The Marvels - Review

It has happened, characters that we met in the Marvel Studios Disney+ shows have finally started hitting the big screen, thanks to The Marvels. Of course, going in there were questions I had around if those characters would work or if you needed to watch the shows to understand who folks were. Did Marvel deliver a marvel? Or like the intertwined powers, was it hardly explained?

Let me get this out of the way first, do you need to watch WandaVision and Miss Marvel to enjoy this movie? The answer is no, they do a great job of giving you the highlights on each person from those shows, but if you do, things will be much richer for it. The movie starts out with an extended version of the scene from the end of Miss Marvel, which as it plays out as if it was always apart of that show, we get to enjoy Kamala’s unique take on things. Eventually the swap happens and then we get a flashback to a little earlier and it is here we get our first look at Carol Danvers post snap, who is just chilling in her spaceship with Goose of all things. It seems a surge of power was detected by S.A.B.E.R., which is where Nick Fury lives and he calls up Captain Marvel to investigate the source, while Monica Rambeau attempts to discover what is going on near S.A.B.E.R. This is where I will stop with the story details, as experiencing things is much better than reading about them.

The story, for what it tells, is decent. As I said, they do a good job of explaining some of the events of both MCU shows, but there is more going on there, so if you need the full explanation on who is who and why they have powers, I suggest watching them first. The stories faults though are harder to justify, the biggest one is that everything seems to take place within a few days, if that. There are times when something crazy happens and the characters just seem to role with it, even when they are clearly not understanding what is going on. This speed is the opposite of what their tv shows are doing, on the small screen Marvel takes too long to tell any story and here it’s the exact opposite and once you see the movie, it will make sense. Now speed is not a bad thing in some instances, but here its problem is that by the time the threat has been really established, you are right near the end of the movie, so there isn’t a chance to feel that things may not work out for the heroes.

That seems like a good point to address, the heroes. There are three main heroes, one side hero, one big bad villain and Kamala’s family. Of course, Captain Marvel is the lead, but just as important as her is Monica and Kamala, the latter of whom provides much of the comic humor, if only due to her fangirling all the time. Captain Marvel has come into her abilities off screen, so she knows what she can do, this means there is no figuring things out there, but it also means that they have been able to pull tricks out of a hat if the plot needs it. The same issue is true for Monica, there are times when she just seems to know everything about what is going and then times when she is as lost as the rest of us. This wouldn’t be a major concern if there was some explanation from the tv series she was in, but she legit got powers, left Earth and now just knows everything, its hard to accept. Kamala is the only one that makes sense as far as her powers go, she knows her limits and as she accepts that she has no clue what is going on at times, it makes sense she is lost. Out of the three of them, she is the one that grows the most and its mostly her learning to reel in her enthusiasm, but that is not to say that the others don’t, however like the main threat it happens pretty quickly.

Speaking of the threat, this time it’s another Kree warrior, Dar-Benn. The Kree for those who have forgotten are a race of beings that believe themselves to be above everyone else and if they don’t like you, they judge you unworthy and wipe you out. This was the threat that Ronan the Accuser brought to the screen in the first Guardians of the Galaxy, they are also the reason the Skrulls lost their planet and had to find new places to live, including Earth. This time rather than the threat being more, we are better than you, its more what you did to us and while I did find myself thinking that Dar-Benn was right in her reasons, her actions are a little harder to justify. The other main character is Nick Fury, who seems to have either recovered from his time on Earth in Secret Invasion or that has yet to happen. He spends a lot of time with Kamala’s family and their interactions are a treat, but it is when he gets time with Goose that he has fun. This Nicky Fury is not the spymaster, nor the broken soldier, but rather an overseer, someone who knows what needs to be done and has no issues in getting others to do it for them. Now there are a number of cameo appearances and I won’t say who or why, but there will be enough to get fans excited.

One of the things that I loved to see were the sheer number of unique locales, yes we see Earth a bit and the inside of a few spaceships, but there are also new planets. Aladna is one such place and its beautiful, though it has some citizens many may not enjoy. Hala also gets more time on the screen and is perhaps one of the most reoccurring planets in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, though this time its more Blade Runner in style than anything else we have seen before. The character costumes are wonderful and while they don’t stray too far from the designs we know, they feel fresh none the less, with Miss Marvels costume especially standing out. The outfits of the galaxy are also fun, Aladna again proving a delight, but even the outfits worn by the folks at S.A.B.E.R. are quite fun, being a little futuristic but also now in their design. They really stand out when you see Kamala’s parents interacting with them, dressed in their regular human clothes. Something I was not a fan of what the exterior of Captain Marvel’s ship, it just looked weird, like someone saw a bug and thought, that is a good ship design. The inside is fine, I just don’t like the shape of it on the outside.

The Marvels was a great movie, it is not perfect as it speeds through things far to quickly for there to be any real impact to things. We finally get to learn what Carol Danvers did after her solo movie and while you can understand why, there are still plenty of questions left unanswered. The addition of Kamala and Monica into the mix are delightful, though Monica being able to just get everything that is super difficult without issue, seems like a stretch. Of course, there are more questions raised post the movie ending and where that could lead is interesting, we just need to be patient. I did enjoy the movie, The Marvels had plenty of laughs, a few great actions pieces, but more importantly had characters that showed growth and heart, which is something we don’t often see these days.

The Score

8.5

Review access provided by Disney

The Pros

The chemistry between the three leads was great eventually, the fun of them clashing at the start was more entertaining though

The design of the worlds and locations were fantastic, the movie felt like it was alien at times, but familiar…

The Cons

.. though Carol’s ship is perhaps to familiar on the outside, which seemed weird to me

The pacing of the movie is a bit to quick at times and it legit feels like the movie takes place over a few hours, with how fast things move