A select few journalists have been able to preview Captain Marvel, and at the stroke of midnight Wednesday morning, they shared cursory reactions via social media. The general tone of the reactions is nothing short of effusive, showering Marvel and star Brie Larson with praise. The surprising MVP in the film, however, seems like it’s scene stealers like Ben Mendelsohn as Talos, the shapeshifting Skrull villain, and everyone’s favorite MCU feline: Goose the Cat.
This comes only a single day after trolls began bombing Captain Marvel’s audience reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, where the film’s rating has plummeted from around 97 percent to 60 percent in 24 hours. Unlike sexist trolls on the internet, however, these media professionals have actually seen the movie.
Admittedly, his strategy of having an embargo on social media reactions is a calculated one used to generate buzz for Disney’s biggest films. For the most part, the people allowed to see Captain Marvel this early are the same people that are going to love it and shower it with praise no matter what.
Even then, these reactions reveal some interesting tidbits about the movie. Uproxx’s Mike Ryan, for instance, noted how Captain Marvel goes “all in” on being a really weird “cosmic space movie,” has a Nirvana song, and he also claims the movie doesn’t work without Ben Mendelsohn.
Devan Coggan, who writes for Entertainment Weekly, notes the importance of little girls having Carol Danvers as a hero to look up to, but she also outright says, “I would die for Goose the cat.”
Similarly, Collider’s Perri Nemiroff targeted Talos and Goose as two of the film’s best characters, but she didn’t neglect noting Brie Larson’s strength, energy, and sass as Carol Danvers.
Slashfilm editor Peter Sciretta echoed these sentiments, calling Captain Marvel a “great origin story” and noting the “buddy cop” vibes between Danvers and Nick Fury. He also notes that Danvers’ relationship to fellow pilot Maria Rambeau is incredibly important. But again, the shapeshifter and the cat “steal the show.”
In her reaction, Entertainment Tonight’s Ash Crossan highlighted how Captain Marvel panders in some ways to all the ‘90s kids out there. It’s the first and only Marvel film set in that decade, so the music and overall style will resonate with a lot of millennial fans who grew up in that era.
Fandango’s Erik Davis said Captain Marvel has “a tone unlike any other Marvel movie,” which sounds really refreshing. It’s cosmic like the Guardians of the Galaxy movies or Thor: Ragnarok, and yet it seems grounded in a sense of earthbound humanity.
For one last tweet, we simply cannot leave out the amazing work of writer/director Ben Mekler, who consistently trolls the internet and the journalists like me that sometimes produce review roundups with hilarious fake tweet reactions like this one:
A Winter Soldier cameo would make more sense than any other Marvel character. After all, he killed Howard Stark in 1991. But obviously Friends doesn’t actually play during Captain Marvel, right?
The rest of us will have to wait and see.
Captain Marvel will be released March 8, 2019.
