Following my underwhelmed, disinterested viewing of Infinity War, I was left wondering if Marvel had finally peaked and out-lived its prime. Infinity War was bland and predictable, with absolutely no stakes for the superheroes. Following this, Captain Marvel restored my faith in my favorite comic book movies.

Never before has a Marvel movie left me reaching for the screen with a “Noo!” The stakes were high, the plot was entertaining and the twists were unpredictable. I’ll do my absolute best to not spoil the movie in this review, but no promises.

For the first 20 minutes, I was pretty confused. It felt like we started in the middle of the movie and I was doing my best to keep track with the fast paced plot. When our main character, initially known as “Veers,” lands on earth in the 1990s, I was struck by how good the CGI was on Fury and Coulson, effectively making them look two decades younger. With shapeshifting alien enemies, the viewer has no way of knowing who’s real or fake, and the twists made me audibly gasp.

The real twist, which I won’t go into detail on, made me so happy, and left my favorite quote from Big Mouth: “it’s… political now,” running around in my brain. The over-arching allegory is very relevant to 2019 America, and it’s clear without being aggressively in your face political. Others may complain about the “leftist propaganda” but I thought it was nice to see a superhero movie using its platform to make some decent commentary. Also, there was a cat that was the best part of the movie, and it’s not just there to be some furry eye-candy. The other great part of the film is it’s filled with call-forwards, including Hydra and Budapest mentions, the creation of the Avengers Initiative, and the backstory of how Fury lost his eye.

It’s loveably 90’s but not comically so, but it is pastiche in its use of the decade; it uses the aesthetic without really discussing the socio-political issues of the era, and as a result, isn’t exactly fully immersive. Other critiques I have is the laughably horrible sexist language and insults that don’t exactly seem too based in reality. It’s simply so extreme that you’re kind of tempted to roll your eyes, but thankfully, there isn’t too much of that.

Despite being a “female power” movie, it still suffers from the frequent movie symptom of the lead always having perfect, untouched mascara and eyeshadow without a drop of sweat and perfectly curled hair after major fight scenes. Captain Marvel also shares its cinematography with other Marvel films, which doesn’t make it too unique in its execution. There are some moments where the CGI is laughable too.

Aside from the issues, which don’t exactly ruin the film anyway, there are still incredibly strong moments. A lot of the fight choreography is hand to hand, which in my opinion is far more impressive than big CGI fights. The choreography was very original and impressive, including a moment where a gun realistically jammed, which is a nice break from the seemingly infinite ammo in most action films. I also absolutely adore the “fight scene to a popular rock song” trope and one of the final fight scenes was done to “I’m Just a Girl” by No Doubt, which definitely satisfied my needs.

The characterization is amazing, and allowing a female superhero to embrace her emotions instead of pushing them down to be more cool and calculated is a refreshing change, especially after dealing with the soulless portrayal of Black Widow for years. It has a really good message that your emotions and your empathy is what makes you a strong, worthy hero. This makes it all the more satisfying when the main bad guy, who’s been telling her the opposite of this the entire time, gets what he deserves.

In general, Captain Marvel is one of the best Marvel movies to come out these past few years. The stakes and emotions were high, the twists were exciting and the issues hardly made a lasting negative impact on my experience. In comparison with other Marvel movies its a 10/10, and in comparison with other films, it’s an 8/10.