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Update: November 7, 2023
Dragonlord’s Review of THE MARVELS (No Spoilers)
Bottom Line: Marvel Studios’ quality decline continues with The Marvels, a humdrum, convoluted space escapade overshadowed by the ending and mid-credits scenes.
In The Marvels, Carol Danvers (Brie Larson), Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) and Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) are forced to team up when their powers become entangled that causes a body switch. On paper, the switcheroo premise sounds fun but it just wasn’t cleverly written and quickly got old in the movie. The female trio has to stop Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton), a Kree revolutionary trying to restore the Kree empire by stealing other world’s natural resources, specifically worlds that Carol Danvers cares about.
The revenge story is actually solid and I see potential if it was executed properly. This story is better suited as a third Captain Marvel movie. In The Marvels, they reveal through a very brief flashback scene on how Carol lay sieged to the Kree capital of Hala and eventually destroyed the Supreme Intelligence which inadvertently caused a civil war which ravaged the Kree homeworld. This should have been the second Captain Marvel movie but Marvel Studios has a bad habit of fast-forwarding events and story arcs (as well as heavily relying on magical costume changes and power set vagueness). As someone said, “Details matter. They create depth, and depth creates authenticity.”
Going into the film, I really thought Iman Vellani was going to steal the movie (which she sadly didn’t) but oddly enough Brie Larson was the more likable among the three main characters. A vast improvement over her smug, off-putting persona in 2019’s Captain Marvel, Brie shows a more humble, softer side to her character especially her initial awkward interactions with Monica which was kinda endearing. Her action scenes involving flying and blasting spaceships are still unfortunately boring.
Iman had some cute moments and was overall a pleasant addition to the film. Teyonah Parris was okay. Honestly, I was not a big fan of her in WandaVision. Somebody like Maisie Richardson-Sellers or Nathalie Emmanuel would have been a better Monica Rambeau in my opinion.
The main villain Dar-Benn did not work for me due to the actress Zawe Ashton. She just lacked the personality, charisma or screen presence to pull it off. Personally, I also found her face not so appealing (Sorry, Mr. Hiddleston). There are so many great actresses out there that would have been a better fit. Top of my head, Gwendoline Christie would have been great as Dar-Benn.
After starring in my worst MCU project ever made (Secret Invasion), Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury is back. Fury is likable enough in this film, acting like a friendlier version of the character. But I miss the edgier, cooler Fury. The planned MCU Blade reboot is most likely going to be bad, Marvel should just pivot and recast Mahershala Ali as Nick Fury. Think of Mahershala’s performance and presence in Alita: Battle Angel. That is how Nick Fury should look and act.
The action involving the body switch was in most parts distracting and confusing. Captain Marvel’s costume in the first half of the movie looked great. But for some stupid reason, they changed it to a duller, drab-looking, almost colorless outfit in the second half. Don’t the people in charge of this film have eyes??
The three main heroes had some nice chemistry together but could have been way better, maybe add in more friction for Carol and Monica. For the most part, the film has a lackluster, by-the-numbers vibe with an uneven tone but there are a select few scenes where the film veers off into the weird and wacky, specifically during the singing planet and the flerken incident near the end. I feel the film should have just fully dived in and embraced the wackiness rather than ending up with a duller outcome.
With a runtime of 105 minutes, The Marvels is the shortest movie in the MCU. Even with the extra theater screening it frees up, this film will still fail at the box office. Aside from people getting tired of the decline of the quality in the MCU, putting two TV characters in the main spotlight whom the general public still do not know nor care about was a mistake. They should have just made a straight Captain Marvel sequel. With a reported budget of $270 million, The Marvels will likely go down as one of the MCU’s biggest flop in history.
PRELIMINARY RATING: 5/10
(Please leave a Like if you appreciate my reviews.)
Dragonlord’s Review of THE MARVELS (No Spoilers)
Bottom Line: Marvel Studios’ quality decline continues with The Marvels, a humdrum, convoluted space escapade overshadowed by the ending and mid-credits scenes.
In The Marvels, Carol Danvers (Brie Larson), Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) and Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) are forced to team up when their powers become entangled that causes a body switch. On paper, the switcheroo premise sounds fun but it just wasn’t cleverly written and quickly got old in the movie. The female trio has to stop Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton), a Kree revolutionary trying to restore the Kree empire by stealing other world’s natural resources, specifically worlds that Carol Danvers cares about.
The revenge story is actually solid and I see potential if it was executed properly. This story is better suited as a third Captain Marvel movie. In The Marvels, they reveal through a very brief flashback scene on how Carol lay sieged to the Kree capital of Hala and eventually destroyed the Supreme Intelligence which inadvertently caused a civil war which ravaged the Kree homeworld. This should have been the second Captain Marvel movie but Marvel Studios has a bad habit of fast-forwarding events and story arcs (as well as heavily relying on magical costume changes and power set vagueness). As someone said, “Details matter. They create depth, and depth creates authenticity.”
Going into the film, I really thought Iman Vellani was going to steal the movie (which she sadly didn’t) but oddly enough Brie Larson was the more likable among the three main characters. A vast improvement over her smug, off-putting persona in 2019’s Captain Marvel, Brie shows a more humble, softer side to her character especially her initial awkward interactions with Monica which was kinda endearing. Her action scenes involving flying and blasting spaceships are still unfortunately boring.
Iman had some cute moments and was overall a pleasant addition to the film. Teyonah Parris was okay. Honestly, I was not a big fan of her in WandaVision. Somebody like Maisie Richardson-Sellers or Nathalie Emmanuel would have been a better Monica Rambeau in my opinion.
The main villain Dar-Benn did not work for me due to the actress Zawe Ashton. She just lacked the personality, charisma or screen presence to pull it off. Personally, I also found her face not so appealing (Sorry, Mr. Hiddleston). There are so many great actresses out there that would have been a better fit. Top of my head, Gwendoline Christie would have been great as Dar-Benn.
After starring in my worst MCU project ever made (Secret Invasion), Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury is back. Fury is likable enough in this film, acting like a friendlier version of the character. But I miss the edgier, cooler Fury. The planned MCU Blade reboot is most likely going to be bad, Marvel should just pivot and recast Mahershala Ali as Nick Fury. Think of Mahershala’s performance and presence in Alita: Battle Angel. That is how Nick Fury should look and act.
The action involving the body switch was in most parts distracting and confusing. Captain Marvel’s costume in the first half of the movie looked great. But for some stupid reason, they changed it to a duller, drab-looking, almost colorless outfit in the second half. Don’t the people in charge of this film have eyes??
The three main heroes had some nice chemistry together but could have been way better, maybe add in more friction for Carol and Monica. For the most part, the film has a lackluster, by-the-numbers vibe with an uneven tone but there are a select few scenes where the film veers off into the weird and wacky, specifically during the singing planet and the flerken incident near the end. I feel the film should have just fully dived in and embraced the wackiness rather than ending up with a duller outcome.
With a runtime of 105 minutes, The Marvels is the shortest movie in the MCU. Even with the extra theater screening it frees up, this film will still fail at the box office. Aside from people getting tired of the decline of the quality in the MCU, putting two TV characters in the main spotlight whom the general public still do not know nor care about was a mistake. They should have just made a straight Captain Marvel sequel. With a reported budget of $270 million, The Marvels will likely go down as one of the MCU’s biggest flop in history.
PRELIMINARY RATING: 5/10
The ending shows Kate Bishop in full costume coming home to her apartment after a night of crimefighting. Kamala Khan is there sitting in the dark. She has a S.A.B.E.R. tablet with her showing Kate’s profile. Kamala channels her inner Nick Fury and tries to recruit Kate for a new team, presumably Young Avengers.
The mid-credits scene shows Monica waking up to another universe where she is greeted by Binary (Lashana Lynch) and Beast (voiced by Kelsey Grammar). The X-Men animated series theme music plays in the background (or maybe it was the X-Men live-action theme). We also see the iconic metallic X doorway.
Eh. Not feeling it. These cheap multiverse fan service does not excite me. Give me a good X-Men movie first, then I will get excited with its future. Same goes for a potential Young Avengers movie. Provide a good movie or TV show about the Young Avengers first before I start caring.
(Please leave a Like if you appreciate my reviews.)
