Kotas Reviews Captain Marvel

Well, it's been a loooong time since I've written about Marvel Movies, hasn't it? To be fair, it's been a long time since I've seen a Marvel Movie when it was actually relevant to the current popular cultural scene. Still, I had to make some time for this one, for reasons that will probably become clear soon enough. Ladies and Gentlemen, children of some ages, let's take a look at Disney's Captain Marvel.

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Even by Comic Book standards, the history of Captain Marvel is convoluted as hell, even if we keep that history focused solely on Carol Danvers. The original Captain Marvel, the Kree agent turned Protector of the Universe Mar-Vell, was long gone by the time I got sucked into comics as a wee lad. I grew up on the Monica Rambeau version a.k.a. Photon a.k.a. Spectrum. Still, the legacy of Mar-Vell touched a large part of the Marvel Cosmic Mythology and was a direct influence on my personal favorite cosmic hero, Quasar. Who also has a convoluted backstory and weird history for a dude who started off as a Take That version of Hal Jordan. No less than seven different characters have held the title of Captain Marvel, and at least two of them have also been Quasar at one point or another. Carol herself has had 3 previous superhero identities before taking on the mantle of Captain Marvel in the comics: Ms. Marvel, Binary, and Warbird. Her powers have been granted, taken away, super charged, altered entirely, and then melded together. Why, it's almost like comic books are weird! So, knowing all of that weirdness, how can a movie possibly try and reconcile all of that? In short, it doesn't, and that's a good thing. There will be a few spoilers below, so skip to the final paragraph for the FACE Rating and my overall thoughts.

The choice to start with Vers on Hala and then slowly introduce the bits and pieces that eventually make up Carol Danvers ends up being a great storytelling device, but it sure seems a bit disjointed at the beginning. Luckily, once the action shifts to Earth, the character development and chemistry between all the primary cast members really gels, particularly when the movie becomes a buddy cop film between Samuel Jackson's Nick Fury and Brie Larson's Vers. Those two bring a wonderful dynamic to the film that is absolutely a delight to watch. Larson has good chemistry with Lashana Lynch as Maria Rambeau too, which really helps sell some of the more interesting character moments. Larson's confident, no bullshit attitude when it comes to fighting the bad guys is also great, as is the sheer joy she takes in her powers. They aren't a curse, they are a gift and there is little angst to be found about it as she whoops and hollers her way through a bunch of battle cruisers in the climatic space battle. The trademark Marvel comedy is here in spades, and everyone gets in on the act. There is also a cat named Goose and a Fonz lunchbox that both serve similar purposes in the film at one point or another.

As a complete Marvel Nerd, I deeply appreciated all the nods at the many other Captain Marvels in comic history that showed up in this film. The Kree uniform she starts out in is a tribute to the original comic suit of Mar-Vell, Maria Rambeau's pilot handle of "Photon", as well as the fact that her daughter's name is Monica, are both tributes to the Monica Rambeau incarnation. During a sequence where Carol and Monica are updating the look of her costume, several of the rejected outfits reference the other Marvel er, Marvels, and there's even a blink and you'll miss it bit of shade thrown at DC's Captain Marvel/Shazam, as the costume takes on his traditional colors and it is rejected with a "...Naaaaaah". I acknowledge my deep nerdiness here, so just bear with me. Oh, and the CGI that made "Young" Nick Fury is top notch. The CGI on Goose...less so.

Unfortunately there are some parts of this film that do not work super well. As I stated before, the opening is a bit disjointed in the storytelling. The antagonists are the blandest of the bland, such that none of them stand out too much. Talos and Yon-Rogg are about the only aliens of interest on any side, and even they tend to be fairly generic as they toss the Villain Ball back and forth a few times. The Supreme Intelligence is made of dull and is just super meh in my opinion. Mar-Vell, for all five minutes she's in the film, is great but super under utilized. The origin of Danvers' powers makes the Tesseract/Space Stone the Infinity Stone with the most possible users and people affected by it. It really gets around, don't it? 

On the FACE Rating System, I give Captain Marvel 3 Smiley Faces. I love cosmic Marvel stuff and this movie is right up my damn alley, however it definitely follows a formula and has its flaws. When you have villains like the Vulture and Killmonger being so damn interesting, only to follow those up with some bog standard boring ones, it's a little bit of a let down, but the character bits between the good guys more than make up for that. Other people will probably rate this movie lower than I will, but I acknowledge my Carol Danvers bias. Go out and see it!

Kotas Reviews Deadpool

Ah comic book movies. Once maligned as genre fodder for nerds, the comic book movie has risen to be one of the biggest draws to the box office...well, at least the Marvel movies anyway. They can pull off impressive set pieces that revel in their own existence (like the Avengers) as well as quirky off beat movies about people the general public has probably never heard of (like Guardians of the Galaxy). Then it craps out something like Fant4stic (spelling taken from the poster folks) and you realize "Oh wait, only the Marvel Studios movies are generally good right now." Then you get...

The Big Chimichanga

By all rights, this is a film that should never have been made. Deadpool, while very popular in the 90s and still beloved today, is not an iconic character in the mainstream pop culture consciousness. Originally a brooding grimdark anti-hero that exemplified all the problems with the Dork Age of Comics (pretty much the grim and gritty 90s), in 1997 at the hands of Joe Kelly, he got his own series and became an action comedy parody of the Dork Age. Much like John Byrne's Sensational She Hulk run, Deadpool satirizes comics and breaks the fourth wall so much it might as well not exist. The gag is that he knows he's a fictional character and capitalizes on that in humorous ways. So, how in the hell did a movie about THIS get green lit?

Well, this would be Deadpool's second cinematic go around. Ryan Reynolds was cast to play him in Wolverine: X-Men Origins...and, well, they fucked it up. Badly. Also, this is Ryan Reynold's 4th comic book movie appearance, as he was in the aforementioned Wolverine movie as well as Blade: Trinity and (sigh) Green Lantern. Not a proven track record. And this is a studio film! Probably crapped out just so 20th Century Fox can hold onto the movie rights to these characters for just a little bit longer. It's totally gonna suck ass, right? Well...color me surprised.

This is not a complicated movie. It is a simple movie presented in an intentionally complicated way for humorous effect. The story is simple. Bad Ass Wisecracking Asshole For Hire With a Heart of Tarnished Gold (BAWAFHWHTG) Wade Wilson meets girl of his dreams, who shows him up several times, and life is great. Then he gets cancer, like, everywhere. To find a cure, he's offered a shady ass bargain by some shady ass people. They do bad things to him, which cures him and disfigures him. He goes to get revenge. Colossus is there for some reason, but Wade does his thing, and gets a...reasonably happy ending. Ta da! Roll Credits, stay for the obligatory teaser, bing bada boom. 

I certainly never expected this...experience...though. Seriously, Mr. Reynolds was let "off the chain" for this one and embraces a role so thoroughly that it will be hard to imagine anyone else ever putting on those oddly expressive red tights (except maybe in the darkest corners of your twisted dreams). I am really surprised at the range of physical and verbal comedy, as well as just the right dollap of sappy happy that this film needed to pull off its "Boy Meets Girl, Boy Almost Dies and Gets Super Powers, Boy Murders Everyone Until He Gets Girl Back" story. Even people who hate the very idea of Deadpool as a character cannot deny that Ryan Reynolds nailed it to the fucking wall, and then fucked the wall. Because Deadpool. Still...one good character can't carry a movie...can he?

This movie works because we like Wade Wilson and more importantly we can believe that the Wade Wilson as portrayed on screen fits into Wade Wilson's World. Given this base, the rest of the pieces rest easily on top of this (possibly while humping it) and build a scaffold to cinematic joy...assuming you like dick jokes. And masturbation jokes. Testicle humor? Yes. All of it. The sheer volume of scatological verbiage in this film rivals and may even surpass that of South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut, and certainly has it beat in magnitude if not volume. I did not think that irreverence on film could surpass the rendition of "Shut Your Fucking Face Uncle Fucker", but ladies and gentlemen, I was wrong. 

I laughed at things that were genuinely amusing, things that were amusingly gross, things disturbingly amusing, things that were just disturbing, but more in that "really uncomfortable so I can only laugh" kind of way, and of course, the fantastic humor of a blind lady assembling IKEA furniture. Also possibly the most disturbingly funny masturbation joke I've ever had the...well, not privilege, but surely something...to have experienced. They hyper violence is SO completely over the top that it enhances the comedy. This is black comedy at its most rainbow blood soaked best. Death to Smoochy, you have been supplanted in that regard. 

Let's talk about the non-Ryan Reynolds stuff for a while. The Girl (Vanessa) is an excellent comedic foil for Reynolds and, while not really developed as a character, does upend the traditional "girl what must be rescued role" a bit and not just for comedy's sake. The Sidekicks (Weasel and later Blind Woman) provide some much needed grounding for Wilson as well as often getting the upper hand in their verbal sparring. Weasel in particular has a lovely monologue about the grotesqueness of Wilson's "post treatment" appearance. The X-Men cameos (and that's what they are, extended cameos) of Colossus and (I shit you not) Negasonic Teenage Warhead (NTW) provide some real zingers at the studio system as well as a couple of the most quotable lines in a film full of quotable lines. I loved the contrast between the old fashioned (and properly Russian) Colossus as the traditional goody two shoes hero, Wacky Amoral Deadpool, and Millennial Not Having Any Of Your Shit NTW. This film has one of the best "credits to set the tone of the film" sequences ever put on celluloid mimicking digital media. Not since Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters has an opening sequence so thoroughly telegraphed the tone of the film. The taxi driver. I want to hug him so much. It is a tribute to Reynolds and more importantly, his costume department that they made the Deadpool mask almost as expressive as the comic book counterpart. Nice SHIELD cameo!

The film is not without its problems though. The villains are as flat as naan bread before it is baked, and have less personality. The origin sequences run for about 20 minutes too long. There are some mean spirited moments with the aforementioned blind lady that are just a little out of place with the rest of the humor. The pacing is really weird, but some of that is because the movie gets that Deadpool as a character is best done in small doses, so the interleaving style of now and flashbacks works pretty well, except when it doesn't. It's hard to explain, but it feels off kilter in places. The "horrible scarring" really isn't quite as hideous as maybe it should be, given everyone's reactions to it. Negasonic Teenage Warhead really probably should have been called Cannonball, but I'm guessing they couldn't get the rights for that character, given that she is completely different in the comics from her on screen depiction. Okay, that last one is a super nitpicky thing, but it deserves mention. Because I'm THAT GUY.

On the FACE Rating System, this film gets a very strong TWO smiley faces. It is not quite up to the spectacle of the Avengers, and it's definitely not the feel good movie of the year, but as a 2 hour gleeful fuck you at the concept of the modern super hero film, it stands above the rest, peeing on them while yodeling. If you can imagine Terminator 2, but with 200% more dick jokes, an extended segue way into a complete mockery of the Studio System, and frankly one of the most iconic comic book (and comedic) performances of the decade, you pretty much get Deadpool. 

Oh, and for those with young teens who might be tempted to take them to a "cool superhero movie". NO. This is as hard an R rating as you can get without full frontal nudity, mostly for linguistic reasons but there are a lot of "adult situations" I did not expect to see on film. So, don't. Seriously! Or you don't get any chimichangas.