I remember seeing the trailer for 'Death on the Orient Express' and for the most part, I was somewhat interested in it. It wasn't a moving mountains to go and see it kind of movie for me but I would have liked to have seen it in the cinema but I just didn't get around to seeing it. For this trailer, I do feel the same as the first movie but seeing Letitia Wright aka Shuri (Black Panther) and Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman) in a movie together with Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders is an absolute madness to me.
Kenneth must know the two latter ladies personally because French and Saunders (It used to be a British TV show back in the day) are definitely two comedic ladies he has certainly pulled from obscurity because I haven't seen them in ANYTHING recently. Russell Brand was totally unrecognisable and to have Rose Leslie aka 'You Know Nothing Jon Snow' also featured, the talent alone has more than peaked my interest, it's just that, in this climate now, when will we be seeing it?
I loved Knives Out as it was funny and very entertaining and having not seen Murder on the Orient Express, but I was interested, I will definitely watch that first to help me make up my mind about watching this one. I did hear good reviews but, I'll ultimately be the judge of that. I mean, Kenneth did direct Artimis Fowl...
Directed by Kenneth Branagh and starring Tom Bateman, Annette Bening, Russell Brand, Ali Fazal, Dawn French, Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, Rose Leslie, Emma Mackey, Sophie Okonedo, Jennifer Saunders, Letitia Wright
We are at a stage in our lives and in Marvel's franchise that an origin movie may now be out of place. I mean our lord savour, Kevin Feige has mentioned no more origin movies, yet this one is a semi origin movie with a twist and ultimately, Marvel has stumbled with this one. It's sad to say, but they have and although I will review the film, I won't go into all the details and spoil anything, but reasons as to why they stumbled but didn't fall.
Marvel have stumbled with many films. Their way of doing something different and/or when they first started out, they were slowly piecing together what they wanted to do with the franchise. The Incredible Hulk is good, Ironman 2 is good, Thor: The Dark World is good and Ironman 3 is Goodish (not one of my favourites at all), but Marvel have had greater and many more hits than misses and have made small ret-cons here and there. One of the major ones of recent, by no fault of their own I guess, was with the Spider-Man: Homecoming movie, regarding the year. But that came down to communication and "admin" error? However, this is something that has been more forgiving by fans and helps with the integrating of such character into a grander story. If the new and upcoming Avengers: Endgame grosses around 3 billion worldwide, we are looking at a 10 Billion Dollar Franchise. 10 Billion. That's 9 zeroes.
But how does Captain Marvel's story fit into this? Well, any way Marvel can squeeze it in...for the women of the world!?
Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) is a Kree operative for Starforce who goes by the name of Vers. She is a confident, upbeat, determined, yet hard-headed woman who get's the job done at any cost. She has a good moral compass but is plagued by dreams and visions of what seems to be another life. On a mission to eradicate the Kree's sworn enemies, The Skrulls, the mission goes wrong and from that point, Carol aka Vers spends the rest of the movie trying to figure out the mysteries of her dreams and visions, who she really is and what and whom she is ultimately fighting for.
It sounds great on paper, but I personally feel that this movie could have been executed in a better way. This is where I feel they stumbled, and not fell. I felt that it was not fully fleshed out and that some of the characters could have had more depth as well as maybe, the film being a psychological thriller, a bit like how 'The Winter Soldier' was a 70's political thriller. With the themes in the movie, this film could have touched on that in a big way. What is real and what isn't. Who am I? Total Recall did that. And for the most part, that movie is a classic for many reasons. But they would still need to cater to the young ladies of the world to aspire to be Captain Marvel.
I didn't hate the film as I quite enjoyed it. Brie is not miscast at all and their are some great visuals and some really quiet moments that allow particular characters to shine. Lashana Lynch is great as well as Samuel L. Jackson. But as I said earlier, some character development with some other characters would have made the story a bit meatier. There are some decent visual gags as well as the many mid-nighties references. With many easter eggs and visual references of movies from that era, this movie hits it out of the park, but ultimately felt like a Phase 1 Movie in a Phase 3 world. Doctor Strange is a origin movie, even Black Panther, yet these movies feel like they pack more of a punch, especially with Black Panther...and this woman has glowing fists! I felt that it was shoehorned into the MCU because DC made a Wonder Woman movie which was very good. And these two giants are in deep competition with each other, so there is always a company trying to out-do the other and this is possibly another reason why Marvel stumbles.
A lot of people are saying Carol is over powered and personally, although that is somewhat true, I feel we should have more powerful characters in the MCU, because this is how we will separate the many different tiers of these heroes and be able to tell a variety and multitude of different stories. Phase 4 is looking to be great and varied, especially with the conclusion of the Fox Deal, I'm very interested in seeing what Carol will be doing in Avengers: Endgame and after. A sequel and the many prospects it has is great fore the future of the MCU as well as the many women and little girls who will feel empowered by Captain Marvel.
_poster.jpg)
