Last year, in anticipation of the release of the 28th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the talking head in Regal Cinemas’ pre-trailer ad block Noovie asked an infuriating question: “What are you doing to prepare?” A question like that is capable of gnawing at anyone who has become cynical about the house of cards built by the House of Mouse’s ever-expanding catalog of superhero-based movies and shows. Where once it was admirable that the MCU was able to create such an intricate universe of films that you wanted to keep up with, the post-Endgame MCU feels like a lumbering beast with no sense of purpose or direction. Perhaps it was always like that, but it was less noticeable when every film felt like it was leading to something bigger, or even just worthy of all the build-up.
You can be forgiven for not feeling excited about Candyman (2021) director Nia DaCosta’s The Marvels. It falls into the same trap described above, serving as a triple-sequel to the stories of Captain Marvel’s Carol Danvers (Brie Larson), Ms. Marvel Kamalah Khan (Iman Vellani, a treasure) and WandaVision’s Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris). Luckily for viewers who felt compelled to do their homework before going into the femme-led team-up of The Marvels, those two series were pretty solid, as was Captain Marvel. If you enjoyed those properties, you’re probably going to enjoy The Marvels, too.
As with many MCU movies, the Big Bad is mostly just plot fuel that gets us to the end of the movie, a fact which is played up by the fact that the film’s marketing really doesn’t draw as much attention to the adversary the trio face. Kree warrior Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton) is our Villain of the Week, whose destructive goals serve to unfuck the damage done to her planet by the Kree-Skrull civil war using the power of a counterpart to Khan’s magical bangle. Shortly after she finds it, a freak accident causes the light-based powers of Ms. Marvel, Captain Marvel, and Rambeau to become entangled, which makes them swap places in space when they use their powers simultaneously.
On paper, this situation is a very silly concept, but it makes for some shockingly interesting fight scenes. The first one, set partially in the Khan family living room, is a frenetic thrill-ride in which the three shocked and confused superbeings rapidly swap places and struggle to finish a fight before they comprehend what’s happening to them. The scenes that spotlight the predicament the Marvels face are wonderfully kinetic, and not just in fight choreography; a mid-film training montage where they dial in their powers together is one of the best sequences of the film, both because it’s a well-made scene, but because Larson, Vellani and Parris have phenomenal chemistry together.
That chemistry is what makes The Marvels feel like a sign that maybe, just maybe, there’s still some gas in the tank for the MCU. DaCosta directs the fuck out of these three women, and honestly, it would be worth it to have an entire series of just them horsin’ around. The scenes with these three women are a treat, though it feels inarguable that Vellani is the star of the show. She spends this movie as the embodiment of the unflappable joy of a person who has been tasked with working alongside the giants she’s spent an adolescence worshiping, which is a truth both for Carol Danvers-obsessed Khan and the noted Marvel ultra-nerd Vellani. For a series that relies heavily on slick, quippy dialog, Khan’s nervous heroic-teen energy is a welcome change of pace, as she balances growing confidence with a sense of wonder that she’s been entrusted to tackle the “fate of the world” stuff she and her new friends must face.
On the flipside, the film’s greatest letdown is Rambeau. As the daughter of Danvers’ best friend Maria (played by Lashana Lynch), Rambeau’s place here seems to be a speakerbox for exposition and to make Danvers feel bad about being gone so long (and to remind us that there will be more of these films, perhaps where she can have her own story). Her powers (which allow her to see and manipulate all forms of light and energy across the electromagnetic spectrum) are also the least developed, to the point where she feels like a last-minute inclusion to flesh The Marvels out to a power trio. Parris does an excellent job with what she has, but it’s hard not to wish they’d spent a little less time on the film’s “cat sequence” (you’ll know it when you see it), and more on making us love Rambeau as much as they want us to.
There are other issues, but they’re the ones that have plagued the Marvelverse for many films in many years — an overreliance on bad CGI, stiff dialogue, quippiness of the “that happened!” variety, a failed understanding of which aspects do deserve more screen time (looking at you, water-musical planet!) — but the biggest surprise of The Marvels is that it’s nowhere near as bad as you may have expected, nor is it half as bad as angry, anti-Larsonite men on the internet will inevitably convince themselves it is. If you feel like you’ve gotten everything you can out of the MCU, it’s not likely that The Marvels will change your mind. Even at a tight 105 minutes (the shortest MCU film to date), some moments could be cut and trimmed to make it even tighter, and its villain is deeply forgettable and seems to only exist to give us Ms. Marvel’s second bangle. Yet, for those who still harbor some hope that the bloated ultra-franchise can still produce some fun, lighthearted action-drama, The Marvels is a faint glimmer of hope streaking across a light-polluted sky.
Photo courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures
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