Captain Marvel: 9/10
Before I talk about the film I want to impress upon everyone the need for silence and concentration at the beginning of the film. When the trailers finish and the BBFC certification comes up pay attention because there is something very special. Everyone clapped and cheered in my screen.
I don't know where to start on this, obviously expectations were high. It delivered in every way and I am not just saying it because it is Marvel. This film had a lot to contend with. It has come after many years of films, hundreds of established characters and had to go up against all that and hold its own. It is a fantastic origin story, it takes advantage of the fact that there are many things that we already know about the MCU and builds on it.
Tbh I was a bit confused by the trailer (without giving any spoilers away) because it lead you to believe something which I thought was different from what I knew from Guardians and Agents of Shield so it was great to see some twists to keep things interesting considering it is a sort of prequel movie and you think you know a lot of what should happen and how things should turn out.
I loved Brie Larson, she was absolutely perfect. I was worried she was going to be a macho superhero to try and compete with Captain America and Thor etc but she isn't. She is very sweet and gentile but kicks ass when she needs to. Samuel L Jackson was fantastic and it was great to see more of Nick Fury because in previous films he was one of those characters you felt like you never got enough of. The other little touch I loved was seeing Coulson again. He might not be a major character for some people because it has been yonks since we saw him in the MCU but he is a major character in Agents of Shield and very much the devoted and loyal soldier that Nick Fury is. I thought it was perfect that they had him in this and sewed the seeds for the future relationship that we know.
The humour is excellent in this one. By now you would think you have seen and heard it all but this film brings a whole new repertoire. There are the quipy one liners that we are used to but most of the humour is genuinely hilarious and takes advantage of the time period or things we know about the characters or events from the future. It is very cleverly done and I loved it.
It goes without saying that the special effects and action scenes were superb. There are some punch up scenes which you have seen in the trailers and featurettes and they look real and flow seamlessly; there is one point I squirmed for poor Samuel L Jackson.
All round superb film, fantastic origin story and out of all the MCU origin stories I would put this second behind Captain America for me. By the time the film has finished you are pumped for Endgame and if they were doing another showing at 3am I would gladly have stayed sat down and watched it again. I am just glad I planned ahead and I have got a ticket to go and see it again this afternoon
There are two post credit scenes. The first one is they key one which you need to see but the second one is definitely worth waiting all the way till the end for.
Keep your eyes peeled, I'll make a separate post somewhere letting everyone know but now that Captain Marvel is out I am expecting the tickets for Endgame to go up for advanced booking at some point within the next week and there should be a double bill with Infinity War going in to a midnight premiere.