Name: The Marvels
Director: Nia DaCosta
Cast: Brie Larson,Samuel L. Jackson,Park Seo-joon,Iman Vellani,Mohan Kapur
Rating: 3 / 5
The Marvels Plot
As Kree, a faraway civilization undergoes leadership changes, the new Supremo decides to take revenge against Captain Marvel who they seem to be blaming for their nightfall. Carol Danvers, meanwhile, is working away when she learns of an anomaly in space and tries to solve it on her own, unknowingly building a connection between all the “Marvels”. She transports places with a teenager, who happens to be none other than the amateur superhero, Kamala Khan aka Ms. Marvel, and then with Monica Rambeau, the kid she left behind years ago.
All hell breaks loose as Dar-Benn charges upon multiple spatial locations to take down what’s dear to Captain Marvel and, in the meantime, hunts for the other bangle that would allow her the maximum strength to build her planet a new sun. Only, the bangle is on Earth, firmly placed on the arm of an unaware Kamala Khan. This now ensues a confusing, spot-changing, spatial battle to convince Dar-Benn and save Earth’s sun.
Watch The Marvels trailer
The Goods
The cinematics. Marvel Studios had been known for bringing comics to life and taking them beyond with its magic. While, the recent few years have shouldered the brunt of the reception with arguably bad editing and visual effects, it seems that The Marvels took its time to become worthy of the legacy left behind.
The unexpected comic relief that was once enjoyed by fans of earlier MCU seems to have returned. It's not in-your-face and even slightly questionable like in Deadpool and neither is it flat falling like in the past couple of films. The humor is spread out and light, not needing a lot to engage the viewers, which may after all work in its favor.
The Bads
The highly anticipated Marvel Studios creation, led by Captain Marvel’s story, breaks into havoc quite early on. As multiple teleportations happen all at once, the action scenes are scarce, breaking flow every too often. At times, it even seems that there are too many superheroes with only one not-so-evil villain, diminishing the power of the revenge story.
Park Seo Joon’s role- or lack thereof- may just become a major downfall for fans of the star who probably went in expecting more than one verse of singing and short-handed dialogues that ended without climatic glory for Prince Yan. His cameo came off as more of an incomplete storyline. Towards the end of the movie, there are so many things in so many places breaking into each other that you almost want them to take a breather.
Acting Performances in The Marvels
Brie Larson does not take it upon herself to pull the weight of the film and it shows. She appears almost nonchalant in some scenes which one would not expect from the lead cast. Teyonah Parris, on the other hand, goes in too deep too soon with emotive eyes and flashy moves that don’t make up for her contribution to the creation. Iman Vellani is indifferent to her webseries portrayal and that’s about it from her as she continues to fan over Captain Marvel.
Samuel L. Jackson has to be our pick for the best acting, thanks to his reigning command over the role of Nick Fury, and we best leave talk about Park Seo Joon’s role to a minimum.
Final Review: The Marvels
The Marvels is not for die-hard fans of the comic books. For MCU fans, it may be different to watch the movie with context and they may perceive it as an improvement from the last few attempts of the Studios. For unaware viewers, it’s a weekend runner that comes full circle and leaves not much to the imagination, making for an acceptable watch.
