Captain Marvel Review: 7 Ups & 6 Downs
The MCU has a brand new hero and she's a bit of a mixed bag.
There are lots of things to celebrate about Captain Marvel. There's what it represents as Marvel's first female-led MCU movie. There's how impressive a lot of the visuals are. There's the humour and that darned cat that everyone seems to have fallen so helplessly for.
But there's also a conversation happening that suggests it's a fairly divisive film - amidst speculation that some of the negativity is no more than weaponised "manchilding" - that doesn't quite live up to the hype it's encouraged.
The long and short of it is that Captain Marvel doesn't break into the upper echelons of the MCU's quality ranking, but it's far better than the worst releases. There are issues, of course, but there are also stand-out moments that work to introduce Brie Larson's new hero as a good new addition to the MCU. Inevitably, any in-depth review has to look at both sides.
First the negatives...
Downs
6. Ronan Is Pointless AGAIN
When it was announced that Lee Pace's Ronan the Accuser would be reappearing (along with Korath), some Marvel fans would have been delighted at the opportunity to see more from him. Unfortunately, after he was made a passenger in Guardians Of The Galaxy by more charismatic characters, he's once again shunted aside and largely has absolutely nothing to do.
It feels like Marvel fundamentally believe that Ronan is a better character than he actually is. the revival is utterly baffling, other than to offer a link to the past and he's so nondescript, you'll find yourself questioning whether it's even Pace under the Blue Man make-up, because it really doesn't look like him.
Oh, and the vague set-up of a sequel featuring him is undermined horribly by the knowledge that if it's set before Guardians (which it would have to be), he'd once more have no genuine impact. Maybe it's time to give up on him?