Esther McCarthy reviews Captian Marvel

Captain Marvel (12A) ***

Specialising in martial-arts movements and the ability to delivery high-energy blasts through special devices on her arms, Brie Larson’s Vers is a Kree warrior who fights to defend her people. 

Led by her mentor and confidante Yon-Rogg (Jude Law), the Krees are a breed of swashbuckling alien types who have been in conflict with their enemies, The Skrulls. Led by the theatrical Taros (an on-form Ben Mendelsohn), they’re a shady breed who look like a blend of humans and lizards but have the ability to shape-shift and take on virtually any other form, which makes for some of the movie’s best scenes and reveals. 

During a battle with the Skrulls, Vers ends up catapulted to planet C-53 - we know it better as Earth. As she - literally - crashes down to Earth, smashing up a video store in the process, she comes under the radar of a young cop who has doubts as to her superhero status. His name? Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson). In a feat of movie wizardry and trickery, Jackson has been digitally de-aged to look like a younger Fury. 

Marvel’s latest has a lot of fun with contextualising Captain Marvel’s place within the cinematic universe and it all unfolds to a blistering nostalgia-fest of a grungy 1990s soundtrack. 

Yet it all feels like less than the sum of its parts.