You know that
nightmare where you have a homework assignment due in a few hours that you
completely forgot about and that your entire grade depends upon? When I
experience this dream it's always a relief to wake up in bed, remembering that
I haven’t had a homework assignment in years. Maybe these experiences were just
that influential. Or maybe I still have homework, just in a different way.
Being a fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has turned into a never-ending
cavalcade of homework assignments in a lot of ways, a fact that is very
apparent in the latest MCU entry The Marvels. This is a
film that is particularly indecipherable if one has not been keeping up with a
slew of other Marvel Studio projects, and even if you have watched everything
the experience is a disappointing one thanks to The Marvels' thin
and unclear plot, weak script, and complete lack of weight.
When the MCU's most boring and
one-dimensional bad guy starts to do bad things, it is up to Carol Danvers, AKA
Captain Marvel, to save the day. This time she is joined by two other
characters whose lives become entangled because… they are all associated with
each other in the comics, I suppose. Oh yes, there is something about magical
bracelets and vaguely similar powers and portals, but it’s all very mushy and
unclear. They go from point A to point B, stopping briefly at a planet with a
bewilderingly insufferable gimmick, and just when you think things are ramping
up the film ends, making one think that they must have missed a climax
somewhere, because surely that last bit wasn’t meant to be it.
As a sequel to 2019’s Captain Marvel, The
Marvels should ostensibly have a lot of focus on the titular character
of the former film, yet Brie Larson's character feels very diminished here as
she shares the spotlight with Teyonah Parris (who plays Monica Rambeau and was
last seen in Disney+’s WandaVision) and Iman Vellani (who plays
Kamala Khan, the main character of Disney+’s Ms. Marvel.) The
shared narrative and poor script that props it up does a disservice to both
Larson and Parris' characters, robbing the film of a believable emotional heart
as well as character arcs that are all the more important given the flimsiness
of the rest of the movie. Only Vellani, the clear standout, is fun to watch,
giving The Marvels an enjoyable energy that the film frankly
doesn’t deserve.
The action is actually pretty well
choreographed, speaking of good things, and the body swapping plot leads to
some fun set pieces and situations. And there are kittens who only sometimes
look like completely fake CGI constructs! But overall The Marvels is
nigh impossible to follow for newcomers and leaves the MCU faithful
dumbfounded. It’s hard to imagine a less consequential plot set in this
universe moving forward, and even the most diehard of fans might find it better
to just wait for the film’s inevitable release on Disney+.
The Marvels is now playing in
theaters.
This review was first published in the
Keizertimes on November 17th, 2023. Visit at www.keizertimes.com.
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