Notable Cast: Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris, Iman
Vellani, Zawe Ashton, Samuel L. Jackson, Gary Lewis, Zenobia Shroff, Mohan
Kapur, Park Seo-jun, Lashana Lynch
Although I was overly optimistic about Captain Marvel initially,
I’ve cooled quite a bit on the film since its release. The Marvel Cinematic
Universe (MCU) has struggled to figure out how to use the character in any kind
of exciting way outside of being a deus ex machina-esque plot device in Avengers:
Endgame. Yet, the Disney-led Marvel machine seemed intent on creating more
layers around the character by introducing two other Marvel-style characters,
Monica Rambeau and Kamala Khan, introduced in the Disney+ Marvel series WandaVision
and Ms. Marvel, respectively.
Thus, powered by the synchronicity of the MCU, we are now
delivered with Captain Marvel 2. Oh, I’m sorry, it’s called The Marvels
and not Captain Marvel 2. A film where Ms. Rambeau and Ms. Khan join
Captain Marvel to take on the latest threat of world-ending sky beams powered
by a villain with a semi-relatable cause in a spectacle-driven blockbuster. You
know, it’s a post-Avengers MCU film through and through.
Yet, don’t let my inherent sarcasm in that last statement
dissuade you from this one. While the MCU has undoubtedly struggled to be
consistent in recent years, The Marvels is a shockingly fun and loose
ride that moves like lightning, warts and all. After the abysmal garbage fire
that Marvel released under the title Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,
maybe The Marvels feels like it's worth its weight in gold, but it’s a
film that finds a pop and energy that makes it move like it has places to
be.
Most of this comes from the fact that the film has a comic
book popcorn energy that feels like it's pulsating from the screen. Director
Nia DaCosta, most notable for directing the Candyman “remake” a few
years ago - especially for readers of this site, is bringing a lot of visual
pizzazz to its patchy script. She’s channeling a lot of the humor and heart of
its characters and squeezing just enough thematic heft to make it catch -
particularly in the idea that three women from three eras must find their
commonalities (in this case, their “light powers”) to overcome a larger
threat.
The three women in the leads of the film, Brie Larson as
Carol Danvers, Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau, and Iman Vellani as Kamala
Khan, are all bringing their best to the material. The Marvels is
working overtime to really develop them as a team and while I’m not fully sure
I even understand their powers overall (particularly Rambeau who gets a lot
more powers this time around) the visual pop of the film in having them use
them together certainly works. However, despite some strong work from all
three, it’s Vellani who steals the show here as the young and fan-girling
Kamala who simply brings such a young, fresh energy to everything and makes
those Marvel quips work best.
As with so many Marvel properties though, The Marvels
does have two major set backs that prevent it from jettisoning around at full
propulsion. The first is its script. Obvious rewrites and reshoots plague this
film. It’s heavily rumored that the film excised an incredible amount of
material that was supposed to tie it further into other Marvel properties.
Specifically, it’s rumored to have cut out almost all ties to the Marvel+ show Secret
Invasion, which landed with an incredible whimper on the streaming service
earlier this year. While this does allow The Marvels to feel much more
like a stand-alone story which just happens to pull characters from other
properties, the narrative feels widely disjointed in its major plotting. One of
the major set pieces of The Marvels sees our Terrific Trio head to a
water planet of a culture whose only language is song (I kept waiting for it to
go full Bollywood, but it sadly never does), and they build that up to be a
major sequence it feels like it was diced to its bare bones, for example.
This disjointed nature of its narrative bleeds into its
other major obstacle as a film, and that’s the villain of the week, Dar-Benn,
played by Zawe Ashton. Although she sports a giant ass hammer and is currently
chasing some “bangles” that allow her to open teleporting portals, her
storyline as a savior of her planet, Hala, feels utterly undercooked. It
brushes on some great concepts, including a civil war that Captain Marvel
caused when she destroyed their A.I. leader in-between films; it never quite makes
its political or sociological statements that it really wants to. Granted,
touching on topics like nationalism that leads to warmongering, colonialism,
and displaced people as refugees trying to find a home are all ones that Marvel
has at least briefly touched on with other movies, this film felt like it could
have really used those to power a great villain and… well, Dar-Benn ends up
feeling like a Ronan the Accuser knock off for most of the film.
Still, The Marvels ends up selling what it has with
enough charm and lightning-fast pacing that it felt wholly entertaining,
despite its major flaws in narrative and script. The action, particularly that
opening switcheroo three-way fight sequence, is hellacious fun, and the
performances from all of its characters feed into that popcorn sense of
silliness that makes this space adventure feel like a serial from decades past.
Don’t expect the loftiness of some of the other Marvel properties (or the
widely dark and spectacularly effective writing of Guardians of the Galaxy
Vol. 3); you’ll find a lot to love in The Marvels.
Shockingly so, considering the internet rumors and initial knee-jerk negativity
towards it. Just have fun, and The Marvels will let you.
Thank you for sharing your expertise in a way that is both accessible and relatable.
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