Well…. when I say “Arguably no character arc”, I mean in the sense that her personality wasn’t that different and it never felt like she was ever gonna fail. I’ve started to think less of how she’ll succeed and more of when she’ll succeed. I thought less of who she is and more of what she is. That expense of her character is where people, men and women, find this heavily underwhelming.
Yeah she sides against the people she’s worked with for years because they’re full of shit, but the climax felt like being with the Starforce never mattered to her in the first place, getting Yon-Rogg’s approval never initially mattered as well. While she recognizes her potential, you would think she’d have some leftover feelings for the person she once was. You would think her life as a Starforce member meant something.
Doesn’t help that, again, the Skrull were the engaging enemies at first and don’t bother trying to reason with Carol to side with them until around the climax where we finally get their perspective. Doesn’t help that I knew little of why the Kree were hunting the Skrull in the first place and until Secret Invasion, non comic book readers probably won’t fully (or bother to) understand. Doesn’t help that her and Yon-Rogg’s relationship was the equivalent of two brief sentences. Doesn’t help that her flashbacks didn’t collate with who she wanted to be since, while understanding that she is an all powerful being now, there was little else that says about her character arc beyond somebody that gets knocked down but then gets up again which is pretty nebulous compared to Gamora, Nebula, Scarlet Witch, EVE from Wall-E, Mulan, Beatrix Kiddo from Kill Bill, or Diana from Girlfight.
For Carol, the movie doesn’t think it’s a big deal for her. For someone that’s been lied to for years now, compared to Peter Quill or The Crystal Gems from Steven Universe or Rapunzel from Tangled, she gets over it real quick. There could’ve been an emotional moment where she expresses pure justified frustration until she picks herself up and then do what she does, thus establishing her independence from the Kree while using what they taught her for herself, but… we don’t get that. Might as well have said being with the Kree “was a waste of time anyway”. It was all for nothing. Please clap.
Just saying, was there truly a scene in the 2nd act where Carol recognizes a mistake she’s made? Was there really a time, other than the beginning I suppose, where her impulsiveness gets the better of her? I can only remember so much from this movie, but did she really regret doing anything besides not taking that microchip off her sooner? Her evolution, her change, as a character is momentary, and they tell us this evolution rather than showing us throughout the film. Heck, it’s arguable that Carol’s character was written around the plot twist of the movie rather than being the focal point since only now, after six years of going along with the Kree, she is driven to figure out who she was; not on her own volition, mind us, but out of obligated curiosity thanks to the Skrull kidnapping her in the beginning.
Additionally, when ya say “her gender is absolutely a core part of it”, it’s also [almost] debatable in the sense that if you made Captain Marvel a man, which is doable because they was initially, how much would change, especially in the era where toxic masculinity has become more… frontline, lack of a better term? I don’t mean to downplay your perspective, nor I am denying it, but it’s a question I have nonetheless towards this film particularly.
Overall, I don’t hate this film, you have every right to see the positives of this, but at the same time, for the first female MCU movie it felt empty in terms of stakes, impact, or establishing Carol Danvers as a character, like momma said it was filler for Avengers Endgame and I say this movie should’ve done more for not just men and/or women, but comic book and non comic book fans alike who wanted Carol Danvers to be the amazing protagonist as advertised. Haven’t read a Carol Danvers comic in my life aside from Civil War II, and this movie didn’t encourage me to even when I like and look up to comic heroines like Storm, Shuri, the Dora Milaje, and Kamala Khan. The concept is serviceable, and I’m sure there are plenty that look up to this film and I won’t deny that, but when you cut the fundamentals of making a hero in a hero film, regardless, people will notice.
