Captain (Almost) Marvelous

Let's do a little math. Confident hero + diverse cast + political relevance + lighthearted banter + story about displaced peoples + strong women = success...right? Considering that all those elements put together form the heart of the MCU's best outing so far, Thor: Ragnarok, yes. The movie blended them together in a seamless, nuanced manner. Thanks, no doubt, to Taiki Waititi's assured direction.

Can this formula repeat itself? I don't know. The first test has not been conclusive.

Captain Marvel opts to repeat the quirky balance between someone in pain struggling to find themselves and maintaining a light and breezy atmosphere. Hell, if we can laugh at someone faceplanting out of a plane when an entire planet is being destroyed, we can certainly laugh at a digitally de-aged Samuel L. Jackson (good luck young actors on breaking through when we can make him and Kurt Russell looking 20-30 years younger without being too noticeable) cooing at a cat in the middle of an important mission.

Well...

I hate to say it, but I think Ragnarok is a bad influence. Opting for humor over tension can be rewarding sometimes. It can also be, meh. Waititi's a great comic. Laughs are his bread and butter. Not so much with the five credited writers on this film. At moments, it's like watching a sitcom without the laugh track. Oof.

What we get, then, is a weird shallowness that is 100% at odds with Carol Danvers's emotional journey. The tone never quite matches the moment. That's unfortunate because Brie Larson knows how to act. She sells the role to the best of her ability. She can't do it alone, though.

The scattered tone feeds into the film's other aspects.

I believe the directors were told to go all in on telling a positive, heartwarming tale about a free-spirited woman who shakes off the shackles of her male oppressor. She has a mind of her own, and she's not about to take crap from anyone. That's awesome. It's an attitude we need to see more often.

Yet, because of the film's aversion to emotional nuance, her struggle does not feel tense or hard or much like a conflict at all. Storytelling needs pain like an Olympic sprinter needs fast-twitch muscles. Without pain, how are we going to care about someone who is essentially an all-powerful being? We know she can beat her enemies in a flash.

All it would've taken was a slight shift away from playful banter towards tension. Just a handful of changes keeps an uneven yet enjoyable flick from nesting in alongside the franchise's best installments.

That said, maybe the world needs a movie where the end is never in doubt, where a woman can buck the system, where unjustly criminalized people can have a hero that leads them to the promised land. Maybe that's where we are right now.