It is boring to follow the exact same lines of criticism that everyone else is hurling at this film, but I am boring, and mostly exhausted by the Marvel storyline. Leading up to the release of this film, it felt like it could have been a step in the right direction, one that leads us into a brighter future of character driven superhero films that trickle their plots into an overarching narrative building to a cinematic conclusion like Endgame. But no, because the main focus of Marvel right now is to tell that all important big story, and use its films and TV series as vehicles to push the main plot.
The Marvels is directed by Nia DaCosta, who I think is a really promising and creative director, especially with her take on Candyman, and an exciting debut of Little Woods. She seems to have a really interesting perspective on storytelling, being able to use concepts to comment on issues or ideas without being too hamfisted in her metaphors. Seeing that she was going to be the director gave me some hope, along with the interviews she gave ahead of the release. I am also a huge Iman Vellani fan, which I think many people are saying now, having seen her in this.
Unfortunately though, these elements didn’t come together to make me excited about the MCU again, in its fleeting moments, it's really fun and has some funny moments in there too. It completely fails at looking beyond the surface of the story, and at times I don’t even feel like it skims it, floating above like an obligation.
They are too concerned with the broader storyline, and sacrificed what seemed like a pretty unique team up concept that could have explored some really complicated and interesting relationships. Coming into this film, Ms Marvel (Iman Vellani) was an outsider of the super team group collective squad. She fought her own Jersey City battles, with a bangle and some style. In this film, she is forced into the fold with a wormhole, bangle light powers coincidence.
The mega threat in this film is Dar-Benn, a vengeful Kree vowing to take Kree-venge on Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) for shutting down the supercomputer at the conclusion of Captain Marvel (2019). This has inexplicably caused the sun to die and the Kree-sources to slowly drain and kill off the Kree-ople who live there.
This cosmic event has brought Captain Marvel, Ms Marvel and Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Paris) together as they switch places every time they use their powers at the same time. This makes for some pretty dynamic fight scenes, with the heroes learning to utilise this setback and harness the element of surprise and confusion to stop whatever disposable evil forces are put in front of them.
The rest of the story is spent figuring out how to undo the switches, while tackling Dar-Benn and her masterful plan to suck the resources out of other planets, to replenish her own.
On paper, hey that doesn’t sound too bad, but as you may have noticed, I mentioned nothing about the characters in the story, their interactions or how they need to learn to overcome differences and work as a team. No, that trope gets thrown out the window to opt for meaningless conflict that is not at all explored, skipped over and moved on from for the sake of the runtime. It feels a lot like there was a much deeper story in here, with a heftier runtime and more character development. I think a lot of recent criticism of the MCU is the unneeded length of these sci fi epics, so there was possibly a course correction in this department, but I don’t think it was warranted, when we could have spent an extra forty minutes exploring who these people are and how they interact.
There is a lifetime of history between Captain Marvel and Monica, with Monica feeling abandoned by Carol. There are fleeting and brief mentions of a hurt Monica, and a Carol that is learning to cope with her own actions while navigating a new relationship with Monica, mending the one she let go of years before.
With Kamala and Carol, there is a classic “never meet your heroes” storyline that felt like it was coming up, seeing Carol and how she acts, affects Kamala, for about five minutes. It's really disappointing that these stories slipped away from us, because they could have made for a breath of fresh air in the recent entries to the MCU, and also would have only helped to build connection to these characters that they want for their precious ten year mega plan.
I have no complaints about the performances in this film, I feel like they have been so butchered in the editing room, that it is hard to even comment on the connections they share. Even with the harsh removal of character moments, Iman Vellani really does come out on top. She has so much charisma and energy in her portrayal, with a new type of character joining the main league of heroes. I did find Brie Larson a little bit subdued in her first Captain Marvel film, but she feels a bit freer in this one, letting go a little bit of that hard exterior she was asked to play the first time around. Teyonah Paris is very likeable, bringing an ease to Monica and her reactions to the situations around her. She is self assured both in performance and actions in the film, as Monica.
I mentioned the editing, which usually flies over my head, it takes a lot for me to notice editing unless it is particularly flashy or seamless. This cut, however, is notably disjointed, leaving no room to breathe at all. It is snappy and fun at points, with most of the action scenes being shot and cut really well, without the usual confusion of who’s hitting who (an especially difficult task when considering the switching character positions). When out of the action scenes, it does become very unconcerned with putting that detail into the development of the story, in particular to the villain, who gets one flashback scene, lasting about thirty seconds.
Dar-Ben is a terrible name, but one I should remember. I have had to look back at my earlier paragraphs to check I am getting her name right though, she is so forgettable and bland in this film that she barely feels like a threat. There is no stakes to her as a character, seeming more like an annoyance to the story rather than an integral part to it. I do think with more attention to her, she could have brought some intrigue and sympathy to her cause, as she is fighting against someone who her and her people believe is a genocidal maniac. Captain Marvel came in, shut their shit down, and bounced with no explanation, but we get no ambiguity or time to understand why she might be doing what she does.
I feel like a ranting old man now so I’m going to slow down and justify my rating, considering what I have said. I think that the film does the flashy action really well, shows Ms Marvel as someone who could stick around and spice up this personally declining franchise, and there is an entertaining cat montage in the third act with an apt song choice. The CGI is mostly good, with some of the simpler sections looking cheaper than they should, but not at an Ant-Man level of distracting.
Nia DeCosta is still someone I would consider to be a great director with good ideas and a clear vision for how to tell a character driven story. You can see the bones of them in this cut, but feel the Marvel intervention more, disposing of any nuance so we rush to the end credits sequence quicker, getting excited for the next brain dead content farm storytelling we’re being fed. I think films that perform like this one has done so far (critically and financially) should and hopefully will serve as an indication that things are not right, and need to be assessed before the once dominant franchise burns out like a dying Kree sun. .
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