Movie Review - Captain Marvel

Higher, further, faster, baby!

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There was no better movie to see on International Women's Day than Captain Marvel! It was honest, empowering, hilarious, powerful, and offered the representation that we’ve been looking for! The story was well-developed with a clear beginning, middle, and end, and there were no gaping plot holes. In fact, this movie filled in some of the plot holes that have been left within the Marvel universe throughout the course of the movies (ex. Fury's eye). Furthermore, the movie kept me guessing, as it started with flashbacks and continued with Carol trying to piece together her history along the way.

But the greatest thing about Captain Marvel was Carol Danvers. Thank you, Marvel, giving us a realistic female protagonist who refused to give up no matter what society dealt her. Carol was not over-sexualized--she wore baggy clothes the whole movie and made them look GREAT--and she was never painted as a damsel in distress. She was sassy without being labeled a bitch, masculine without being labeled a man, and impulsive without being labeled hormonal. In other words, she was a normal woman, capable of amazing things. It was so empowering to see a normal woman that I could relate to on the screen winning the fight that is life. Whenever Carol was knocked down, whether that was physically hit in a fight or verbally demeaned by the men around her, she got right back up and kept fighting!

Furthermore, the movie gave us strong characters of color, particularly Carol's best friend Maria. She was a strong, capable, kind woman who was a brave warrior and a mother to an amazing daughter. She welcomed Carol with open arms and joined the fight to save the galaxy. Maria was badass!

So was Gemma Chan's character! Though she was painted as a villain, it was so wonderful to see a strong female Asian character in a Marvel movie (which we need more of). This movie was carried by so many strong female characters, and it passed the Bechdel test with flying colors. There wasn't even a romantic plotline in the movie! It was a movie about women helping women to be better women, and it was SO empowering.

Let’s keep going, Marvel! Let’s have more women and more people of color and more underrepresented people on the screen!