Truly Marvel-lous

Last year, Marvel fans went ballistic after watching the end credit scene in The Avengers Infinity War when Samuel Jackson’s Nick Fury sent a distress signal to Captain Marvel to come to Earth’s rescue using a sophisticated version of a pager.

Since then, super hero film-lovers have been on an adrenaline frenzy rampage, itching to watch what the fierce female lead will do and how will she be connected to The Avengers Endgame.

Personally, being a die-hard comic book and superhero movie fan myself, I couldn’t wait to see how Brie Larson, who plays Captain Marvel, was going to kick butt, take names and make Thanos shake in his golden boots. Larson did not disappoint!

Last week, many of these questions were answered as directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck took Marvel maniacs on a galactic journey in which the all-powerful Captain Marvel proved that women have the brains, the beauty and that magical touch (or in her case, blasts of energy) to change the world, one planet at a time!

Larson was strong, sassy and had all the makings of a hero with lots of heart. She was even glowing, in more ways than one.

She made us women proud and, even though she was knocked down throughout her life, she always stood back up and was ready to take on the world. After all, a strong woman is a force to be reckoned with. You can try to throw her down but be very afraid when she gets back up because she will rise like the phoenix, stronger than ever. A few villains in this epic flick learned that the hard way (check out my woman empowerment, Ra-Ra sisterhood rant!)

The film gets off to a slow start where Larson is introduced as Vers, a Starforce Agent for the alien Kree race. She is seen sparring with Starforce leader Yon-Rogg (Jude Law) who continues to tell her not to let her emotions get the better of her … something women have been told for years, that they are TOO sensitive.

You could see that Vers respected and looked up to Yon-Rogg. Then again, he and the The Starforce crew, which is made up of Korath the Pursuer (Djimon Hounsou), Minn-Erva (Gemma Chan,), Bron-Char (Rune Temte) and Att-Lass (Algenis Pérez Soto), was all she knew, or could remember.

Vers had no recollection of life before Kree or when she was brought to their home world of Hala.

When Starforce was assigned to recover a spy, Vers ends up getting captured by the Skrulls, a race of shape-shifting aliens at war with the Kree. The Skrull leader Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) wants one thing – to search through Vers’ memories to find plans for a Lightspeed Engine invented by a scientist in the US Air Force.

The quest unlocks Vers’ memories, giving her flashes of her past and leading her to planet C-53 (Earth) in the 1990s. That’s where she meets Fury, who at the time had both eyes, and Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg from The Avengers or Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.).

The movie picks up speed when Vers is thrust into situations using 1990s tech to communicate with her fleet, to find answers and to save herself.

The ’90s nostalgia warmed my heart and had me giggling more times than I could count. I especially can’t wait to get my hands on the movie soundtrack which featured some of my favourite tunes from the era like TLC’s Waterfalls and No Doubt’s I’m Just a Girl. In my opinion, No Doubt’s lyrics perfectly describe the movie as a whole.

Moving on, Fury and Vers end up teaming up to help her on her mission of self-discovery which then leads her to find her former best friend Maria Rambeau (Lashana Lynch), a fellow fighter pilot.

Without giving too much away, it seems the Skrulls were misunderstood, teaching us all yet again to never judge a book by its cover.

The dialogue, chemistry between the characters and humour were strong. The action was thrilling and the woman empowerment message was intensely moving.

Larson finally discovers who she really is – a strong woman driven by, dare I say it, doing what’s right and being driven by her emotional big heart.

Oh and guess what else makes an appearance, the glowing blue tesseract we have seen time and time again. There are so many elements tying all the Marvel movies together, but one of the best moments is discovering how the name The Avengers came to be and how Fury loses an eye.

A pet Oscar should also go to the movie’s cat. Trust me. This is no ordinary moggy. Just you wait and see. You will fall off your seat laughing at one scene.

Again, I don’t want to spoil the movie magic, so let’s leave it at that. It was a slow and steady watch that ended with a bang … and don’t forget to check out the end credit scene because this one … it’s a doozy!

 Now showing in all Bahrain’s cinemas

 Captain Marvel

Starring: Rosa Salazar, Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly

Directors: Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck

Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi 

Rating: PG15

RUNTIME: 125 Mins

Verdict: 4/5