Ryan Fleck
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Connections, in both directions
(As is appropriate for an arrival from space, she’s briefly intrigued by a VHS tape of “The Right Stuff.”
After crashing through the top of a Blockbuster video store, Vers feels drawn to a VHS box of The Right Stuff.
Making her way to the vicinity of our humble globe, she hurtles down from outer space and crashes through the roof of a Blockbuster store—it’s 1995 on Earth—where she notes without comment a videotape of “The Right Stuff.”
Instead, she picks up a VHS box of “The Right Stuff,” which earns a mild chuckle, since while we know that she’s a space alien named Vers (rhymes with “cheers”), we also have reason to suspect that this young woman is connected with the United States Air Force, and maybe the space program, too, like the guys in that film.
Not only are the Blockbuster and a Radio Shack brought back, but there’s an LA Weekly box, and references to “The Right Stuff” and pioneer aviatrix Pancho Barnes.
“Planet C-53”), Boden and Fleck pepper the film with cheeky references (Vers lands in a Blockbuster Video, where she promptly photon-blasts the head off of an Arnold Schwarzenegger standee and peruses a VHS copy of The Right Stuff ) and tease the idea of a Lethal Weapon -style buddy-cop action movie (first with two Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., then with Vers and Nick Fury), complete with car chase.
An orange tabby cat named Goose (dig the Top Gun reference) is a fur-ball of feisty surprises, and surely earns a place in filmdom’s feline Hall of Fame.
It’s on Earth, around the one-third mark of the film, where Larson really takes over the role because while the Hala sequences visually recall Blade Runner and Star Trek , C-57 is a Top Gun homage.
Also, Fury falls in love with an adorable cat named Goose, who’s not only the film’s umpteenth “Top Gun” reference, but also a more fun and less tiresome riff on the Groot archetype that “Guardians of the Galaxy” has already driven into the ground.
Chaotic and darkened action blurs comprehension, Top Gun parallels are disappointingly short-lived, and it appears as if the Half Nelson directors are merely tracing Marvel templates used so many times before.
In Wonder Woman , by comparison, Diana’s gender and her upbringing are instrumental to her and to us in terms of understanding the fierce, disciplined, compassionate worldview that drives her heroism; Captain Marvel ’s Carol is a wry, rule-breaking individualist with unique skills, strong ambitions and a broken-home background - the stuff of dozens of male heroes, including some of the protagonists from films like Top Gun that exert a palpable influence over the film’s story and tone.
She will succeed, because Captain Marvel is a blistering two hours of action, comedy, awesome '90s tunes from the likes of Hole, No Doubt and The Breeders (that could do for Riotgrrl and Grunge what The Guardians of the Galaxy did for '70s pop and funk), knowing nods to the rest of the MCU (and Top Gun ), and an overpowering sense of female empowerment.
It’s fun to see Vers blast Arnold Schwarzenegger in a True Lies stand-up display.
Troll dolls and True Lies sneak into the periphery.
Friends become enemies, enemies become friends, and just about everyone engages in some of the most tedious fight scenes ever slapped together by a second-unit (Boden and Fleck nod to “True Lies” and “Speed,” but make no apparent effort to recapture the fire-and-brimstone magic of the practical action sequences that made those films into modern classics).
Directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (who made the snappy gambling flick “Mississippi Grind,” also with Mendelsohn) use the time period as a way to celebrate a smorgasbord of ’90s nostalgia; there are references to Nine Inch Nails, the Smashing Pumpkins, “True Lies” and “Mallrats,” with soundtrack cues from No Doubt, Hole, Nirvana, Elastica and Garbage.
She immediately takes aim at Arnold Schwarzenegger on a True Lies poster in the first of many nods at '90s culture, including needle drops from TLC, Nirvana, No Doubt, and Hole that range in effectiveness.
It’s the 1990s and her crash landing is into a Blockbuster store; dusting herself off, she picks up a copy of the classic movie about the Nasa space programme, The Right Stuff , and blasts a cardboard cut-out of Jamie Lee Curtis from True Lies .
In and of itself, an Iron Man movie wasn’t going to generate an excessive amount of interest, especially considering the pop culture colossus of The Dark Knight competing with it that summer.
When the MCU makes a very good movie, as they've done here, it is because it's either epic and spectacular, like "The Avengers," "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," "Captain America: Civil War" and "Black Panther"; or anchored by charismatic main characters who are likable, funny and inspiring, like the "Iron Man" and "Guardians of the Galaxy" series and "Thor: Ragnarok."
And we learn that the film takes place in the mid-1990s, years before the overarching MCU saga that began with Iron Man (2008) and will finish with Avengers: Endgame.
From his first appearance as Fury in Iron Man (2008), Jackson has been a central and beloved figure in the MCU; his presence here, pre-eye patch, is delightful.
It isn’t as zany as Thor: Ragnarok.
When the MCU makes a very good movie, as they've done here, it is because it's either epic and spectacular, like "The Avengers," "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," "Captain America: Civil War" and "Black Panther"; or anchored by charismatic main characters who are likable, funny and inspiring, like the "Iron Man" and "Guardians of the Galaxy" series and "Thor: Ragnarok."
And while for me it didn’t quite hit the emotional heights of “ Black Panther ” and “ Wonder Woman ” (the DC Comics hit from 2017, also centered on a female warrior), or the irresistible wit of “ Thor: Ragnarok ,” it’s an appealing introduction.
MCU movies often have a distinct style: Iron Man has the swaggering combo of Downey Jr and Favreau; Thor unravels with the Shakespearean penchant of Branagh; Thor: Ragnarok is built on the brazen peculiarity of Waititi.
Directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (who made the snappy gambling flick “Mississippi Grind,” also with Mendelsohn) use the time period as a way to celebrate a smorgasbord of ’90s nostalgia; there are references to Nine Inch Nails, the Smashing Pumpkins, “True Lies” and “Mallrats,” with soundtrack cues from No Doubt, Hole, Nirvana, Elastica and Garbage.
Set in the mid-1990s, and serving as a key plot point between the twin Avengers films, Infinity War and this summer’s Endgame , Captain Marvel lovingly embraces tropes from the “buddy cop” genre, nodding to the wondrous years of Blockbuster Video, Mallrats , and grunge music.
He’s re-reading lines from the Kevin Smith sophomore film Mallrats script, before smiling up at the hero of the story, Carol Danvers.
MCU movies often have a distinct style: Iron Man has the swaggering combo of Downey Jr and Favreau; Thor unravels with the Shakespearean penchant of Branagh; Thor: Ragnarok is built on the brazen peculiarity of Waititi.
Yet something is wanting… by the time the end credits rolled, I just didn’t feel emotionally-connected to her the way I did with say, Diana Prince aka Wonder Woman, or even other characters in MCU… Captain America, Black Panther, Tony Stark, Black Widow, even Thor who’s also an alien being.
In the pantheon of Marvel films , “Captain Marvel” lands somewhere below “Iron Man” but far above “Doctor Strange,” the uninteresting “Ant-Man” and the cheesy yet self-important original “Thor.”
The spiritually inclined had already had their outing with Dr. Strange , the same way dadless Dudebros had theirs with Guardians of the Galaxy , or idealistic patriots had theirs with Captain America , or unsure young’uns had theirs with Spider-Man , or Chris Hemsworth fans had theirs with Thor , etc. Maybe Captain Marvel was for women — in particular, women who had been told all their lives that being a woman meant they weren’t good enough, weren’t strong enough, weren’t fast enough, etc. — and so its journey of self-discovery through self-recovery was not designed, executed, and polished to a high sheen for my particular benefit.
Though some of the Skrull scenes occasionally hang heavy with a Star Trek vibe - even with a mischievous Ben Mendelsohn loving every minute he’s in that prosthetic make-up - Boden and Fleck vividly render a cosmic landscape that hints at the energy and possibility of galactic adventures that would chronologically come later, while setting up details that allow for a latitude of tones from silly ( Guardians of the Galaxy ) to deadly serious ( Infinity War ).
The opening suggests indie writing-and-directing team Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck ( Half Nelson , Mississippi Grind ) are making a Tarkovsky-influenced Star Trek movie, which isn’t half as fun as it sounds.
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Directed by James Gunn
influenced Captain Marvel (2019)
Visuals Themes
One of them is Nicole Perlman, who co-wrote the original Guardians of the Galaxy movie and was the sole writer on the stellar Gamora mini-series.
But it doesn’t go full Guardians of the Galaxy in either its nostalgia nor its snarky humor.
Directors Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden borrow world-bending aesthetics from Guardians of the Galaxy and Black Panther, channelling futurism and nostalgia at the same time.
They—and the girls and women everywhere looking to “Captain Marvel” with wide eyes and high hopes for seeing themselves on screen—deserved a game-changer along the lines of “ Black Panther ” or even “ Guardians of the Galaxy ” or “ Doctor Strange .”
Captain Marvel is a surprisingly loopy celestial adventure of a film, one that digs deeper into the alien lore laid out in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy series.
And it’s better for it, feeling much like a the super-charged, spunky sister of Ant-Man and Spider-Man: Homecoming rather than coming across so larger-than-life and august as Avengers: Infinity War and Black Panther (though both the latter and Captain Marvel do expertly and effortlessly examine sundry social themes).
We’ve seen “de-aging” technology before, e.g., Michael Douglas in “Ant-Man,” Kurt Russell in “Guardians Vol.
In the pantheon of Marvel films, “Captain Marvel” lands somewhere below “Iron Man” but far above “Doctor Strange,” the uninteresting “Ant-Man” and the cheesy yet self-important original “Thor.”
Yes, Ant-Man and the Wasp featured Evangeline Lilly’s character in the title and had a big role for her to fill, but this is the first foray of its kind.
It’s on Earth, around the one-third mark of the film, where Larson really takes over the role because while the Hala sequences visually recall Blade Runner and Star Trek , C-57 is a Top Gun homage.
But her life in their dystopian, Blade Runner reminiscent world comes to a halt when a mission to stop the rival Skrull race leads her back to planet earth, circa 1995.
Now she’s an alien named Vers, and a resident on the “Blade Runner”-like planet of Hala.
Urban sprawl, flying cars, enormous video screens – clearly the town-planners saw Blade Runner one too many times.
Lethal Weapon (1987)
Directed by Richard Donner
influenced Captain Marvel (2019)
Themes Characters Plot
This is helped in no small part by Captain Marvel’s 1990s setting: not only with sight gags involving Blockbuster Video and Street Fighter II arcade cabinets, but also with a structure and sense of humour that feel like the midpoint between Lethal Weapon and Suburban Commando.
“Planet C-53”), Boden and Fleck pepper the film with cheeky references (Vers lands in a Blockbuster Video, where she promptly photon-blasts the head off of an Arnold Schwarzenegger standee and peruses a VHS copy of The Right Stuff ) and tease the idea of a Lethal Weapon -style buddy-cop action movie (first with two Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., then with Vers and Nick Fury), complete with car chase.
Keeping with the themes of subplots and shinagaiens, Jackson’s Fury and Clark Gregg’s fan favorite Agent Coulson are given new life in the pre-Avengers initiative world (and their bromance sparks memories of “Lethal Weapon”).
El junte de Larson y Jackson convierte a Captain Marvel en un “buddy cop movie” -pero tirando más hacia Lethal Weapon 4 que hacia Lethal Weapon – mientras persiguen a los invasores a través de una serie de secuencias de acción pobremente ejecutadas por los directores Anna Boden y Ryan Fleck, cuya carrera hasta ahora había estado enfocada en dramas tanto cinematográficos como televisivos.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Directed by James Cameron
influenced Captain Marvel (2019)
Characters Themes Visuals
The shapeshifting Skrulls are the like T-1000 from Terminator 2: Judgment Day, since the heroes never quite know who to trust.
Inspired by Terminator 2 and RoboCop and with nods to Top Gun and Superman , little is as it seems in a film which initially appears pretty po-faced but loosens up nicely, giving its supporting characters room to flex their acting muscles as they mix it up from villainy to comedy to nobility.
A mission to extract a spy from among the Kree’s mortal enemies, a race of shape-shifting aliens called Skrulls, lands Carol on humble C-53 (Earth), specifically in Terminator 2 -era Los Angeles.
The Kree are at war with another race called the Skrulls, baddies who wear cheap green Halloween masks and shape-shift like Robert Patrick in “Terminator 2.” During a skirmish with them, Vers winds up on planet C-53, a k a Earth.
It no longer reflected the bra-burning activism of our mothers; rather, ‘90s feminism was about defining strength in womanhood, whether it be physically (à la Sarah Connor in Terminator 2 ) or tossing out the idea of an “emotional” female (see: Daria ) or simply, defining who you are (like Lelaina Pierce in Reality Bites ).
She's perfectly cast in this nod to the '80s and '90s — and would make a great pairing with Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) from Alien and Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) in the Terminator franchise.
Terminator , Alien , Aliens, even the original Star Wars proved that a hero’s gender isn’t an issue when it comes to box office, that what counts is the quality of the film.
“Captain Marvel” is a boring mishmash of ideas from a score of other movies and franchises (“Star Trek,” “Mission Impossible,” “Alien” among others).
Captain America: Civil War (2016)
Directed by Joe Russo
influenced Captain Marvel (2019)
Themes Visuals
It isn’t as dark and serious as, say, Captain America: Civil War .
When the MCU makes a very good movie, as they've done here, it is because it's either epic and spectacular, like "The Avengers," "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," "Captain America: Civil War" and "Black Panther"; or anchored by charismatic main characters who are likable, funny and inspiring, like the "Iron Man" and "Guardians of the Galaxy" series and "Thor: Ragnarok."
She's just kind of awkward, her lack of charisma and screen presence only made more obvious when compared to the wattage thrown off by Jude Law (who plays her Kree handler, Yon-Rogg), Samuel L. Jackson (who shines through the de-aging wizardry previously used in Captain America: Civil War and Ant-Man and the Wasp ), and Mendelsohn (who manages a more emotionally authentic performance despite being buried under layers of makeup and prosthetics).
Carol Danvers, played by Brie Larson, starts out as an alien soldier in the 1990s — the sets largely resemble that nondescript airplane hangar from Captain America: Civil War .
Marvel typically handles the action apart from the film’s director with second unit teams and such, but they should really just put Fight Coordinator James Young — The Winter Soldier , Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Avengers: Infinity War (2018) — on permanent retainer for all of their movies because the difference is clear when he’s not aboard.
The spiritually inclined had already had their outing with Dr. Strange , the same way dadless Dudebros had theirs with Guardians of the Galaxy , or idealistic patriots had theirs with Captain America , or unsure young’uns had theirs with Spider-Man , or Chris Hemsworth fans had theirs with Thor , etc. Maybe Captain Marvel was for women — in particular, women who had been told all their lives that being a woman meant they weren’t good enough, weren’t strong enough, weren’t fast enough, etc. — and so its journey of self-discovery through self-recovery was not designed, executed, and polished to a high sheen for my particular benefit.
While Peter Parker is known to stretch himself thin, Spider-Man can only do so much alongside the dynamite success of Black Panther, so we need others to join them and extend the MCU into the foreseeable future.
And it’s better for it, feeling much like a the super-charged, spunky sister of Ant-Man and Spider-Man: Homecoming rather than coming across so larger-than-life and august as Avengers: Infinity War and Black Panther (though both the latter and Captain Marvel do expertly and effortlessly examine sundry social themes).
That’s how she came to us: When Iron Man and Hulk and Captain America and Thor and Dr. Strange and Spider-Man failed, in the closing tag of Avengers: Infinity War, Nick Fury called for the most capable hero he knew: Carol Danvers.
Last year also saw the release of “Black Panther” and one of the best Marvel films to date, “Avengers: Infinity War,” with the latter raising a rather large question as to the whereabouts of a certain major superhero from the Marvel Universe.
The end of Avengers: Infinity War left a devastating cliffhanger, set to be resolved in Endgame this April, and suggested that the introduction of Captain Marvel onscreen would help with that.
(Huge as its revenues will be, “Captain Marvel” is essentially a bridge between last year’s “Avengers: Infinity War” and next month’s “Avengers: Endgame.”)
It’s a Star Trek utopia.
It’s on Earth, around the one-third mark of the film, where Larson really takes over the role because while the Hala sequences visually recall Blade Runner and Star Trek , C-57 is a Top Gun homage.
There’s a fight scene near the end, set in outer space, that is reminiscent of Christopher Reeve’s heroics in “Superman,” only bigger and faster — but at no time do the filmmakers lose Larson’s humanity and ferocity amid the spectacle.
The basic premise of “Captain Marvel” — a gifted figure from a distant galactic sphere lands in Los Angeles — carries echoes of “Thor,” “Superman,” and many a past Spandex saga.
The old and stubbornly held Hollywood belief that a superhero movie starring a woman would flop was bolstered by some painful evidence: the critical and financial failures of Supergirl (1984), Tank Girl (1995), Catwoman (2004), and Elektra (2005).
Failures like Catwoman , Tank Girl and Elektra wouldn’t hurt so much if female superheroes were as prolific as Batman, Superman and Spider-Man, but now they’re back on track.
It could have been “Alien3” or “Princess Mononoke” or “Tank Girl” — hell, it could have been “Batman Returns.”