When Captain Marvel begins, Carol Danvers is already a skilled fighter. She simply does not know who she is. The movie seems to be about rediscovering who she is and what her past means. We get leaks of it here and there, but its not until later that it is all revealed to her. When her past finally does come back, it felt empty. It solved the puzzle of Mar-Vell and filled in clues to the story that was being told, but it failed to really add much to the character of Carol Danvers.
One thing it did do was tell the Rocky adage of “But it ain’t about how hard ya hit. It’s about how hard you get hit and keep moving forward.” We watched a nice montage of all the times Carol fell, but then watched her pick herself up and keep moving. To me this felt slightly off because it was also mixing in the story puzzle pieces I talked about earlier, but I have no doubt there are viewers where that scene probably struck home pretty hard.
Captain Marvel Deserved More Than Flashbacks
The story needed a more in depth take on Carol’s journey instead of trying to condense it all onto a few flashbacks mid story. While it was a revelation, it really doesn’t have the character growth present in Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman did a much better job growing the character. Even in the end we see Diana begin to accept this is the way the world works and begin to let go of her naive beliefs on how the world should be. She still believes in her black and whites, but she accepts the grays that exist.
The fight scene early in the film between Carol and her Kree mentor, Yon-Rogg, was another golden moment completely dropped. Early on we see Carol get demolished by her mentor time and again. She simply cannot beat him. Carol recovers her powers, her memories and then proceeds to kick the crap out of the Kree. It finally comes to that one v one moment where apprentice faces down the master or bully they have never beaten. Yon-Rogg challenges Carol to put aside her powers and face him, warrior to warrior. Instead of facing him, Carol simply blasts him with her energy and calls it good. Story wise this makes sense and was humorous. It is reminiscent of the scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark where the swordsman tries to challenge Indy, but Indy simply shoots him. While clever and simple, it denies Carol the right to stand up to her mentor and show her true growth. It emphasizes that Carol could never have beaten in hand to hand – a missed opportunity.
Carol lacked any sense of growth. It was about remembering not growing. Her powers were simply inhibited by a chip. Once it was gone, she fully controlled and used powers she had never used before. That on top of having no visible weaknesses made her journey to safe and convenient. Kevin Feige recently stated we will be seeing her Achilles heel, most likely vs Thanos, but for this movie there was simply no risk.
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