Captain Marvel is the story of Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) who serves as a member of Starforce, an elite group of Kree noble warriors. Her role on this team is simple—stop the rival alien race The Skrulls from expanding their empire through terrorism. After a mission goes awry, Carol finds herself unexpectedly on Earth in the mid-1990s. Disconnected from Starforce, she teams up with a young SHIELD agent named Nick Fury (a digitally de-aged Samuel L. Jackson) to ward off the impending Skrull invasion.

What works in Captain Marvel are the characters and the vein of pure joy running through the film. Larson and Jackson, along with Ben Mendelsohn, Annette Bening, Lashana Lynch, Clark Gregg, and Jude Law all come together to create fantastic chemistry, leveraging a witty script by Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck (who both co-directed), and Geneva Robertson-Dworet that was clearly inspired by the acclaimed former writer of the series, Kelly Sue DeConnick. Carol and Fury in particular form an immediate bond with similar quick-witted dispositions. Within minutes of their first encounter, the two bounce off each offer as a wonderful duet full of friendship. Watching it fold and develop is delightful and provides some context to Fury’s eventual role in founding The Avengers.

RELATED: Captain Marvel Reviews Are In – Is Marvel Studios’ First Female-Led Superhero Film A Triumph?

With nearly all of the 20+ films, Marvel leans heavily on fun using theme or setting to create amusing situations and scenarios. If Guardians Of The Galaxy was a mixtape of love for the 1980s, Captain Marvel is a heartfelt blog post to the 90s. Directors Boden and Fleck have an incredible amount of fun layering in references, both visually and musically, to the bygone decade which gives Captain Marvel a strong dose of humor without ever feeling campy. There is a vibe resonating in nearly every scene that the entire cast and crew were aware that they were making something they believed in, and believed would be enjoyable, and that energy is palpable in the final product.

While Captain Marvel’s strengths come from the talent involved, there are some who might argue that at its core the film is yet another Marvel superhero-origin story of which there are plenty already. While there is some truth to this, the packaging makes it feel fresh. Instead of the linear hero arc, Carol has a bit of amnesia which turns the entire journey into more of a mystery than any of the previous films. The result has the directors creatively playing with expectations in unexpected ways. Yes, there are narrative parallels between Captain Marvel and earlier Marvel Cinematic Universe films, but the lens and focus are different enough that the film easily justifies its existence and then some—the strong messages it clearly sends to young women about power and ambition alone accomplishes this.

If Captain Marvel is lacking in any area, it would be the music and even this comes with a strong caveat. The soundtrack (i.e. the actual songs chosen for the film) are fantastically thoughtful and accompany the action perfectly. The issue is not those, but rather the score (the instrumentals), something that has plagued much of the MCU with the exception of the now-recognizable Avengers theme and Black Panther (which deservedly won the Academy Award for Best Musical Score). Captain Marvel needs a theme. While this movie will undoubtedly draw comparisons to Wonder Woman, this is one category where the latter clearly wins—Diana has a great metal-inspired riff and Carol deserves one of her own but alas it’s not found here.

Captain Marvel is a welcome and refreshing addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe that shines brightly thanks largely in part to Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Boden, and Fleck who all just seem to “get it” in terms of delivering to fans and casual patrons alike exactly what they are wanting and expecting from this kind of film—entertainment of the best kind.

Recommended if you enjoyed: Guardians of the Galaxy, Top Gun, True Lies

FINAL GRADE: A

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