The Marvels review

THE MARVELS: 

FUN SUPERHERO TEAM-UP WITH LOTS OF KITTIES! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

MARVEL STUDIOS

Teyonah Parris, Brie Larson, and Iman Vellani in The Marvels

 

            Brie Larson (Short Term 12, Room, Just Mercy) is back as Carol Danvers in The Marvels, the latest installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and follow-up to 2019’s Captain Marvel. The film is directed by Nia DaCosta (Little Woods, Candyman (2021)) and is essentially a crossover between Captain Marvel and the Disney+ shows, Ms. Marvel and WandaVision. 

            The first Captain Marvel I didn’t hate or even dislike when I saw it despite the backlash it received upon its release, but I will admit it is one of the most generic entries of the MCU. With that said, it did have some standout moments, the banter between Carol and Nick Fury was enjoyable, I thought the amnesia plotline was interesting, the 90s references were fun, the interactions Carol has with Maria Rambeau and young Monica were charming, and the lovable Flerken cat Goose ate his way into our hearts. 

            The Disney+ spin-off series, Ms. Marvel I binged for the first time just recently and found it to be a very charming superhero coming-of-age story with an extremely likable Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan and the storyline was very engaging and even took me by surprise a number of times. At first glance, I thought it was going to be like the Captain Marvel equivalent of the Tom Holland Spider-Man movies, but it’s actually quite different than those. 

            Which brings us to The Marvels, I was onboard when the trailer first premiered despite not fully getting into the first movie. I thought the idea of having Captain Marvel on a team with other heroes who possess similar powers as her could be a fun way to both flesh out her character more and lead to some entertaining banter and charming moments between the three. 

            After seeing it, I have to say The Marvels is…flawed but fun. It’s not a great movie or anything and I do have some issues with it, but I found the overall film to be very enjoyable. 

            The film follows Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel (Larson) who has reclaimed her identity and taken revenge on the Supreme Intelligence. But after unintended consequences start destabilizing the universe due to her actions, Carol’s powers become entangled with bubbly Jersey girl and Captain Marvel super-fan, Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani reprising her role from Ms. Marvel) and her estranged niece and S.A.B.E.R. astronaut, Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris-Chi-Raq, If Beale Street Could Talk, Candyman (2021) reprising her role from WandaVision) each with the ability to tag each other out by using their powers. 

            In order to restabilize the universe and stop a new Kree revolutionary known as Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton-Dreams of a Life, Nocturnal Animals, Mr. Malcolm’s List) who is trying to restore her homeland after a civil war even if it means causing intergalactic destruction, Carol, Monica, and Kamala must learn to work together and harness their new swapping power before it’s too late. 

            The film also stars Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction, Deep Blue Sea, Django Unchained) reprising his role as former S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury, Gary Lewis (Billy Elliot, Gangs of New York, Outlander) as Skrull leader Emperor Dro’ge, Park Seo-joon (Perfect Game, The Chronicles of Evil, Parasite) as Prince Yan, Zenobia Shroff (The Big Sick, Soul, 7 Days) and Mohan Kapur (Creature 3D, I, The Vaccine War) reprising their roles from Ms. Marvel as Kamala’s parents Muneeba and Yusuf Khan, and Saagar Shaikh reprising his role from Ms. Marvel as Kamala’s brother Aamir Khan. 

            Overall, The Marvels may not take the MCU to soaring new heights, but it’s a fun and engaging superhero team-up with a lot of creative action sequences and the dynamic between the three leads carried the entire film for me. While I was mostly indifferent to Brie Larson’s performance in the first Captain Marvel (And keep in mind, I think she is a fantastic actress), one of the things I thoroughly enjoyed was her chemistry with the other characters like Nick Fury, Maria, and Monica, she was bringing some life into her performance during those scenes in the first film. 

            In this film, because it’s a team-up movie with two other heroes aiding her, it allows for a lot of funny banter and even some sweetness amongst the high-flying action. The Marvels have extremely likable chemistry here and I loved seeing them interact with one another each with their own unique personality, the scenes where they’re learning how to use their swap powers are very fun, and some characters’ personalities were greatly improved upon from earlier entries. 

            I don’t know if other people feel the same way as me, but I thought Brie Larson was a lot better here than in the first movie. Like the first film, she is capable of delivering a witty line or engage in comedic banter with other characters, but this film finally gives this character more flaws with her feeling guilt over what her actions caused, Larson plays her role very well here during the dramatic scenes, it’s not Room quality but I appreciate it when an actor listens to criticisms people had with an earlier performance and improve upon it. 

            I’ve already seen her in Ms. Marvel, but Iman Vellani is f*cking adorable as Kamala Khan and is one of the most instantly lovable things in this film. From the energy she brings to the table to her performance during the more dramatic scenes, I wanted to go into the movie and give her a hug. 

            Much like the first Captain Marvel, one of the best aspects of it was the alien cat, Goose who was a huge scene-stealer. Well, this movie continues the tradition with a bunch of Flerken kittens on a spaceship that’s about to be destroyed with only a limited amount of escape pods and a lot of people onboard, the way this situation is handled is probably the best sequence in the whole film, I was laughing hard and even said “Awwww” a few times during it. 

            An enjoyable movie for the most part, but there are some downsides that keep it from being great. The film is only an hour and 45 minutes long and because of that, scenes feel very rushed and there isn’t enough time devoted to plot details. 

            The most glaring example is the film’s villain and her plan, honestly the setup is done well where she’s trying to save her doomed planet after Captain Marvel destroyed the Supreme Intelligence which could have led to an interesting backstory and sympathy. However, because of the short runtime, a lot of these details are either brushed aside or non-existent, so you’re just stuck with another bland and boring MCU villain that wants to destroy things because…EVIL! 

            Had the film been 15 minutes longer, I think it would have been paced much better and be more engaging. But as is, The Marvels is an enjoyable enough superhero team-up with a lot of inventive action scenes and a likable trio of leads, fly on in and see for yourself.