Captain Marvel is a delightful superhero film with dollops of humour

There’s a new captain in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), and she’s funny, feisty and supremely powerful. Marvel’s first standalone female superhero film, Captain Marvel, lives up to the legacy of the franchise, with punches, verbal and literal, aplenty.

Captain Marvel is a refreshing take on the origin stories, albeit with non-linear storytelling. What starts off as a fight between the alien races of Kree and Skrull ends in a journey of self-discovery, thankfully almost without the clichés. Is it better than Wonder Woman though? Let’s find out.

The movie starts and ends with Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel (Brie Larson). Fans have expressed concerns over her being cast in the titular role but she does justice to the character, lending both spunk and seriousness to it.

Danvers is joined by Jude Law (Yon-Rogg), who plays her mentor, Samuel L Jackson (playing a young Nick Fury), Ben Mendelsohn (Talos, a Skrull leader) and Lashana Lynch (Maria Rambeau) as her best friend. Clark Gregg (Agent Phil Coulson), who stole hearts with his fangirling over Captain America in Marvel’s 2012 Avengers, also makes an appearance. All are cast well and are delightful to watch.

The film starts on the Kree planet of Hala and, after a few stops along the galaxy, quickly makes its way to  mid-90s America — complete with a Blockbuster (the now defunct video rental store), a Radio Shack (electronics store), dial-up internet and the excruciatingly slow CD-Rom drives. The music keeps up with the times and is reminiscent of Guardians of the Galaxy.

The film puts a lot of what has happened in the MCU into perspective. Like how Fury lost one eye. Ronan the Accuser, the baddie in Guardians of the Galaxy (played by Lee Pace), makes a brief appearance as do other elements from MCU that have played a big role in the franchise.

The movie begins with Larson and Law training together and poking fun at each other, but it’s Larson’s comic chemistry with Jackson that is most delightful to watch. Humour, after all, has been Marvel’s mainstay, and Lynch and Mendelsohn too crackle with this chemistry.

With Captain Marvel, MCU gets another cute animal in the form of “Goose” — a cat who might be a lot more than what meets the eye. Goose might not enjoy the kind of following that Baby Groot does, but the scenes that have the feline and Fury together are pure gold.

As is expected from all superhero films, the special effects and action sequences are stellar. The scenes, especially the hand-to-hand combat that Larson is involved in with Law at the start of the film, and later, when fighting off some enemy soldier, are fun to watch. So much so that once she accepts the full extent of her powers, one almost misses the simpler close-combat action choreography over the photon beams amidst explosions.

The story takes a few turns, injects life into what could have become a drab tale of deceit, self-discovery and fighting for the right thing. Not having a male romantic lead also helps trim the fat and keep the focus on Danvers’s transformation into Captain Marvel.

This is also the first Marvel movie to release after Stan Lee’s death last year. Lee, the creator of most Marvel characters, was famous for his cameos in these films. Marvel’s tribute to him comes even before the film starts, and invites as many cheers from the audience as the film itself.

All in all, Captain Marvel is a thoroughly enjoyable film, with some brilliant shout-outs to previous Marvel movies and characters. A lot of “ah-ha” moments can be expected from fans of the franchise. The comparison with Wonder Woman is inevitable, though both the films are tonally different.

Quick tip: don’t leave the movie hall as soon as the credits start rolling. There are two post-credit scenes you wouldn’t want to miss.