The Marvels Review

The Marvels sees the return of Carol Danvers as Captain Marvel. This time she teams up with a couple of stars of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Disney+ Shows.

In the deepest depth of space, the leader of the Kree, Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton) finds an ancient bangle. This discovery leads to a chain of events that results in holes ripping open around the galaxy and affecting three heroes from Earth, Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani), and Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris). Every time they use their powers, the trio of heroes end up swapping places. They must travel the galaxy together and stop Dar-Benn from stealing resources from other planets.

There has been a negative energy around the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and The Marvels as a production. Since Avengers: Endgame the quality of the MCU has become spotty. More films and TV shows have been met with negative critical and audience reactions. Eternals and Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania were some of the worst-reviewed Marvel movies and my view is Thor: Love and Thunder was the worst MCU film because of its tonal confusion. On the TV side, She-Hulk and Secret Invasion were also met with negative critical reactions. Marvel Studios had gone for a quantity-over-quality approach that had led to subpar storytelling and technical abilities.

This whiff of negativity also extends to other Marvel productions being in trouble. The MCU Blade movie has gone through a number of writers and directors with one screenplay having Blade as a secondary character in his own film. There have been rumours that Mahershala Ali was prepared to leave the role of the vampire hunter. There have also been reports that Captain America: Brave New World is going to have extensive reshoots because it has tested poorly.

The Marvels also had warning signs. The critical reception has been mixed and the box office numbers so far have been underwhelming. Before the film was released Marvel highlighted that it would be the shortest MCU film and be ‘fun and humorous.’ There were reports that the film had to undergo four weeks of reshoots and the director, Nia DaCosta, confirmed that she left post-production to work on another film. I was underwhelmed by the trailers.

The Marvels did have issues. Narratively, the film was all over the place. It was speed running to introduce the characters, especially for people who haven’t seen WandaVision or Ms. Marvel. The Marvels suffered from an issue that affected many Marvel films, an underwhelming villain. Due to the space setting the film was shot in confined hallways and space desks. Some famous directors like Martin Scorsese have complained that Marvel movies are nothing more than cinema theme park rides. That would be a way to describe The Marvels since it was a breezy film that would entertain and had a chaotic nature due to all the transportation. As a piece of entertainment, The Marvels does the job and audiences can enjoy it as a popcorn experience.

The Marvels easily surpasses Thor: Love and Thunder and Ant-Man: Quantumania. The Marvels was a space adventure that was more fitting compared to the third Ant-Man film which put a ground-level hero in a massive event movie. Whilst compared to Thor: Love and Thunder, The Marvels was a massive improvement since it was actually funny and tonally consistent. Thor: Love and Thunder infamous tried to be a goofy comedy with screaming goats whilst trying to tackle themes of grief, terminal illness, and deicide.

The Marvels did produce quite a bit of laughter. In Ms. Marvel Kamala was a delightful character and she was still a likeable presence as a young fangirl who finally got to meet her hero. She was adorkable as she tried to impress the older heroes. Whilst Kamala was young and naïve, she was earnest and wanted to do the right thing, so willing to throw herself into danger to save lives. The trio did have great chemistry as they bonded and worked together. Kamala was the heart of the team, Monica was the brains since she was a scientist, and Carol was the muscle since she was the most powerful.

Goose was a scene stealer in Captain Marvel and she returned for The Marvels. The Flerken had some fun moments early in the film. The marketing for The Marvels highlighted that there were going to be Flerken kittens and there was a risk of Hollywood logic where people liked Goose in the previous film, so do more of the same. Luckily the Flerken kittens were a fun presence and provided some of the funniest moments in the film, especially when a song was used. I will admit my bias since I am a cat dad.

Unlike Thor: Love and Thunder, when there was a serious moment, it was treated with pathos. This was done through the relationship between Carol and Monica since Monica was resentful that Carol fulfilled her promise. The film revealed why this happened and it was portrayed appropriately.

An issue the MCU has had is being impenetrable because of all the continuity. This was a film that was a sequel a film and two TV shows. However, The Marvels made sure that audiences didn’t need encyclopaedic knowledge of the MCU since the film did provide background information to get audiences up to speed. The events of WandaVision weren’t important to The Marvels. The cosmic setting made The Marvels more like The Guardians of the Galaxy and Taika Waititi Thor movies, an adventure separated from the rest of the MCU. This separation also ensured that The Marvels wasn’t spending time setting up future Marvel projects. It was a standalone story with its sequel baiting only happening right at the end of the picture.

The Marvels was a fun mid-ranking entry in the MCU. It was elevated by its likeable central characters and they made it a light experience. But it won’t be as memorable as the best entries in the MCU.