Captain Marvel
Mar. 31st, 2019 07:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerAt last I have seen Captain Marvel! And it seemed like a pretty solid mid-tier Marvel movie: not quite up there with Black Panther or Winter Soldier but nonetheless enjoyable.
I especially enjoyed the beginning, because I love stories about the brainwashed soldiers of evil empires (see also my She-Ra problem). In fact I was a little disappointed that this section so brief, but this is 100% a result of personal preference, not a flaw in the movie. The only thing I’ve ever watched that has kept the brainwashed soldiers with the evil organization as I’ve wanted is Agents of SHIELD and that’s because they don’t realize that’s what they’re doing.
(Side note on Agents of SHIELD: Captain Marvel basically tossed all of AoS’s Coulson backstory out the window, and while I don’t really expect the big movies to slavishly adhere to things established in a wonky little TV show, nonetheless this must be absolutely maddening for the AoS writers, who at least in the early seasons tried so hard to tie in tightly to the movies. I’m a couple of seasons behind so I don’t know if they’re still doing this. I should catch up so I can find out if they knocked off half the cast with the Snap or just went = “Wow, it’s so lucky none of our team members disintegrated into ash in that ludicrous plot twist!” and keep on with whatever ridonkulous plot they had going.)
I did think that the big climactic montage of Carol getting back up would have had more impact if we knew more of her backstory, of the emotional impact of those individual moments.
But I loved the fact that the Supreme Intelligence showed up as the person you admire most, because that’s so diabolically brilliant. Even though you know it’s not actually that person - even though, in this case, the actual Mar-Vell’s opinions were diametrically opposed to the opinions that the Supreme Intelligence espouses while in Mar-Vell’s form - it’s hard to hold fast when the person you admire most appears to be telling you you’re wrong.
So although knowing just a little more backstory (even something as simple as making the go-kart flashback clearer would have helped) would have made the montage scene stronger, it still worked because it’s clear just how hard it is for Carol in this one moment, and yet she pulls it off.
I also loved the bit at the end where Yon-Rogg is trying to convince Carol to fight him mano a mano, to prove that she can, and she’s just like “I have nothing to prove to you” and blasts him. I wonder if he always knew (or at least feared) that this day was coming and that’s why he repeated that phraseology so much in practice: he knew that if Carol ever discovered her true powers she could wipe the floor with him and he’s trying to train her to think that’s cheating.
I especially enjoyed the beginning, because I love stories about the brainwashed soldiers of evil empires (see also my She-Ra problem). In fact I was a little disappointed that this section so brief, but this is 100% a result of personal preference, not a flaw in the movie. The only thing I’ve ever watched that has kept the brainwashed soldiers with the evil organization as I’ve wanted is Agents of SHIELD and that’s because they don’t realize that’s what they’re doing.
(Side note on Agents of SHIELD: Captain Marvel basically tossed all of AoS’s Coulson backstory out the window, and while I don’t really expect the big movies to slavishly adhere to things established in a wonky little TV show, nonetheless this must be absolutely maddening for the AoS writers, who at least in the early seasons tried so hard to tie in tightly to the movies. I’m a couple of seasons behind so I don’t know if they’re still doing this. I should catch up so I can find out if they knocked off half the cast with the Snap or just went = “Wow, it’s so lucky none of our team members disintegrated into ash in that ludicrous plot twist!” and keep on with whatever ridonkulous plot they had going.)
I did think that the big climactic montage of Carol getting back up would have had more impact if we knew more of her backstory, of the emotional impact of those individual moments.
But I loved the fact that the Supreme Intelligence showed up as the person you admire most, because that’s so diabolically brilliant. Even though you know it’s not actually that person - even though, in this case, the actual Mar-Vell’s opinions were diametrically opposed to the opinions that the Supreme Intelligence espouses while in Mar-Vell’s form - it’s hard to hold fast when the person you admire most appears to be telling you you’re wrong.
So although knowing just a little more backstory (even something as simple as making the go-kart flashback clearer would have helped) would have made the montage scene stronger, it still worked because it’s clear just how hard it is for Carol in this one moment, and yet she pulls it off.
I also loved the bit at the end where Yon-Rogg is trying to convince Carol to fight him mano a mano, to prove that she can, and she’s just like “I have nothing to prove to you” and blasts him. I wonder if he always knew (or at least feared) that this day was coming and that’s why he repeated that phraseology so much in practice: he knew that if Carol ever discovered her true powers she could wipe the floor with him and he’s trying to train her to think that’s cheating.
no subject
Date: 2019-03-31 02:18 pm (UTC)I LOVED THAT LAST SCENE TOO. I've seen people complaining about how it's "not emotionally satisfying" or whatever, and I'm like, what the heck? She's realized that a relationship that was supposed to be about helping her grow was in fact about controlling and holding her back, and she's realized she doesn't have to play by those rules anymore. I mean, that's some pretty heavy coding for abusive/controlling relationships (both romantic and mentor/student), which is unfortunately something many women have firsthand experience with. So maybe it's not surprising that most of the complainers have been men, heh. (As Brian commented to me afterward, "the biggest fear of the mediocre white dude isn't that he's undesired, but that he's irrelevant.")
I think you're totally right that the big triumphant montage would've had more punch if we'd seen more of Carol's backstory. But she does sell it on the "our universal human superpower is persistence" level. I also thought they didn't quite stick the landing with the "you have to control your emotions"/"your power stems from your emotions" theme—I appreciate what they were trying to do there but it felt to me like they sort of left that dangling.
Also, how did that not occur to me about the deviousness of the Supreme Intelligence's appearance? You're absolutely correct, that's some incredibly juicy screwed-up power dynamic manipulation stuff right there.
no subject
Date: 2019-03-31 06:10 pm (UTC)I was absolutely delighted that she kind of gets to throw that yoke off twice, both with the smarmy Supreme Intelligence and then specifically with the guy who had been trying to rein her in and fill her with doubt for probably the past six years. It was like theory and practice.
no subject
Date: 2019-04-01 09:10 am (UTC)Also I was totally crying at her getting up, and getting up, and getting up. I can relate.
no subject
Date: 2019-04-01 11:42 am (UTC)And then she heaps coals of fire on his head by lasering him only a little, so he has to live with the memory of her mercy/her message to the Kree for the rest of his days.
no subject
Date: 2019-04-01 03:28 pm (UTC)I loved that. He's not even worth killing! He has to limp back and be humiliated and be the equivalent of her HANDS OFF EARTH sign.
no subject
Date: 2019-04-01 11:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-03-31 05:50 pm (UTC)If it's a matter of Phil not remembering the Kree stuff from 1995, I have to wonder how thorough and selective his post-resurrection brainwashing/therapy was at Project TAHITI.
Another sidebar: The AoSHIELD plan is, I believe, to pick up a year after the events of "The End". Thereby avoiding the "Snapture" effects and the response to them altogether.
no subject
Date: 2019-03-31 06:58 pm (UTC)I think it's more that there was such a big mystery about the Kree and the blood/serum and what it could do woven through all of AoS, and if instead Coulson and Nick Fury knew about the Kree since 1995 and presumably there's SHIELD data on it, that no longer makes much sense. I guess the information could have been completely locked up, but presumably the whole reason Fury starts the Avengers initiative to look for more heroes like Carol is that Ronan and his Accuser forces show up ready to do to Earth what they did to Torfa.
no subject
Date: 2019-03-31 08:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-03-31 06:45 pm (UTC)Oooh, that's nastily plausible.
-- Re AoS, without being spoilery: I haven't been keeping up with the show regularly, more dipping in and out, but my impression was they quit pegging the show so closely to the movies in season 3, which was really all about the Inhumans, and mentioned the Sokovian Accords very briefly. (It's interesting once you remember there was an Inhumans movie on the slate, and that got turned into that terrible TV series....) Season 4 was really more of its own thing and Season 5 even more so, I don't remember them mentioning Infinity War events at all. The showrunners said the ties became more "thematic," like they had a mystical character so that "thematically" lined up with Dr Strange, sorta kinda. I think the showrunners knew IW was basically ending on a cliffhanger and they really didn't want to engage with that, or whatever was going to happen in Endgame. It's almost more like an AU or a What If by now -- "What If Coulson wasn't really killed by Loki but returned to earth secretly?"
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Date: 2019-04-01 11:41 am (UTC)Oh God, I never saw the Inhumans TV show and I had blocked what I heard about its existence out of my memory. TBF the entire MCU seems to have done the same.
There's something very comics-y about the fact that the MCU has now spawned its own canonical AUs.
no subject
Date: 2019-04-01 02:43 pm (UTC)I didn't even see it once, just the horrible promo photos were enough!
There's something very comics-y about the fact that the MCU has now spawned its own canonical AUs.
YES....hmm, this would include the Netflix shows too probably, since they occasionally reference the Battle of New York and 'enhanced' people but nothing else really, and in particular Daredevil is still set in pre-gentrified Hell's Kitchen. And of course there are all the different Spiderman movies....and that one awful Captain America one starring J.D. Salinger's son!
no subject
Date: 2019-04-01 03:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-04-01 11:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-04-01 11:45 am (UTC)I stopped watching AoS a few seasons ago, but I would have kept up with it if it had been more tied into the movies. My biggest frustration with any ongoing series (either TV or movies) is the lack of internal consistency for both plot and character development.
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Date: 2019-04-01 03:26 pm (UTC)I raegquit AoS before the end of S2 I think, when they killed off too many women and PoC characters, including some of my favourites, and I loathed Grant Ward and didn't like that plotline where Skye was really Daisy Quake and so on. I also loathed Talbot. We have kind of dipped in and out -- I saw "4,722 Hours" and we quite liked the LMD/Agents of HYDRA eps. But then there was also the whole Garner/Lash thing, and I was just like ARGH NO. We did start watching the beginning of S5, because a lot of S4 had been so good, but it hit too many of my squicks.
no subject
Date: 2019-04-01 04:39 pm (UTC)