"Highter, further, faster, baby."
Hello everyone!
As in, I'm going back to my roots.
As in, I'm going back to Marvel.
For those of you who don't yet know, I'm an avid Marvel fan; I started watching the so-called Infinity Saga waaay back sometime in Phase one (not quite in the beginning, but I think I started with Thor or Hulk (might have been the one with Eric Bana) and worked my way up) and haven't looked back since.
I've loved most of the movies in the saga, with only rare exceptions, and I'm STOKED to see what follows after Endgame!
No, I haven't seen Endgame yet. I had three consecutive Marvel movie nights and needed a minor break.
Tonight's blog post is all about Captain Marvel.
So, funny story.
I'd sort of forgotten all about Marvel for a little while after seeing Black Panther (which was a lead-in to Infinity War), because I'd decided VERY early on to only watch Infinity War after Endgame was released. Having been on this bandwagon for years, I was there when it was still titled Infinity War Part 1, so I knew I wouldn't have the patience to wait it out for Part 2. I'd just wait and watch them both.
(Joke's on me since Endgame is still waiting, but at least it'll be days, not months.)
Anyway, then I saw that the Captain Marvel BluRay dropped, and I was EXCITED.
Like Wonder Woman and Supergirl for DC, Captain Marvel represents a strong, stand-alone female superhero in the comic books, so I was REALLY happy to hear they'd be including her into the Avengers line-up. I didn't get the chance to see the movie on the big screen, so when it was released on home media, I couldn't contain my joy.
And then, screeching halt.
'Where does Marvel stand in the line-up?'
I went to check the list, and lo and behold! I had two more movies pre-Marvel: Infinity War, and Ant-Man and the Wasp. Sure I could probably get away with watching Marvel on her own, since I'd heard it's mostly an origin story - but I'm slightly OCD. I kind of can't watch things out of order. It's like telling me to watch The Two Towers first, then backtrack to Fellowship and finish with Return of the King.
Uh, no.
So then I buckled down and watched both the other movies - reviews pending.
Tonight, however, it's ALL about that Marvel!
We begin our story with what looks to be a flashback, or some snapshot of sorts, because this woman (Brie Larson) is obviously having a nightmare of epic proportions about a crash, and airplanes, some Top Gun-reminiscent scenes, and potential death when she wakes up.
Somewhere in a VERY alien city, probably on an alien planet, for all the viewers know.
It's 1995, and Vers, a Kree warrior, is having trouble sleeping because of these nightmares, so she goes to wake up her commander, Yon-Rogg (Jude Law), and they spar. Vers has trouble keeping her emotions in check like most of the Kree, however (and gee whiz, you don't have to be a wizard to see she's fundamentally different because she has neither their weird eyes nor their blue skin colour), and so her powers (some sort of laser-heating-thingy coming from her hands) keep getting out of control.
The Supreme Intelligence (this would be the artificial intelligence that rules the Kree) tells Vers the same thing as her commander, with the caveat that what was given can still be taken away.
No time for deeper discussions, however, as they get a notification that one of their spies had his cover blown and the Skrulls may or may not kill him, so the team infiltrate the planet he's hiding on, hoping to get to him before the Skrulls do.
Side-note: Skrulls are apparently the scurge of the universe, the Kree have been battling them since forever, they're pretty much terrorists who the Kree want gone.
Anyway, the Kree operation doesn't go well, they fall into an ambush, and Vers gets captured by the Skrulls and taken to their ship, where they probe her memories.
The thing here is, though, that she has amnesia: she doesn't remember anything prior to the six years she's spent on Hala, so these memories are new to her, too, though she still busts herself out of her restraints and kicks the commander Talos' butt. The Skrulls seem to be looking for a Dr. Lawson, and she's supposedly on Earth, which is where Vers crash-lands after her escape.
She manages to contact Yon-Rogg who tells her to sit tight, but her presence has attracted the notice of S.H.I.E.L.D. and who else pops up but Nick Fury, at this point still an agent, and training a rookie Agent Coulson?
Also, people, COULSON HAS HAIR. STOP EVERYTHING.
Ahem.
The interrogation gets interrupted by a Skrull attack, and while Vers heads off after the would-be assassin, Fury follows her in his car with Coulson, who turns out to be ANOTHER Skrull impersonating as Coulson (poor Phil got left behind at the initial convenience store, I can't even begin to describe how hilarious this is ...).
Vers manages to grab the crystal with her extracted memories, and Fury gets told by his boss that he needs to bring Vers in, by working with her. So the two of them go for a little car cruise during which they sort-of bond until they get to Project Pegasus, which Vers thinks might be the key to everything.
It is - but they sadly find out that Lawson is dead, having died in a plane crash six years before. While Fury's communicating with his superior who's now here to capture Vers, Vers finds a photo of herself with Lawson, which triggers some more memories, but no real answers.
Fury, meanwhile, figures out that his boss isn't his actual boss, but another Skrull (Talos, by the way), and so he sort of orchestrates an escape, with a little assist from Vers amd Coulson. They fly off in an aircraft from the hangar, with the folder, some new information, and a stowaway.
An orange tabby named Goose tags along, warming Fury's cold, dead heart, while Vers explains they might need to head to Louisiana to talk to the last person who saw Lawson (and Vers) alive.
This turns out to be Maria Rambeau, who is SHOCKED to see Vers.
Because, wait for it - Vers is CAROL DANVERS. Maria's best friend, co-pilot, sister from a different mister, etc.
Things might have come to a standstill if not for the arrival of Talos, who offers a truce and explains that Vers has it all wrong: the Skrulls aren't terrorists. The things they were accused of were actually caused by the Accusers (guest appearance by none other than Lee Pace), and the Skrulls are simply refugees searching for a planet outside Kree dominion to live on. Lawson was actually a renegade Kree, Mar-Vell, helping them and trying to develop a light-speed engine.
Talos plays a recording from right before the crash, during which Vers was actually the pilot, and Vers remembers what happened: they were attacked by an alien ship, crashed, and then Yon-Rogg killed Lawson, but Vers destroyed the engine and absorbed the powers it contained, causing her to lose her memories. After this, Yon-Rogg took her to Hala and her new life began.
Vers decides to help Talos, and together with Maria and Fury, they find Lawson's cloaked lab, floating just within Earth's orbit, where they not only discover something as important as the Tesseract, but also Skrull refugees, including Talos' family.
The reunion is short-lived because of the arrival of Yon-Rogg, who's also notified Ronan the Accuser (hello Pace!), and the special operators (these include Gemma Chan who looks STUNNING even with blue skin) take command of the lab, forcing Vers to confront the Supreme Intelligence once more while Ronan prepares to decimate Earth.
Vers does indeed confront the AI, but while the AI is initially mocking, Vers realizes the Kree actually tried to dampen her powers to control her - and she destroys the chip they installed to the back of her neck, becoming Captain Marvel in full.
While she takes on the fighters, Talos manages to change appearance to one of the Kree guards, and together with Fury and Maria evades being killed. Fury also retrieves Goose, who is revealed to be an alien species called Flerken, and swallows the Tesseract (also some Kree soldiers, but, ya know). Vers creates a distraction for Talos and Fury to hightail it back to Earth, and manages to defeat mostly everyone except Yon-Rogg and Minn-Erva (Chan), who Rogg sends to destroy the refugees.
Maria out-flies Minn-Erva and Vers defeats Rogg on Earth (though she takes the time to decimate some of Ronan's ships and pretty much tells him to hit the road - which he does, noting they'd be back for the woman, though really they won't seeing as Ronan gets killed in Guardians of the Galaxy); Rogg is sent back to the Supreme Intelligence with a message from Vers that she's coming for the AI.
Vers then leaves with the Skrulls to help them find a new home, though she leaves a modified pager with Fury in case he ever needs her help. She also leaves him Goose, who not only swallowed the Tesseract but blinded Fury's left eye for no apparent reason (I'm sure there is one somewhere), and Fury decides to begin the Avengers Initiative, naming it after Vers' Air Force call sign, Avenger.
Of course no Marvel movie is ever complete without mid-credit and post-credit scenes, so we firstly see the activated pager (Infinity War tie-in), monitored by the Avengers, right before Vers appears demanding to know where Fury is; secondly, Goose coughs up the Tesseract onto Fury's desk, because where else do you leave hairballs for your owners to find them???
And with THAT, the show is set for Endgame!
I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, much like Wonder Woman, and I have to rewatch it again soon. I liked Brie Larson as Vers, cackled at Jackson as Fury and LOVED seeing a young Coulson (Cregg just nails this character every single time), especially when he helped Fury and Vers out despite his orders being to shoot on sight.
This was a funny movie, made more so by Ben Mendelsohn who plays Talos, because I swear, the man is a born comedian. His punch lines were fantastic!
I don't care about all the "hate" online for Larson - she did her job, and did it well. I'm here to enjoy these movies while Marvel keeps on making them. So if you haven't seen this one yet, what ARE you waiting for???
xx
*images and video not mine
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