Brie Larson as the title character in “Captain Marvel”

Story by Yashowanto Ghosh, Staff Writer
Photo courtesy of imdb.com

The superhero movie “Captain Marvel,” based on the Marvel Comics character Carol Danvers, but produced as a live-action film starring Brie Larson in the title role, opened in theaters on Friday, March 8.

I went to watch it the first day—in the afternoon, after four midterms on the last day before Spring Break—and the change of scenery was already epic, going from the campus that was emptying out for Break to the growing, enthusiastic opening night’s audience at Celebration! Cinema North.  The bar was serving a special commemorative cocktail called the Photon Blast to go with the movie, and I tried one of those too, just in order to round out my experience. The concoction was okay but, at $9, it may not have been the best choice during Happy Hour.

Once I stepped into the theater, it was loud with a palpably excited crowd that was sizeable, even though it was still early in the evening and there were shows every half hour.  And once the movie started, it took the audience’s energy level as its launching pad and launched into an adventure about a struggle for the whole universe.

The struggle in question is the war between the Skrulls and the Kree, which is a classic storyline from the Marvel Comics of the early 1970s.  Larson’s character starts out as human—fighter pilot Carol Danvers—who turns into Vers (who no longer remembers her human past) after a plane crash.  Vers is trained on the planet Hala, the capital of the Kree empire; then returns to earth—planet C 53—as a member of the Kree Starforce. But once back on earth, she recovers her memory, leading to a realization about the Kree that allows her to manifest her true identity as Captain Marvel. It is an uplifting story with a well-executed twist, with the additional sweet detail of the female superhero film releasing on International Women’s Day.

The show certainly lived up to the excitement that had been growing in the crowd all afternoon.  Larson was definitely phenomenal, Samuel L. Jackson as as her human sidekick Nick Fury was hilarious, and the show, overall, felt expansive, like something overflowing the big screen.  It would be easy to believe, if you want to, that the spectacle is actually filling the universe.

And on our planet, at least, “Captain Marvel” has been doing remarkably well up to now, already becoming the year’s second-highest gross earner worldwide in the space of just one week in the theaters.  In addition to Larson’s character, the film itself is a superhero too, and what it is rescuing is the box office. Go catch it while it’s still playing—but find a better deal than the Photon Blast to drink.