'Captain Marvel' reviews round-up: What critics are saying about new superhero movie starring Brie Larson

Critics have commanded Larson for her performance as the title character

The reviews are in for Captain Marvel, the new superhero film starring Brie Larson – and critics have overall praised the "entertaining", "enjoyable", "savvy" movie.

Larson stars as the title character, also known as Carol Danvers, a former US Air Force pilot turned superhero who tries to come to terms with her past and origin story while fighting as part of a galactic war between two alien populations.

Critics have commanded the Oscar-winning actor for her début performance as the superhero and her mastery of Marvel's mix of bravado, humour and morals. Danvers's story has also been received positively, though some reviewers found themselves wanting for more nuance, more clarity, or more excitement.

Captain Marvel is out on 8 March in the UK and in the US.

Here is what reviewers have said so far (spoiler warning):

The Independent

3/5

Captain Marvel is enjoyable enough as popcorn entertainment. You can’t help but admire the dextrous way the filmmakers fit the movie and its many protagonists within the Marvel cinematic universe or the humour with which they take us back to the 1990s. Larson makes a thoroughly engaging superhero, witty, courageous and with a sensitivity you don’t always find in characters trying to save the world. The film, though, is one dimensional. It’s the 21st entry in a cycle that began with Iron Man in 2008 and signs of rust are now beginning to appear. (Geoffrey Macnab)

The Guardian

3/5

Larson has the natural body language of a superhero: that mixture of innocence and insouciance, that continuous clear-eyed idealism and indignation combined with unreflective battle-readiness, all the things that give MCU films their addictive quality. I wanted a clearer, more central story for Captain Marvel’s emergence on to the stage, and in subsequent films – if she isn’t simply to get lost in the ensemble mix – there should more of Larson’s own wit and style and, indeed, plausible mastery of martial arts. In any case, Captain Marvel is an entertaining new part of the saga. (Peter Bradshaw)

Variety

(Positive)

Captain Marvel is only the second major Hollywood movie to have a female superhero at its centre, but it’s a savvier and more high-flying fantasy than Wonder Woman, because it’s the origin story as head game. Larson’s Vers is like someone trapped in a matrix — she has to shake off the dream of who she is to locate the superwoman she could be. And that makes for a rouser of a journey. (Owen Gleiberman)

The Hollywood Reporter

(Mixed)

The focus and big selling point here is Captain Marvel herself and Larson's impersonation of her. So what does a best actress Oscar winner bring to a performance as a Marvel superhero? Larson makes Carol/Captain focused, solid, ever-alert to what's going on around her, a quick learner, a determined and unafraid warrior. In other words, she's everything you'd want and expect in a soldier, intergalactic or otherwise. But all of this is more or less prescribed by the role. What's lacking is humour, a hint that she might get off on the action and violence, or the indication of a deep desire or spark to ferret out evil and right the world's wrongs. The performance is fine, if not exciting or inspiring. (Todd McCarthy)

The Telegraph

4/5

Since our hero this time is a heroine – and one whose life to date has been largely delineated by men, from jeering Air Force bros to an overbearing father glimpsed in flashback – it has a very different and fresh emotional resonance that’s seized upon by Larson, whose terrific lead performance can be understated and self-questioning, yet also big on girl-boss attitude when it counts. (One faithfully mid-90s fight scene unfolds to the strains of "Just a Girl" by No Doubt.) (Robbie Collin)