“Captain Marvel” is directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, and stars Brie Larson as the titular Marvel Comics heroine in her first film appearance in the Marvel cinematic universe since the film was announced in 2014. The movie follows Carol Danvers (Larson) as she tries to uncover her past, after a series of events lead her from fighting an intergalactic war between two species, back to Earth. There, she meets Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and the two work together to stop an impending invasion as well as help Carol piece together her memories. Ever since the post-credit scene in “Avengers: Infinity War,” I have been hotly anticipating the arrival who is supposed to be the most powerful character Marvel Studios has ever brought to the big screen.

I am a huge fan of Brie Larson from her work in “Room” and “Short Term 12,” both phenomenal movies I would highly recommend. Also, the film was rumored to be a prequel set before the first “Iron Man,” and would further elaborate on a younger Nick Fury’s time with the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division (S.H.I.E.L.D.). All of the information seemed to be pointing in the right direction to “Captain Marvel” being one of the studios’ best films.

While it isn’t one of the best superhero movies, “Captain Marvel” is a solid entry into the MCU that introduces new ideas and what should be a fun and interesting character for the studio to use in future films.

Brie Larson, despite the ridiculous backlash she has faced, is great as Carol Danvers. She’s intelligent, witty, and incredibly powerful. Her skill set is unlike anything we’ve ever seen in the MCU. A lot of people have issues with her performance, but I think she delivered on everything the script called for. However, the chemistry between Carol and Samuel L. Jackson as a young Nick Fury is where the movie really shines. The two play off each other in a natural way that isn’t too forced and is certainly something I want to see in future movies. Of course, I have to mention Goose the Cat, who steals every scene he’s in. The interactions between Fury and Goose are easily where this film earned its laughs. Like most Marvel movies, “Captain Marvel” is hilarious with a lot of solid humor that never feels out of place. Even one of the film’s villains, Talos, played brilliantly by Ben Mendelsohn, has a lot of great lines and is probably my favorite part of the film.

The best thing about “Captain Marvel” for me was easily how streamlined the story was. There aren’t a ton of moving pieces and the focus is directed towards Carol at all times. There are mentions of a war between the two main races of the film, but it all comes from Carol’s struggle to identify who she is. It was nice to be surprised by a story of a Marvel film that isn’t “this evil guy is trying to kill the universe.” It was refreshing to not have a throw away villain and have the main focus be on our hero.

Moving into the negatives, this film often struggles with some of its characterization, as well as being bogged down by a slow opening. It was really hard to get into Carol’s character because the film throws you right into the action. Normally this would be a good thing, but when the actions on screen are shown without context, the viewer tends to not care. Thus, the first 15 minutes of “Captain Marvel” are based around an operation gone wrong that I cannot remember the purpose of it being shown. It drags the movie down as a whole and it makes it even harder to relate to Carol’s character for a while. It isn’t until the end of the movie that her character is semi-realized and the viewer can feel some sort of satisfaction with where she’s come from. It’s incredibly hard to relate to a character in which you have no idea who they are, what they’re doing and why they’re doing it.

Overall, “Captain Marvel” is nowhere near the upper echelon of Marvel movies or as good as I wanted it to be, but it certainly is a solid base hit that I would be happy to watch again. I’ve seen a lot of complaints that this film feels like an early Marvel movie because of a lack of focus and an overall unawareness of where they want this character to go. While I can see where this mindset comes from, I think back to another character who had a rather rocky start in the MCU. Captain America was no one’s favorite Avenger after his first movie, but with more entries in his trilogy, Cap grew to be a fan favorite. I can see the same thing happening with Captain Marvel when the studio introduces her into more interesting stories and scenarios. “Captain Marvel” feels very similar to the first Captain America film. It’s definitely a stepping stone for bigger and better things to be done to her character.

Grade: B