PREMISE
Carol Danvers gets her powers entangled with those of Kamala Khan and Monica Rambeau, forcing them to work together to save the universe.
THE GOOD STUFF
THE KHAN FAMILY- For those of you who are unaware, Miss marvel is a better TV show than you think. There is a pretty damn good chance that if you like this movie, it’s largely because of the elements from that television show that are incorporated into this story. Iman Villani remains one of the very greatest castings in the history of all of the mcu. Her presence alone livens up scenes that would otherwise be pretty boring, and whenever we cut to other members of her family being caught up in all of this superhero madness it is funny and refreshing.
THE TRIO- Sometimes, the chemistry between actors can shine so brightly on screen and even through press interviews that you can just kind of tell that they are buddies out in real life. Natural chemistry such as this elevates the material, especially when it comes to tentpole-type movies, and that is certainly the case here.
Not saying this is a movie that is bad or anything like that, but the movie should rise above the low expectations that the public seems to have for it because of how good these three are together.
THE MID-CREDITS SCENE- Of course, I can’t spoil anything, but what I can say is…
THE BAD STUFF
CAP’S STORYLINES- Because the Captain Marvel movie takes place in the early nineties, she does have an awful lot of loose ends to tie up. Not only does she have to make amends with Monica, but there’s also the case of what she’s been doing outside of the other films that we’ve briefly seen her in. Unfortunately, this movie doesn’t do a lot of favors in tying up those loose ends with any sort of particular specificity. It feels a lot sloppier than it should be. And there is a big reason as to why that is…
105 MINUTES- ….. And the reason is this paltry ass running time of 1 hour and 45 minutes. This movie, along with THOR: LOVE & THUNDER come to prove a point that I’ve been saying for a very long time which is that no serious tent pole film regardless of the season that the film is released in should be anything less than 130 minutes in running time. Especially something coming from the MCU. I don’t know when people started thinking that we show up to the MCU movies for CGI action and jokes, but we’re not there for that, and we pretty much never have been.
The continuous storyline is why everybody’s here, and when that storyline is quickly whipping through important details that would enhance character arcs for ALL the protagonists and villains, nobody wins. This movie would have been much better than what it was with an additional 25 minutes to make the story seem more thorough. But alas…
THE UGLY STUFF
DAR-BENN- Now and then you’ll come across a YouTube video or an article (or an episode of the RV8 podcast) that goes on and on about how Superhero flicks as a whole have a villain problem. When you really break it down, there are a lot of throw-away villains in this lexicon and Dar-Benn is very prototypical in how these throw-away villains look, feel, act, and sound.
Boring costume showing no kind of eccentricities? Check. Ridiculous-looking weapon? Check. Delegated to cutaway scenes that really don’t show the skill of the actor portraying the character? Check. Action sequences featuring the villain that seems to be filler rather than purposeful enough to move the story along? Check. Such a shame. Zawe Ashton is quite good at her job. (Go watch Velvet Buzzsaw on Netflix if you don’t believe me)
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Am I crazy or was this movie supposed to be a much bigger deal than what it has ended up becoming? Ultimately, The marvels is a by-product of two movies (Captain marvel and avengers: endgame) three whole television shows (Miss marvel, secret invasion, & WandaVision), and a mid-credit scene from another Marvel movie. (Shang-Chi AND THE LEGEND OF THE 10 RINGS) To hear of the endless reshoots that I believe prompted the delay of this film’s release, I can’t help but think what was left on the cutting room floor to make this story matter a little bit more.
The marvels is a better movie than people are giving it credit for. And I can’t help but to think that it hasn’t lived up to the potential that it once had. But of course, I could be assuming things.
THE MARVELS is in theaters now.