Craig

I want to start by saying: I want to love this movie. God. I want to love this movie. There is so much that I loved coming out of the theater, but, when it comes down to it, the final product is a mediocre attempt by Marvel, who is capable of performing so much better. First, I want to talk about the good stuff. Samuel Jackson and Ben Mendlsohn were absolutely phenomenal in their roles. Samuel Jackson gave us a side of Nick Fury that I didn't even know I wanted, and his comedic timing throughout the movie was on point. Some of the plot twists (spoilers ahead) were also a breath of fresh air from the usual, worn out origin stories that we usually get with superhero blockbusters. The Skrulls being the victims actually ended up working for the film and it got a gasp from me with that being said, there were other twists that just didn't work for me (more on that later). Goose the cat was incredible. I never thought that I could love an animal sidekick more than the protagonist of the story, but Goose absolutely stole the show for me and was one of the definite highlights. Now for the bad stuff. Carol Danvers (Captain Marvel) DOES NOT WORK. I don't know if it was Brie Larson's depiction of the character or if it was just bad writing, but I felt nothing for this character by the end of the movie, despite the fact that were were supposed to have gone on this emotional journey with her. It felt as though she was a female character that was only defined by her strengths, which, yes is how you make a strong female in a movie, but isn't how you make a strong female character. There is a very distinct difference between a strong female and a strong character that is a female. It all started with her connection to her crew - or the lack of connection in my opinion. At the start of the movie, Marvel is trying to make us see this crew as a family of sorts - similar to the Guardians of the Galaxy - so that, when Carol finds out they've all been lying to her later in the movie, it packs an emotional punch. It works on paper, but there is not feeling of emotional attachment between Carol and her crew at all throughout the two hour runtime. This drastically disconnects you from the character at her most pivotal moments in the film. I could forgive that if she gave me something that set her apart from other stereotypical characters. That, unfortunately, didn't happen. She cracked a few jokes that didn't land with the audience, spoke in a monotone voice throughout the entire movie (and even when she did laugh or smile, it felt forced), and didn't go through any true arc to come into her own with her powers. I know. People are going to say that Captain America doesn't smile or.laigh all that often. Well, Chris Evan's and Joss Whedon/the Russos make it work with his character. Captain America is still a little boy who is always trying to do the noble thing and would do anything for his best friend, and those attributes create a character that works despite the fact that his personality may be a little flat. With Carol, however, there aren't qualities that make me buy into her character despite the fact that she isn't sarcastic like Tony or lighthearted like Peter Parker. I didn't buy into her friendship with her pilot pal, while Brie and Jackson had chemistry together I still didn't feel like she necessarily cared for Fury by the end, and I didn't feel as though she was necessarily distraught by the events of her past. Where you can see the pain in Bucky's eyes that is a result of the stuff he was forced to do for Hydra, there is no sense that Carol Danvers is struggling with accepting her reality, which causes this part of the movie to fail. This was an opportunity to create a broken character that needed to come into her own - similar to how Thor had to learn to fight without his hammer, cap had to learn how to cope with the government betrayal, Natasha had to learn how to deal with the pain of her past and put her skills to work for the right side, etc etc. There is not learning curve for Carol. I'm out of space, but I hope this helps.