Krishna
Another nice movie, albeit the ‘new’ formulaic, by Disney. Keeps your interest.
Initially you meet Vers who is a new member of Starforce of Kree empire. She is being mentored by Yon-Rogg the Commander who teaches him how to control her movements and especially how not to let emotions rule her action. She has powers provided by a chip on her neck that lets her control the energy she uses to attack others.
Their sworn enemies are Skrulls, an alien (but humanoid) looking shape shifters who can assume any form. When they get intelligence that there is an undercover spy who has been exposed, Ronan, who seems to be the high official, asks them to go recover the spy. When they go there, Yon Rogg tells her that it is a trap and they are confronted by a group of Skrulls. In the ensuing battle the Kree force manages to escape, killing a lot of Skrulls, but Vers gets captured.
Vers also meets Supreme Intelligence, who seems to the the A. I leader of all of Kree people. The Intelligence comes to her in the form of a woman whom it says she felt close to, but Vers has lost all memory of childhood but does not even remember who that woman is supposed to be.
The movie goes confusing here, with Vers remembering a lot of her childhood and then also remembers flying with the woman (who calls herself Dr Wendy Lawson). But they seem to be from a totally different planet (which is Disney’s favourite of course – it is Earth, and especially America!)
The nice thing about this is that there is not a single twist but an entire army of twists, and at the end of the movie, if you review the above, you get a fully different understanding of what has been happening.
You then realize that the Skrulls have been trying to extract her hidden memories, which is why she is remembering them – not all, but enough to keep the suspense alive until about the end of the movie – now.
They underestimate their power and she manages to escape in a pod from their spaceship but manages to crash land on earth.
She lands in Blockbuster and tries to contact her Kree folks. They realize that she is alive and Yon Rogg wants her to stay put while they send a ship to rescue her.
She then meets a young officer called Nick Fury – yes, the same Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D who is puzzled by her and totally disbelieves her story about shape shifting aliens – until a Skrull follows her and attacks them all. There is a fascinating scene where Vers just pounds into a harmless old lady (after critically inspecting another passenger – the late Stan Lee) who is indeed a Skree shapeshifter.
Fury also realizes that Coulson ‘his assistant’ is in fact a shapeshifter and kills him. When his body is brought to the morgue for analysis, his boss Keller comes to look at the body. You realize that Keller is in fact Kree commander Talos himself.
There are the inevitable narrow escape scenes and Vers realizes, when she gets her memory back, that she is an earth girl called Carol Denvers (hence “Vers”) and was working with a scientist, Dr Wendy Lawson who managed to create an experimental light speed engine of immense power. This is what they are all seeking. And she realizes that she had got the entire ‘good vs bad’ completely wrong.
She then also realizes that her power does not come from where she thought it was and indeed that is an impediment to using her full power.
The rest of the movie shows her joining the forces of the ‘right side’ to fight with the real evil group.
The entire story is a twist and I can only talk in generalities if I am not to give everything away.
A nice story, well told, and keeps your interest. There is humour in it, there is action in it, and there is no great need for special effects (shape shifting can easily be done by switching actors, right?)
Nice addition to the Avengers stable : My feeling is that ultimately, all top stars of Hollywood (except those who have their own, different, franchise – like Mission Impossible ) will end up working for Disney as an Avenger. Look at Paul Rudd who was roped in as Ant Man, Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr Strange, Tom Holland as the new young Spiderman, not to forget Gal Godot as Wonder Woman – and so on. They will have to split them up into groups to make different stories as the full Avengers (a la Endgame) is too big for one story.
But that is not my worry, it is Disney’s. For you, this will be a good movie to watch.
8/10
– – Krishna