Movie Review Captain Marvel

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2019 – Spoiler alerts Marvellous, hugely inventive addition to the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe), with a hero so powerful she makes Superman look like a Bantam Weight. Vers is basically going through a Jason Bourne amnesia problem, but interestingly, she isn’t so much uncovering her powers (though many of them are repressed) but struggling to re-remember her pre-superhero life, a clever reversal of the usual amnesia plot devise. The 1995 setting is used well, with lots of nostalgic references to the era, and the de-aged Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) and SHIELD agent Coulson, (Clark Gregg) is really well done. The refugees plot-line works well and Vers remembering that she not only fell and got knocked over a lot as an adventurous child, but also kept getting up again with renewed determination is great. It convey that despite her immense elemental cosmic power, her greatest quality is her humanity. That idea is captured here better than in just about any other movie. Great set pieces with epic pace battles but some fights move too fast to keep up with who is hitting who. A real highlight is the early train fight with Fury engaged in a French Connection car chases train pursuit. A few slight flaws. Coulson (the real one) seems initially rather gormless, calling in rather late that he has been left at Blockbusters (guarded by the worst security guard ever, a man who sees someone crash through the roof of the store but doesn’t even get out of his car). Fury gets his eye injured but makes no effort to get it treated quickly and no one else seem concerned about it either. There is also the cliché of the big fight on a train not making the driver stop, and many passengers seem completely unfased by the eruption of violence on their daily commute. The Stan Lee tribute scene is wonderful, as is turning the opening comic page turn logo-opening to a series of cuts from his various cameos in the MCU films. Two neat mid and post credit sequences help bring the story up to date ready for Avengers Endgame too. Saw the trailer for Shazam too, which looks fun. Arthur Chappell