While most Marvel fans were at home watching the season finale of Loki, I decided to head on down to my local movie theater and watch The Marvels. The sequel to Captain Marvel and a continuation of the growing Marvel Cinematic Universe, this film had quite a few things to achieve.

First, it needed to stand on its own at the Box Office since the first film earned over a billion dollars when it was released around the time of Avengers: Endgame and Ant-Man and The Wasp. Second, it needed to introduce non-Disney+ fans to newcomers Miss Marvel and Captain Rambeau. Third, it needed to be a film that could potentially mark a turning of the ship to a higher quality of Marvel films. Did it succeed? Let’s get into it.

Let’s start with the characters. The Marvels has the responsibility of balancing four primary characters: Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), Miss Marvel (Iman Vellani), Captain Rambeau (Teyonah Parris), and Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton). Our three heroes shine on the screen when they are together, but Iman Vellani proves to be the heart and soul of the entire film. Her portrayal of everything that is going on feels genuine and shows what I believe many of us would do if we were suddenly thrust into action with our heroes. While our three heroes have been introduced before in some form, Dar-Benn is a brand-new character who serves as the movie’s villain.

While Dar-Benn does terrible things in the film, she doesn’t necessarily do things for malicious reasons. I viewed her as being an anti-hero with the only reason we are rooting against her is that she just happens to not be from Earth. Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) is also in The Marvels, but he seems almost like an afterthought. It would’ve been nice to see him be a bit more in control during this movie like he was in the early stages of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, especially considering some of the creative choices that were made during the Secret Invasion series for his character.

The setting for The Marvels is jarring because the story introduces a bunch of different worlds that get thrown into the mix and stay for about fifteen minutes before we are blasting off to a new location. It kind of reminded me of the first scene with Poe, Finn, and Chewbacca in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker where they are hyperspace jumping from system to system in these blink of an eye moments. Imagine that scene, but stretched out to a full-length film where we get to see the star systems besides the pretty colors. Of all the locations that we spend time on there are two that feel out of place, The S.A.B.E.R. space station and a planet called Aladna.

The S.A.B.E.R. space station serves as Nick Fury’s base of operations above Earth, yet it gets little attention. Considering that this movie is supposed to rope in two Disney+ characters to the big screen, I am shocked that there was no inclusion of Nick Fury’s wife. Aladna seems to be written in a way solely to check off a box in Disney‘s yearly repertoire. The planet is filled with people who communicate through singing, beyond the prince who happens to be bilingual. Aladna also allows Marvel to crown Captain Marvel as the first Disney Princess in their universe, but that is getting into some spoiler territory, so I digress. 

The writing in The Marvels is rather plain for an MCU movie and is only lifted through how the actors deliver their lines. However, there are a few surprises that pop up that can keep viewers on their toes, many of which I enjoyed for their potential. One thing that I couldn’t get over is how quickly certain conflicts get resolved. There is a moment with almost every character where Captain Marvel is confronted about something that personally hurt them or irritated them.

Sadly, most of those confrontations are resolved almost as quickly as they are revealed. I couldn’t tell if this was because the director didn’t know how to grow any tension or if those scenes had to be left on the cutting room floor due to studio interference. Whatever the reason is, it often felt like these characters weren’t able to grow with each other in a natural fashion.

Overall, I think that The Marvels is a good movie. It didn’t blow me away in any capacity, but it rarely disappointed with what it tried to accomplish. If I had to compare it with other MCU films, I would probably stick it around Ant-Man and The Wasp, Thor, and Iron Man 3 in terms of the final product. While there could’ve been a dozen changes that could’ve made the film feel more cohesive, there are enough standout moments that make some of the mediocre writing feel balanced. If you are looking for more film reviews, I would suggest checking out my review on A Haunting in Venice right here.

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The Marvels

0.00

7.5

Score

7.5/10

Pros

• Miss Marvel Carries Film
• Perfect Amount of Time
• Intriguing Mid-Credits Scene
• Transitions Disney+ Characters Fairly Well
• Cat Lovers Seal of Approval

Cons

• Unusual Transitions
• Nick Fury put to the sideline
• Forgettable Villain/Anti-Hero