You know how they say that Alita is proof that a good live-action anime movie is possible?
Well, I submit that Captain Marvel is proof that a good live-action Dragon Ball Z movie is possible. Not that they should do it, because they already tried and failed 10 years ago.
It may look like I’m digressing from my review, but I am not.
My point is that Captain Marvel (both the movie and the character) is not as much fun as the other characters and stories surrounding it.
Those who follow the comics would know that Captain Marvel of the MCU is a hybrid of the original Captain Marvel (the Kree hero, Mar-Vell) and Ms Marvel (Carol Danvers).
The movie stayed fairly true to the source material, as close as the MCU usually does anyway.
However, the titular character (Brie Larson) is more a feel-good role model for girls that is devoid of personality. She goes Super Saiyan, but that’s about as memorable as she gets.
The story of the war between the Kree and the Skrulls (who look like Dragon Ball Namekians), and characters such as Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), and Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) were far more intriguing.
Extra acting points go to Jackson for portraying a younger, more fun-loving Fury, and Mendelson for playing a Skrull with a personality and depth of character.
Throughout the movie, I could not tell if they made Jackson younger using CGI, or just put makeup and a hairpiece on him.
But both the CGI de-aged Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) – and sometimes Captain Marvel herself – look fake.
I think one of the reasons I like the portrayal of the Skrulls here is that they always appear in fantastical scenes.
Captain Marvel is set in the early 90s, a fertile ground for pop culture references and a gold mine for nostalgia-inducing music, both of which the movie used to full effect.
On the other hand, you have space combat, aliens, and lasers, but those more interesting settings are few and far between.
The main plot of Captain Marvel is predictable and it’s littered with plot-holes and bad decisions.
What held my attention are the side plots that, I feel, could have been spun off as their own movie instead.
That said, I think Captain Marvel played its part as both a prequel to the current MCU story arch, and as a setup to Avengers: Endgame with a dash of timely social agenda.
However, it did not pull it off as well as Black Panther did.
