Brett Salway reviews #CAPTAINMARVEL

18/03/2019

 

The iconic Marvel franchise has hit us with its latest superhero movie film ‘Captain Marvel’. The opening credits play tribute to Marvel’s primary creative leader ‘Stan Lee’ by combining all his iconic Marvel film scenes, into the Marvel logo. This was a real special and moving moment and one that won’t be forgotten in a hurry. RIP Stan Lee, THANK YOU for the incredible Marvel universe you brought us.

Starring Oscar winning actress Brie Larson as Stan lee’s ‘Captain Marvel’ and being Marvel’s first solo female lead, she definitely had a challenge with this role. The movie’s opening scene is set on an alien planet, incorporating a vivid memory of earth, set in a dream with new characters to the Marvel universe. The character of ‘Vers’ (Captain Marvel) has an element of mystery to her from the outset and gets viewer’s intrigued to find out her full story. Brie Larson portrays her character of ‘Vers’ extremely well and really connected with her character.

BAFTA award winning Jude Law plays the character of ‘Yon-Rogg’, who is a strong leader figure and is preparing ‘Vers’ for war against their arch-enemy ‘Skrull’ with the rest of his Starforce team. His performance was superb and again he really connected with his character and brings an interesting personality to the Marvel universe. Jude law really does display a solid performance. 

The story then brings us to a 1995 earth with iconic affiliations to the 1990s, like Blockbuster video, Microsoft windows 95 and Altavista search engine, a similar early search engine to google. The soundtrack is erupting with 1990s nostalgia, including Nirvana’s recognisable “Come as you are” and “whatta man’ by Salt ‘N’ Pepa feat. En Vogue. I loved these little innuendos to the 1990s and thought they added a humorous touch to the screenplay.

Another BAFTA winning actor Samuel L Jackson, again portrays ‘Nick Fury’ and this is Fury’s most significant part yet in the Marvel franchise and really afforded light on his characters more softer side and successful shield career. Jackson is a timeless actor who again portrays his character firmly and fondly. 

British actress Gemma Chan portrays the character of ‘Minn-Erva’, who is a member of ‘Yonn-Rogg’s’ Starforce team and as always demonstrated her natural charm. 

Australian actor Ben Mendelsohn played ‘Talos’ who is the ‘Skrull’ general and I really connected with his character wanting a better quality of life for him and his family. He’s worked on some of the biggest movies of the last few years including ‘The Dark knight rises’ and more recently Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of ‘Ready Player One’, such a great performer. He also won the ‘Primetime Emmy award’ for best supporting actor, in Netflix original TV series ‘Bloodline’. 

This is the first superhero film that Anna Boden and Ryan K.Fleck have written and directed, I felt that they really captured the characters of the original comic books and did a terrific job of showing Carol Danver’s (original Earth character of ‘Vers’) journey. They are also connections to the ‘Guardians of the galaxy’ which were expertly thought out and brought the Marvel universe closer together. Larson and Jackson had great chemistry and really connected to each other. The final scene is when you see the true power of ‘Captain Marvel’ and it’s spectacular! This also excited me to see how she will become involved in upcoming ‘Avengers: Endgame’ which is arguably the most highly anticipated film of the year! I felt like the electrifying end scene had a powerful message of, if we stop listening to being told that we are too feeble or sensitive, then we can become anything we want! I also have to mention that I saw it in IMAX 3D at the ODEON gallery Cardiff, which was epic and really brought the film to life. I also reviewed the Odeon gallery shift which you can read on the #CardiffTimes blog also.

Captain Marvel is being shown at a cinema near you now. #CAPTAINMARVEL 💥