Freeze Frame: “Captain Marvel” (PG-13)

he Marvel Universe offers yet another superhero origin story, this time set in the 1990s. “Captain Marvel” stars Bree Larson as Vers, a member of the alien Kree Starforce. But through a convoluted series of plot twists, she discovers that she’s actually Carol Danvers, a former U.S. Air Force pilot now imbued with high-energy powers absorbed during an experimental aircraft crash. Carol goes through a series of challenges with Avengers honcho Nick Fury, played by Samuel L. Jackson, and must ultimately decide where her allegiance lies.

 

Quality-wise, “Captain Marvel” undoubtedly lands somewhere in the middle of the pack among Marvel superhero movies, but it’s still good, goofy fun and Larson displays acting chops that remind us why she’s an Oscar winner.

 

Although the directors and editor lose focus during the early scenes, it all makes sense as the plot unfolds. I have to commend the filmmakers for shedding some of the misogynistic, sexist elements of the “Captain Marvel” comics and replacing them with aspects of female empowerment.

 

While I’ll admit that superhero fatigue has hit many of us by now, the character of Captain Marvel emerges to fill a hole that the Avengers franchise sorely needed.

While it’s certainly flawed, the millions of Marvel fans out there should still find plenty to like in “Captain Marvel.”

 

Also opening this week, “Level 16” is an unrated sci-fi suspense offering about a sixteen-year-old girl imprisoned in a boarding school in a dystopian near future. She and a former friend attempt to unearth the truth about their incarceration. “The Kid” is yet another western about Billy the Kid. Ethan Hawke plays Sheriff Pat Garrett and Dane DeHaan plays Billy. Chris Pratt takes an unusual villain role in this semi-biographical pic directed by actor Vincent D’Onofrio.


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