Thursday 14 March 2019

Captain Marvel - The scoop and digest

Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck take elements from Skrull-Kree War story arc to present appetiser to Avengers: Endgame.

As this is the first released post the great man's passing, Marvel logo is altered to display numerous cameos.

'Thank You Stan'

Indeed.

Brie Larson - Vers/Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel
Samuel L. Jackson - Nick Fury
Ben Mendelsohn - General Talos
Jude Law - Yon-Rogg
Annette Bening - Supreme Intelligence
Lashana Lynch - Maria Rambeau
Clark Gregg - Agent Phil Coulson

Summary

In 1995, on Kree capital Hala, Yon-Rogg has trained Vers (pronounced 'Veers') to be all she can be.

Kree are at war with shape-shifting alien race the Skrull.

Intense squabbling spills onto C-53 (Earth) in Los Angeles and Vers bumps into young S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Nick Fury.

As the amnesiac Vers works with Fury and joins historic dots, jazz hands begins to learn that General Talos and co aren't the enemy after all.

Mid-credits

Following Infinity War's bonus scene, Captain America, Black Widow, Bruce Banner and War Machine monitor deactivated pager.

Carol Danvers suddenly appears and asks "Where's Fury?"

Post-credits

Back in 1995, Goose regurgitates the Tesseract.

Colourful caper

Spaceship dogfights, stylish humour, decent fisticuffs and pretty pyrotechincs complement what is essentially an enjoyable throwback to 90s action movies.

Highway chase is modelled on 1971 classic The French Connection.

Sequence is also when Stan Lee appears on bus, reading excerpt from Mallrats.

Final cameo is rumoured to be in Spider-Man: Far From Home.

How Space Stone came to Earth, Flerken blinding Fury's left eye and Danvers upgrading pager ties up loose ends.

Larson makes a kick ass leading lady, Bening is fun as re-imagined Kree scientist Mar-Vell and the deadpan Ben Mendelsohn smashes most scenes.

Skrull imitating another human by simply looking at intended target would make the T-1000 heave with jealously.

Subject copied isn't terminated though.

Another possible T2 ref is when Danvers nicks biker's clothes and motorcycle.

Ant-Man, its sequel and Guardians Vol. 2 digitally 'de-aged' characters, but for the first time in MCU, certain geezers are subject to incredible CG throughout.

Namely, legendary mofo Sammy Jackson and Clark Gregg's Agent Coulson.

Talos sucking on a soda at Maria "Photon" Rambeau's home may seem entirely random, but most will know this is a reference to Jules doing the same in Pulp Fiction.

Why didn't Fury alert Danvers in Avengers Assemble?

Because alien invasion didn't qualify as a true emergency.

It's worth noting that segments of others predate this.

Guardians (1988), Vol. 2 (1980) and Ant-Man (1989).

Don't forget, Ronan the Accuser didn't turn really bad until 2014.

Planet hopping text, translation device and Starforce passing through honeycomb space jumps are copied and pasted from GOTG.

Even Kree crafts look suspiciously like Ronan's crate the Dark Aster.

Named Chewie (after a certain Chewbacca in comics), Flerken adopts the new moniker of Goose (in homage to Anthony Edwards' Top Gun wingman).

Kree places a mouth guard mask on Goose, with Fury remarking 'he's a cat, not Hannibal Lecter'.

Funny.

Soundtrack features hits from Nirvana, Garbage, Elastica, R.E.M, TLC, Hole and No Doubt, but timing doesn't always work.

Also, third act is a damp squib and Jude Law's villain is dull.

A pinball machine inspired by Space Invaders on board Skrull spaceship is cool, but more difficult to spot is Street Fighter II: Champion Edition arcade in a bar.

Anachronisms

Film is set in June (confirmed by calendar during audio CD scene in Rambeau's house).

First Knight (VHS) and Babe (poster) are seen in Blockbuster.

Interesting, as the former was released in July and the latter didn't come out until August.

Smashing Pumpkins album Melon Collie & the Infinite Sadness is plastered on phone box, but didn't come out until October.

You couldn't hear Garbage track Only Happy When It Rains and use Windows 95 until August.

Humph.

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