Captain Marvel

This film is a gigantic box office success based on some marvelous performances, including one by a cat. Curious?

The fortunate thing about the Captain Marvel film is that nothing, and I mean nothing, is as it seems. Though one does not dare reveal the plot, suffice it to say that a shockingly surprising turn of events occurs that saves the film from its disjointed, confusing beginning.

To begin with, the film belongs to Brie Larson as Captain Marvel and Samuel L. Jackson as Agent Nick Fury. They demonstrate their incredible talent as an alien warrior and Earth police detective who form a friendship as they try to determine if would-be enemies are actually friends.

Ms. Larson plays an extraterrestrial Kree warrior who wrestles with her all but forgotten past as she ends up travelling back to Earth in 1995. This involves a very funny moment where she crashes into a Blockbuster store and she spends a moment looking at DVDs where she discovers that The Right Stuff preceded any Marvel films to hit the big screen.  She gradually discovers that she was a U.S. Air Force pilot by the name of Carol Danvers and in the process reunites with an old co-pilot named Maria Rambeau, played with grace and style by Lashana Lynch.

As a Kree warrior, Captain Marvel was following the training she received under the leadership of Supreme Intelligence (Annette Benning) and Yon-Rogg (Jude Law) on how to use her powers to eliminate another alien civilization known as the Skrulls. A pointy-eared people who are able to transform into a perfect likeness of an adversary, they were led by Talos, the always-appealing Ben Mendelsohn.

Ms. Larson remains one of my favorite actresses and I have greatly admired her ever since becoming enchanted by her performance in Short Term 12 (2013) and her Oscar-winning role in Room (2016). Here, her character is further helped by the performance of Mckenna Grace who plays Carol as a child. Ms. Grace is a fascinating young actress and you only need to watch her in Gifted (2017) if you have any doubts.

However, as Captain Marvel initially dances on the edge of a cinematic mess despite some wonderful special effects, enter the great Samuel L. Jackson as Agent Nick Fury. The endearing friendship that develops between Fury and Captain Marvel provides the strength of this film. On top of that, wait until you see his attraction to a wandering cat going by the name of Goose. This little feline steals the movie as he accompanies our heroes on both land and in space as he demonstrates some unanticipated hidden powers that prove to be quite helpful.

While this film is the 21st Marvel studio film to be released since 2008, it is co-directed by Anna Boden, the first woman to direct any of these popular films. Given that it is also the first to feature a female superhero in the lead, the film seems to have attracted a large number of females over a wide age range for obvious reasons.

I thought Hollywood considered only men as movie heroes. What happened to our precious values. Good Lord, the next thing a woman will be President. I suggest that her nickname should be Wonder Woman.