The Marvels Review

After taking an unintentional 9-month break from the MCU, part of my return binge session included the franchise's latest movie release, The Marvels. And considering the notable amount of negative reception that this movie apparently received over the course of its theatrical run, in addition to the lackluster marketing, my expectations going in were borderline non-existent. However, I can happily say that The Marvels is most certainly not the steaming pile of garbage as many in the film community world would have everyone believe. As a matter of fact, I found myself surprisingly having a decent bit of fun thanks to the titular ensemble's chemistry as a newly formed impromptu team in addition to Samuel Jackson's more lively return as Nick Fury. 

Visually speaking, I thought this was a solid looking entry certainly meeting the quality standards of a current MCU sci-fi action movie release. Whether it's the satisfactory CGI, the early on animated narration style taken from Ms. Marvel to cinematically tie that series in, or the occasionally notable fight choreography and camera-work, I honestly didn't have too many complaints with the overall direction here. I'd even give a few bonus points of admiration for a few moments where some of the location swapping action segments appealed to my love of seeing superpowers being creatively presented onscreen. There's even a whole sequence later in the movie where a giant cluster of alien cats are devouring people on a space ship...and it's as delightfully bonkers as it sounds. 

But, at the end of the day, the real positive highlight comes from the entertaining character interactions littered throughout. Surprisingly, I found myself chuckling a lot more than I thought would going into watch this. On one end, you have Kamala's adorable fangirl moments towards everything that's happening around her as she finally gets to live out her fantasy as someone stepping into the world of superheroes. You also have quite a few hilarious reactionary inserts from Kamala's family towards all of the crazy science-fiction elements getting forced into their lives (that Goose scene in the living room had me laughing out loud). The best part of the Ms. Marvel series was the family dynamic, so it was nice to see that element being incorporated here. Even Nick Fury has a few hilarious scenes surrounding his almost nonchalant or exhausted remarks towards some of the crazy scenarios taking place. 

As for Captain Marvel and Monica, I thought it was kinda interesting getting to see this relationship that clearly has some awkward dramatic history behind it that was teased in a couple of previous titles now given some form of resolution. Thankfully, without ever taking things too far into becoming a distracting soap opera drama piece with everyone arguing, The Marvels is able to take this unlikely team and bring them together focusing primarily on the potential fun that could possibly come out of this group. Watching this trio getting to know one another through their power swapping conundrum as well as building on the individual unique connections between them as people kept me engaged throughout. 

I thought the movie worked really well as a sequel to the Captain Marvel movie as well as the Ms. Marvel series, and to a small extent, WandaVision. Though we could've used a little more time with it, I did like the fact that we followed up Carol's fight with the Supreme Intelligence from her previous solo venture here in a monumental fashion. There's also the mythology expansion of Kamala’s ancestral band being revealed as an item of Kree legend that supposedly created every jump point in the universe. It's a pretty intriguing concept linking this relatively new hero to one of the MCU’s previously established and mysterious cosmic elements. Connecting the larger franchise's history of space travel to Ms. Marvel's source of power is honestly one of the coolest things that they've done character-wise in the new Phases.

Speaking of giving credit where credit is due, it's nice to see Captain Marvel finally be given a little more development as a bit of a cosmic hero celebrity having history on certain planets (both good and bad). Where previous appearances left me with much to be desired with Carol as being more than just a cosmic nuclear missile, we actually get to see her character blossom a little more. Scenes such as her being revealed to have been married as a political move on a planet that only communicates through singing or the heavy implications that she's essentially a lonely, glorified space police officer on her ship gave her an additional dimension that was very much lacking prior. It makes me realize how much potential this character has to lead her own sci-fi adventure series if given the right material to work with.

But...there does lie one glaring issue. Feeling like a step backwards into old MCU complaints territory, The Marvels introduces one of the franchise's most weakest and forgettable villains to date. Dar-Benn is basically Ronan the Accuser 2.0 in threat level and motivation intrigue but without the visually interesting character design. No offense to the actress, but I found the performance here to be sorely lacking of any screen presence whatsoever. On the positive side, I do like the general idea of this new accuser of the Kree empire taking revenge on Captain Marvel and stealing resources from other planets after Carol destroyed the Supreme Intelligence causing their planet's infrastructure to be compromised. On the negative side, this is a character that presentation-wise felt hollow in just about every conveyable way that a supervillain can. 

So with a pretty decent package of fun character dynamics, a solid follow up to previous titles progressing certain story arcs forward, and a visually entertaining enough ride, it'd be easy to call this the successful boost that the MCU needed. However, due to an awfully generic and dull villain, and a few character history establishing components that I felt should've been given more onscreen focus (Carol as a lonely space officer with an adventurous life or Kamala has a street level vigilante), it kinda feels like two steps forward, and one step back for the franchise. Is it worth watching at the end of the day? I'd say yes...as a discounted rental or streaming watch. As long as you keep your expectations slightly lowered, I think this would be a fun enough ride to pass the time. As for the two big ending teases...I'm certainly curious to see what comes out of them.

Rating: 7/10