Carol Danvers gets her powers entangled with those of Kamala Khan and Monica Rambeau, forcing them to work together to save the universe.
Pam says:
The Marvels (as Kamala is hoping to be called) soon realize that Kamala’s spangle-bangle bracelet from her dear old granny is what gives her powers and the leader of a planet destroyed by Captain Marvel aka The Anihilator has the matching wristlet. She’ll stop at nothing to complete her jeweled ensemble, giving her the ultimate power.
Does this sound familiar because it should. It’s the same premise we’ve seen literally dozens and dozens of times before. And then there are the numerous fight scenes that, you guessed it, you’ve seen too many times to count. To the film’s credit, these repetitive fight scenes do give you time to scoot to the bathroom or the concession stand or even to check your texts…outside of the theater, obviously. (Theater rules are a must to be followed.)
To read Pam’s review in its entirety, go to Reel Honest Reviews
Chuck says:
While contempt has not yet set in, the familiarity of the Marvel Films is starting to wear on me. Much has been written about superhero fatigue, a feeling that’s being borne out by the diminishing box office returns of the studio’s latest efforts. A recent article in Variety recounted the behind-the-scenes turmoil that is now roiling through the studio, stating that mastermind producer Kevin Feige is now struggling to right this sinking corporate ship, one that has become a victim of its own excess.
Their latest, “The Marvels,” will not be seen as a step towards rectifying things but rather yet another cookie cutter adventure, and a lackluster one at that. Despite the best efforts of its game trio of leads, the script by Megan McDonnell, Elissa Karasik and director Nia DaCosta adheres to the same lockstep narrative approach that, once upon a time, was exciting but has now become tedious.
One of the major problems facing the studio now is that of overreach, what with their constant flow of films and T.V. series’ that have become a chore to keep up on. This rears its ugly head early on in “The Marvels” as the backstories of Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) and Kamala Kahn (Iman Vellani), whose origins were covered in the Disney Plus shows “WandaVision” and “Ms. Marvel” respectively, are recapped in a very quick disjointed manner. This gets things off to an awkward start and the sense that if you aren’t familiar with the later series, you are missing out on vital information hangs over the movie.
Then again, does character background and their interactions really mean anything in films of this sort? Once upon a time, they did, but the Phase four and five Marvel movies are more slugfests than anything else and this is no exception. The long and short of it is, Skrull rebel, Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton) is opening wormholes across the universe in order to siphon resources from other planets to save her depleted home world. Rambeau, Kahn and Carol Danvers (Brie Danvers), all variations of the hero Ms. Marvel-thus, the title – set out to put a stop to this.
The one rather clever conceit is that, as the trio is connected through the same energy source, they can switch places when they use their powers. So, when Danvers is flying through the air zapping someone, suddenly a change occurs and Kahn is falling out of the sky and Danvers is in the teenager’s living room, much to her family’s surprise. Unfortunately, this idea is beat into the ground until tedium ensues, and an Excedrin headache sets up. The various Marvels switching spots during multiple fights leads to a visual mishmash that’s confusing and off-putting.
To its credit, the movie is the shortest of the Marvel films, so that’s something. Still, it seems long because no new ground is being broken and none of the characters are distinctive enough to transcend this. There’s no question this is a well-made film, such as it is, and the performers do what they can. The problem is that there’s no longer anything special or unique about the Marvel fare. Each entry in the initial three phases were events, brimming with genre innovations, well-drawn, sympathetic characters and narrative stakes that seemed high. However, like the “Star Wars” films, they just seem like old hat.
All that being said, make sure to stay for “The Marvels” one mid-credits scene. A significant revelation occurs that could point the way towards the studio and their product’s resurrection. Whether that’s a good thing or not is a discussion for another day.
2 Stars
