Captain Marvel Review: 7 Ups & 6 Downs

3. It's Not Quite As Smart As It Thinks

The script is a little all over the place and you definitely get the sense that it's got a lot of things it wants to say. The feminist message is obvious and more power to the film if it empowers anyone watching who feels empowered. But it also feels a little like it's insisting at times that it has invented heroes for girls, which is plainly not true. There have been others and the suggestion - particularly during that No Doubt scene - is definitely jarring.

There are other messages in there too. There's notably an anti-war message that is flirted with but ultimately dropped just as quickly and a particularly pertinent message about migrants and "other" identities that, again, ends up pushed to the side when you have to suspect that they might have better served the film to be more healthily fleshed out.