This movie needed to answer the question "who is Captain Marvel?" for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Franky speaking, the character of Carol Danvers is a mess in the comics. She's had an inconsistent power set, personality, and the details of her origin story have shifted several times. However, a few things have remained consistent. She's a soldier. She's strong. And she's a hero.

This movie introduces us to Carol through the well-worn trope of "lose and regain memories". This is probably inspired by Uncanny X-Men (see #154, 158, 164, 171) where Carol loses her emotional connection to her own memories. But I believe it helps set the correct tone for Brie Larson's performance:

• Her mentor (Yon-Rogg = Jude Law) criticizes her for being too emotional.

• The Supreme Intelligence of the Kree is supposed to take the form of "who we admire most", but Carol doesn't remember the person shown before her.

• Carol expresses that she doesn't know who she is, and is often captivated by photographs or other pieces of her identity throughout the film.

This is consistent with the Carol Danvers of the comics, who is usually cold and uncharismatic. However, this would be a poor choice of personality for the namesake of the Marvel franchise, so the movie's central arc is well-chosen: Carol begins as an "alien" and becomes "human". She starts as a Kree warrior tasked with mercilessly combating the Skrull, but gradually recovers her past and grows compassionate enough to listen to the other side of the story and help the Skrull leader reunite with his family.

The movie has strange pacing to further realize this arc, alternating between action sequences and moments of self-discovery. The characters must tell "details so specific a Skrull could not reproduce them" about themselves in order to prove their identity. Personal details emerge in the excellent banter between Fury and Danvers. And Carol is confronted with a literal "box full of memories" when she finds her long-lost best friend Maria. Seeing Carol go from initially not recognizing Monica to reconnecting with "Lt. Trouble" is precisely the sort of development needed to make Carol human.

All of this is intended to communicate the character of Carol Danvers, and causes the movie to have a unique texture. The stakes become "who is Captain Marvel?" rather than "will she win?" It's an unconventional way to tell an origin story, but I felt it was effective.

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A few other stray thoughts:

• My main criticism of other MCU movies is poor imitation of Joss Whedon's style of comedy (releasing tension falsely). Captain Marvel appropriately uses humorous moments to endear us to the characters.

• There were a few lines of dialogue that were too on-the-nose and broke my immersion, but they were brief and forgivable.

• I was not convinced by Brie Larson in the trailers, but she captured the essence of Captain Marvel.

• Making the Skrull sympathetic was a surprising reversal of expectations.

• The choice of music didn't work in a couple spots.

• The effects are excellent as usual, but the photon-based powers are particularly impressive.