**** outta *****

4 outta 5

Captain Marvel, the latest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film series, sets its wayback machine to the mid-90s. There is a bunch of Marvel lore which could be borderline impenetrable for newcomers but considering it’s the 21^st movie in the MCU some foreknowledge is almost a pre-requisite. Mostly, the movie seems to take a bit from Guardians of the Galaxy with worldbuilding to pop songs, add in a super-spy and character history mystery and mix them up with some space alien ID theft and blasting. It is a whole lot of movie as the character development for Captain Marvel herself is set to hyper-speed. While this may not be as jaw-dropping as Avengers: Infinity War was, it is still a very cool space adventure.

In outer space, the alien Kree are at war with the dastardly shapeshifting Skrulls who are hunted by Starforce warriors led by Yon-Rogg (Jude Law) and his soldiers, one of which is the amnesiac Vers (Brie Larson). After a pitched battle, Vers lands on the destitute planet of Earth in the year 1995, attracting the attention the world protection agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D. and two of its newest agents, Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) and Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). Hitting the road with Fury, Vers delves into her memories show of may be her previous life on Earth. Being pursued by the Skrull leader, Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) and as Yon-Rogg and Starforce race to save her, she has to figure out her past life before she can take the mantle of Captain Marvel.

Like all Marvel movies going back to Iron Man, the film bounces between intense character stuff and comedy jokiness. For Captain Marvel it isn’t done as elegantly as the tonal gearshifts in Guardians of the Galaxy or Avengers, here from action badass to quippy fun is a bit more abrupt. There is an awesome action scene set to No Doubt’s “Just A Girl” which is cool although the song and action mash ups in Guardians work better. The third act features an MCU trinket that has appeared in a lot of movies however without context its importance may fly over the heads of people who don’t know the whole story.

Larson is the central figure and she does a good job as Vers sort of ping-pongs between blank amnesiac emotionless space warrior and quippy hero. The mystery of who she is propels the film and if one finds her compelling, it’ll work. If she isn’t, historical digressions may seem like a drag between alien punching. There are flashbacks to her life in conversations with the Supreme Kree Intelligence, played by Anette Benning, that are trippy, accomplished through slick editing that disorients Vers and the audience. Law’s stern leader has a few cool moments but the best stuff he does is saved until the end. The shapeshifting Skrulls are an interesting threat as they can be anyone and the makeup job on the Skrulls and Mendelsohn is impressive. Mendelsohn plays some scenes as human and it’s a nicely layered performance with him being outwardly helpful but there are subtle clues of his nefarious alien intensions. There is a lot of space gobbledegook here which may be frustrating but for sci-fi fans who can roll with it, it’s nifty.

The best character stuff is the buddy cop relationship between Vers and Fury. Jackson’s Fury finds the whole alien thing really cool and he has some good banter with Larson. Jackson’s Nick Fury is the 2^nd lead which is sort of remarkable since every time he’s on screen he is a digital effect as digital de-aging is used to make him look like mid-90 Samuel L. Jackson.  Seeing Clark Gregg’s Phil Coulson again is a lot of fun since the character has been missing from the movies since 2012’s The Avengers. However, Gregg’s Coulson has had his own show, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., so for Marvel geeks who watch movies and TV shows, he hasn’t gone anywhere. Coulson is a rookie agent here as Gregg undergoes the same remarkable digital de-aging process.

Captain Marvel is nicely paced although there is a stretch in the middle where Vers and company end up at a farmhouse that slows things down unfortunately recalling stretches with The Avengers trapped at Hawkeyes’ farmhouse in Age of Ultron. Still, this movie has some cool action scenes like when Vers and her Starforce crew find refugees that reveal themselves to be the shapeshifting Skrulls. One fun moment has Vers in gauntlets that take away her blasting powers as she thrashes a bunch of aliens. When she gets her full powers it’s frustratingly short but it’s very cool to see her blasting alien projectiles and a face to face moment she has with an alien ship is very epic. Her cat, Goose, provides cute animal asides and unexpectedly crazy moments.

Captain Marvel is a whole lot of movie, even at two hours it seems to be running through her story so she can be a critical character in April’s Avengers: Endgame. While this may ultimately just amount to some cool backstory for Marvel completists there are enough alien smackdowns and random jokes that keeps the whole thing flying.