Not a fan of Brie Larson as Captain Marvel
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS: Are you paid for overtime hours?
By Wendell Gaa
The woman Captain Marvel stars the American actress with a Swedish name, Brie Larson.
I have much respect for her after observing her acting talent in “Short Term 12” and her Oscar-winning role for Best Actress in the drama-thriller “Room.” I was further lured to see her debut on the big screen as a super heroine after viewing an online interview of Larson by our own Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach.
“Captain Marvel” unfurls the story of Carol Danvers, a former U.S. Air Force fighter pilot who happens to be a member of the Starforce operatives of the Kree alien species on their capital planet of Hala. Gifted with superhuman strength, flight ability, and the power to emit photo energy bursts from her hands, she trains to be one of the elite commandos of the Kree Starforce under the tutelage of her mentor and commanding officer Yon-Rogg, played by actor Jude Law.
She finds the power to escape from her captors and land on planet Earth — specifically to 1990s-era America — where she allies herself with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), an agent of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division, better known as S.H.I.E.L.D. while they are pursued by Talos and his team.
Women as superheroes in ‘Captain Marvel’ and ‘Wonder Woman.’
I personally enjoyed this film and would recommend repeated viewings, but I did have a few issues with it. Brie Larson was not my ideal choice for the starring role. As superb an actress as she is, I honestly felt that the way the movie’s screen writers depicted Carol Danvers as a character lacked nuance and made her seem wooden and aloof. She just didn’t emit as much of an inspiring emotional impact on myself compared to big screen portrayals of other Marvel superheroes.
I further didn’t feel a surge of “women empowerment” from this film’s portrayal of Captain Marvel herself, at least not in the same way that “Black Panther” was a milestone cinematic love letter to global African culture. On the other hand, if you are just taking this movie for the entertaining and exciting action/sci-fi that it is, then you will thoroughly enjoy it. Proof that a superhero need not be judged on the basis of gender.
Perhaps this was the whole objective of the filmmakers. That blockbuster superhero movies starring women are finally being accepted as the norm, and not just some passing trend.
In this sense, I feel that “Captain Marvel” successfully proves that “Wonder Woman” was no fluke. Mass audiences will pay to see female superhero movies on the big screen, which is indeed a great thing.
The other strengths of “Captain Marvel” are definitely its extraordinary visual graphics, especially of the intergalactic battle scenes with Danvers and her allies. It should be noted that one of the film’s visual development concept illustrators is our very own, FilAm artist Anthony Francisco of Marvel Studios in Los Angeles. It is surely great to know that once again, one of our own has contributed to the amazing visuals of this latest Marvel creation.
The movie does a rather decent job of depicting daily life in the 1990s, from the mundane to the major. For those like myself who came of age in that decade (at least in the U.S.), the very sight and mention of cultural milestones — such as Blockbuster Video, “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” and “Silence of the Lambs” — will no doubt spark nostalgia. Throughout nearly the entire film, you will notice the absence of smart phones, and instead see the everyday technology of the time which are now deemed “dinosaur relics,” including the pager, Windows 95 and the CD-ROM!
© The FilAm 2019
