing Avengers: End Game since Thanos snapped his fingers and created so much havoc for comic book movie fans. As part of my preparation for the next installment, I felt it would be a good idea to get up to speed by watching Captain Marvel. As a kid I always thought Billy Batson or Shazam was Captain Marvel so I was a little confused when I found out there was a woman super hero named Captain Marvel but I still went into this movie open minded and interested to see how she relates to the rest of the Marvel Universe.

Let me get straight to my takeaway.  I rank Captain Marvel down there with Thor: The Dark World around the bottom 5 or 6 of the 21 Marvel movies that have been made. I was shocked to learn that Brie Larson previously won an academy award because she seemed very dull and emotionless. It may not have been her fault as an actor if she was directed to portray herself that way but I felt even Kristen Stewart could have brought more emotion and range to the role. I just never connected to the character because she seemed so distant and un-fun to watch.

Some of the special effects like the de-aging of Nick Fury and Agent Colson was pretty impressive but some of the other special effects were just mediocre. None of the action scenes took my breath away. Maybe Infinity War set the bar too high and I'm expecting too much now but I just wasn't impressed. I also did not care for any of the scenes with the cat, especially the final reveal as it relates to Nick Fury.

Some people have criticized this movie claiming it promotes a feminist agenda.That is not why I didn't care for Captain Marvel. I did notice several scenes and dialogue that some might take offense with. There were also some subtle SJW messages that jumped out at me but that was not the reason I disliked this movie. It just was not that good. I heard some criticize Mad Max Fury Road for having too many females characters but I loved that movie because it was so entertaining and captivating unlike this film. 

I left the theater feeling let down and now I'm even a little concerned about how Infinity War is going to be. I have no problem with a strong female lead in a super hero movie but this is one instance where Wonder Woman and DC did a better job than Marvel did with this movie. Most people will probably like this movie more than I did but I can only give it a generous 6.1 star rating and part of that is for the nice Stan Lee nod in the opening credits.