The Greatest Strength of <em>Captain Marvel</em> Is Also Its Biggest Weakness
The 21st entry in the famous cinematic universe is alternately lifted up and dragged down by the central mystery of its hero’s true origins.
In recent years, the ever-expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe has seemed to keep finding exciting new territory to explore. As the long-running, multiheaded collection of superhero franchises rolled on, it exhibited inventive comedy in and , staggering scale in , and a genuine cultural-paradigm shift with . With , sadly, that streak is over. The 21st entry in Marvel’s galactic film empire, and the first focused on a female superhero (played by Brie Larson), is a perfectly fun time at the movies that deftly lays out the stakes of its new character for many future appearances. But more often than not, it feels a little routine.
