| Flicks

FLICKS: Captain Marvel

Posted on 20 March 2019 by LeslieM

By “Cinema” Dave

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

Captain Marvel has become the biggest grossing film of 2019 thus far, topping How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World and Glass.  This is the penultimate episode leading into the April 26 release of Avengers: Endgame, the climax of 11 years of Marvel movies.

Though an original story, Captain Marvel is filled with many Marvel Easter eggs, motifs and details that will reward the patrons of the late Stan Lee. In fact, the film opens with a  beautiful tribute to Stan “the Man” Lee, who created so many of the Marvel Comic superheroes who have struck box office gold.

The film opens when Vers (Brie Larson) and Yon-Rogg (Jude Law) are on a mission to infiltrate the Skulls.  Leading up to this mission, Vers has flashbacks involving American fighter jets and an older woman (Annette Bening).  When the mission goes haywire, Vers crash lands on planet Earth, circa 1990s.

After a confusing and convoluted opening, Captain Marvel settles into familiar territory, in which Vers meets S.H.I.E.L.D. Representative Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Agent Coulson (Gregg Clark).  Vers learns that she is actually Carol Danvers, an Air Force aviator who is best friends with Maria Rambeau (Lashana Lynch) and the old woman in her dreams is actually her commanding officer, Doctor Wendy Lawson.  

Once the characters are established, Captain Marvel moves at a pretty brisk pace.  Unlike the serious nature of the recent Avengers and Captain America movies, the emphasis is on fun, much like the recent Thor, Ant-Man and Doctor Strange movies.  Like these previously mentioned  Marvel movies, this film succeeds as a standalone movie.

Being a comic book movie, it is filled with many visual big screen treats — the bigger the screen, the better [Head to IMAX in Ft. Lauderdale to see it on the six-storey screen] — that feature computerized special effects and practical stunt work. Yet, it is the character interaction that makes these movies special. While Danvers has a nice reunion with Rambeau and her daughter, it is the relationship between Nick Fury and Goose the Ferkel (who looks like a nice cat) that many ticket purchasers are talking about.

Being the 21st film of the Marvel Comic Universe, Captain Marvel is the final piece of the puzzle that will culminate with Avengers: Endgame opening April 29. This is a unique time for the movies, for this summer may be the swan song of the big screen motion picture experience. 

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