The long-awaited next entry into the MCU has arrived. I actually wouldn’t say long awaited. I knew this movie was coming out this year but there are a lot of people that haven’t even heard of it until after opening weekend. This has been a rough year for Marvel. After the atrocity of Ant-Man Quantumania, things picked up again with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Loki. But then things plummeted, with The Marvels having the lowest opening weekend gross of any Marvel movie. This movie was controversial to say the least.
In this “sequel” to Captain Marvel, Brie Larson reprised her role as Carol Danvers, Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau, Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan (Ms. Marvel) and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury. I put sequel in parentheses because this could technically be a sequel to Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel (T.V. Series), and Wandavision (T.V. Series) since it follows characters from each of those properties.
The trio find themselves intertwined with their powers, so whenever one heroine uses her power, she trades places with another one even if they are hundreds or even thousands of miles away. With the help of Nick Fury, the three of them need to find a way to adapt to fight against the Kree, who have a new leader, and seek revenge on Captain Marvel for what she did to them on their home planet.
Unlike many people, I knew about The Marvels coming out and was hopeful after seeing the season finale of Loki. I was slightly disappointed. I am not saying it was a bad movie, I guess I just had too high of hopes. I personally didn’t mind Ms. Marvel, yes there were plenty of cringy and not great sequences but for the most part it wasn’t a bad show. Also, unlike many Marvel fans, I enjoyed Captain Marvel. I believe that it is one of the most over hated Marvel movies.
The thing with this film though was that there were good scenes and then terrible scenes. Every time the trio was on screen during one of their action scenes, it was fun, well shot and well executed. However, most of the dialogue and comedy just didn’t hit well. I found myself rolling my eyes a couple of times and waiting for the fight scenes to come back.
Personally, I think all three main cast leads did a decent job. I am not a big fan of how Iman Vellani presents her character sometimes, but Larson and Parris did great with their respective roles. Samuel L. Jackson is great as always.
What really hurt The Marvels was its character development. We have already seen the three main leads develop whether it be in their own movie or T.V. show, or a side character in either one. I am talking about the main antagonist of the film, Dar-Benn, played by Zawe Ashton. I felt no attachment to the character whatsoever and it was always a bore seeing her on screen. In my opinion I think Ashton tried way too hard to play the big bad in a film and it just didn’t work.
I was really hoping this movie set up future Marvel movies. Lately it just seems that all Marvel projects are sort of scattered and nothing welds with any other project. This was going through my mind throughout the entire film and I was just waiting for that special cameo or reference to something. It wasn’t until the mid-credit scene where my jaw dropped. I highly recommend staying until after the first credits roll. You won’t be disappointed. Talk about a set up!
Final Thoughts:
Was The Marvels the best Marvel movie? Absolutely not. But it doesn’t come close to being as bad as Quantumania or Thor: The Dark World. It has its fun times, but also seriously lacks in writing and development. I am hoping we do see more of the three heroines, and I have a feeling they will definitely show up again in the MCU sometime soon.
