'The Marvels' Is A Convoluted Mess
The Marvels highlights how the MCU has run out of gas after Avengers: Endgame. The villain's motivations aren't made clear, and knowing who our heroes are requires an extensive amount of viewing of the Marvel television series. To give a summation of the plot, the film's antagonist is tearing holes in the universe. Why? It was honestly hard to follow. The Marvels does a terrible job introducing its premise. The movie slams on the gas with no way of slowing down. If you want a picture filled to the brim with endless action, then you'll be entertained. If you're looking for a movie that has substance to it like the Black Panther series has, or even any of the Avengers films, you'll be disappointed.
As a sequel to Captain Marvel, The Marvels is even worse than its predecessor. It's an incohesive clutter of chaos that requires audiences to do their homework. If you haven't seen Disney Plus' Ms. Marvel or Secret Invasion, then you'll be completely lost. Furthermore, unless you've read the comics (which most people haven't), you'll be even less informed. The need for extended viewing and research is an ever-growing narrative issue with the MCU.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is like collecting a large assortment of comics. Each film introduces a new character, similar to how you'd see them in a certain issue of a comic book. Before Marvel produced their TV series, every character would be introduced in each film individually. It was an effective way of bringing each new character to the MCU by establishing their character in a standalone film. With a collection of over twenty films, it proves to be a great difficulty knowing which character is which if not caught up. It wasn't easy to track everyone then, and it's more difficult now. If you haven't watched the entirety of a certain show, you won't know how each character works in the film or how they know each other. The Marvels is a difficult film to invest in as it jumps from one plot point to the next like a jackrabbit.
The movie opens with our antagonists seeking a magical bracelet. The bad guys open up a rip in time and space, creating time jumps to obtain the McGuffin of the film. In their quest to achieve power, the bracelet brings our heroes together. The Marvels consists of three heroes. There's Captain Marvel (AKA Carol Danvers), reprised by Brie Larson. Next, there's Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris), who knew Captain Marvel throughout her childhood. Lastly, there's Ms. Marvel, whose real name is Kamala Khan, played by Iman Vellani. Kamala is a die-hard Captain Marvel fan who obtains the mysterious bracelet from her equally mysterious grandmother in the TV series Ms. Marvel.
The three contain the magical bracelet that causes them to transport to each other's position whenever they use it. Unknowing how to wield their powers, Monica and Kamala join forces with Captain Marvel to attempt to save the universe. If only the villain's threat made some sense, I could understand why they're fighting the villain of the week.
The film feels extremely rushed. Its runtime of an hour and forty-five minutes is a clear indicator of that. One would think a shorter Marvel film would be a warm welcome. Most MCU films exceed two hours, and often feel bloated. But this one has the complete opposite problem where its short length, compiled with nonstop action, moves too fast for the audience to catch their breath. There are simply too many cooks in the writer's kitchen to compile a film that makes sense for a casual viewer.
The film's disjointed nature is a disappointment as this is a heavily female-led project in front of and behind the camera. The film is written by three women: Elissa Karasik, Megan McDonnell, and Nia DaCosta (who's also the director of the film). The talent in front of the camera is mostly impressive but can't carry the film. Teyonah Parris is just sort of present in the movie but doesn't do much to lift it above the ground.
Brie Larson has a little more personality than she did in Captain Marvel. She has a likable persona that isn't as stoic as it was in the previous film. The real standout persona of the film is Iman Vellani. Vellani plays a young teenager who's learned how to use her powers and provides a youthful sense of comic relief to the film. She's much like a young Peter Parker who's grasping how to become a hero while quipping funny one-liners in the process. Villani introduces an amount of excitement and anxiety in her performance, that's absolutely charming.
Despite the film's messiness, it does deliver on the laughs. There's a great gag where one of the planets our heroes visit consists of people who communicate by singing. There's also the returning bit from Captain Marvel featuring cats that can swallow people with large tentacles that come out of their mouths. In one scene, while trying to evacuate a ship full of civilians, the cats swallowing abilities are used to fit as many people as they can in the small evacuation pods. The cats spit the people right back up, so they're fine.
Unfortunately, the gags aren't enough to keep a lackluster film interesting. The Marvels is a missed opportunity to warm audiences up to Carol Danvers. The first film was met with a level of criticism that wasn't particularly fair to Brie Larson, as she was seen as too dry in the film. However, that was the whole point of her character. Carol Danvers wasn't supposed to show much emotion, as her people would forbid it if she wanted to become a warrior. Now free from their chains, Danvers is allowed to have more of a personality, but she still doesn't show much of it to elevate the material. With so much action, Brie Larson isn't given enough room to be charismatic. Nor does the film have much of an identity to go off of.
When reaching its conclusion, it's clear Disney's Mouse House is interested in setting up more films rather than focussing on the picture that's currently playing. I found more interest in the movie's mid-credit sequence than the entirety of the film. That's a telling sign, as Marvel is too occupied with world-building than actual storytelling. Character development is almost nowhere to be seen as the film wants to rapidly jump to the next action sequence. The Marvels is a convoluted mess of constant combat mixed with spotty CGI that makes for another run-of-the-mill post-Thanos Marvel picture that does little to enhance its already crowded cinematic universe.
