REVIEW: Brie Larson Flies High as 'Captain Marvel' in Playful Superhero Adventure

When we first meet Captain Marvel (Larson), she’s working at her pre-superhero job, high up in space, as part of an intergalactic military unit called Starforce. After a new mission calls her back to Earth, she runs into young government agent Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and discovers truths about a past that she’s long forgotten. Teaming up with Fury—and getting into entertaining verbal sparring matches with him—she defends the planet from a mysterious alien force.

Set in the 1990s, well before audiences have met any of the other Avengers (and before Fury lost his eye), Captain Marvel has a spry, playful tone, and Oscar winner Larson (Room) ably carries such a colossal super-production.

She’s aided by stellar supporting players like Jackson, Jude Law, Ben Mendelsohn and Marvel’s most adorable scene-stealer yet, an orange tabby cat named Goose.

While the feminist message is sometimes muddled—why should a woman be told to control her emotions instead of using her strength?—Marvel’s first stand-alone female hero is definitely formidable. And very likely a key component in the next movie.

Captain Marvel opens March 8.