“The Marvels” (2023) is the thirty-third film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), the first sequel to “Captain Marvel” (2019). Carol Danvers, i.e., Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), and Goose (11-year-old Tango and 4-year-old Nemo replaced Reggie with change in filming location) are living in outer space when they notice a wormhole open. Meanwhile her niece, S.A.B.E.R. astronaut Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris), encounters a similar tear in the fabric of time and space, and Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) notices her bangle lighting up. Unbeknownst to them, Kree leader Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton, aka Tom Hiddleston’s significant other) is causing the chaos by trying to save her planet from environmental damage. The wormholes siphon former subject planets’ resources, which has an unintentional side effect: the entanglement of the trio’s powers. With the help of Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), the trio figure out how they can resume using their powers without literally trading places.
If some of these characters do not sound familiar, it may be a good idea to do some homework and watch a couple of Disney+ miniseries. “WandaVision” (2021) introduced the adult Monica and explains how she got her powers. “Ms. Marvel” (2022) did the same for Kamala, who is Captain Marvel’s number one fan. While “Hawkeye” is relevant, it is not required viewing. So how was the team up? Cute. While Carol, who is still grappling with her relationship with the Kree, takes the lead, Kamala ends up stealing the show thanks to Vallani’s fresh and engaging presence, and the Khan family comes along for the ride, which is heartwarming and sweet.
The Khan family has grown as individuals and a group since their last onscreen adventures but are still normal people and wonderful audience proxies. Kamala has some moves and quips. Muneeba Khan (Zenobia Shroff) is an unlikely scene stealer as the fierce mama bear who keeps her daughter accountable, encourages Kamala’s sense of adventure and worries about her daughter being put in mortal danger. There was a time that MCU movies would strike a deeper, more resonant chord, and there was a twinkle of that when Kamala says, “These bangles travelled through space and time to find me. I was born for this. Bismallah.” It is a powerful flash of a moment. I’m a little fatigued with getting the tortured superhero who is burdened with responsibility like Carol. It is nice to have a character who is thrilled to be in the fight even when her heart breaks for the ones that she cannot save or fears for her family’s safety.
Monica should be further along than she is. She had her powers longer than Kamala yet she has not explored and mastered them. She does not even have a superhero name. Monica should have gotten her own movie before “The Marvels,” and even though this film is clearly setting the stage for her next installment, she feels underdeveloped. Parris is a terrific actor, and while she showed more range than Larson in this round, I was dissatisfied with her storyline. If a Black woman was not so involved in the process of making this film, I would have questioned more why Monica had to be so serious or self-sacrificing.
The MCU’s inherent flaw is never allowing a group last longer than a movie before splitting them apart. “The Marvels” shows Carol at a dissonant crossroads encountering Kamala, a child who is her biggest fan and movie’s heart, versus Monica, the child that she disappointed. Larson does her best and does show her character’s awkwardness, inner turmoil, and silliness, but this conflict seemed unrealistic considering everything that has happened. The film twists itself into pretzels to make it Carol’s choice not to come back, however it was not her choice. Would Monica really expect her aunt to not try and save people and just hang out on Earth? The story hinges on Carol having a problem with commitment and reluctance to be around people, which never felt credible. The entanglement forces them to be together, and the team up has a sleepover vibe, which tempers this constructed malaise. The film caters more to Kamala’s demographic, young teenagers, than the people who have been following the MCU since “Iron Man” (2008). I am not a fan of the comic book recap style in Kamala’s sequence, but I belong to the latter category. Everything does not have to be for me.
“The Marvels” was a dissonant movie. It felt rushed in the beginning as it initially, poorly explained Dar-Benn’s evil plan. The fight choreography was good, but the direction fell somewhere between Fred Astaire and chaos cinema. It felt as if director Nia DaCosta was going to show the entire movement but then moves the camera to only show a fragment. The CGI was uneven and amateurish at times. A lot of the dialogue felt like prose dumping for viewers who did not know the multiple backstories or technical jargon. There were a couple of cameos that did nothing for me even though I enjoyed the characters and have nothing against them. S.A.B.E.R. feels underdeveloped. I am also a little tired of all the dimensions, timelines and alternate story lines with the same characters that are piling up. I’m too old to care and keep everyone straight.
“The Marvels” has a lot of bonkers, jump the shark moments that I loved and hated at the same time. There is a colorful, musical sequence; the Disneyfication of Captain Marvel, which really infuriated me and made me want to get a twirl to fully see the dress, and a page torn out of sci-fi original TV series “Star Trek,” specifically “The Trouble with Tribbles” episode, which was extraneous and ridiculous with a horror twist. Think an extraneous “A Cabin in the Woods” (2011) sequence just dropped at the eleventh hour. Hint: it includes a plethora of the world’s favorite animal since Ancient Egypt and powers the internet. There is a South Korean gorgeous man as a potential love interest, Prince Yan (Park Seo-joon). These scenes are so bad that they are good. The post-credits scenes will make Marvel fans lose their shit with joy. I do not care how much you think that the MCU has fallen off, you are not going anywhere and will be right back for the next movie after those post-credit scenes. One word: mutants!
Dar-Benn was a sympathetic villain, but perhaps forgettable in the long run. Her planet may be dying, but her hair is going to be laid, do you hear me! She has an assistant, Ty-Rone (Daniel Ings)—the Blackest alien name to date, who lives to just hand her things, do her bidding, be encouraging and make sure that she does not kill herself while trying to save the planet. Maybe it was the bangles, but Ashton was giving the anti-Wonder Woman vibes with the way that she wielded her weapons. Also she does a lot of horrible things, which destroys planets yet “The Marvels” seems very unbothered about the second planet, which had some really great wails like the sirens in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (2022).
It felt as if DaCosta succeeded where Taika Watiti failed to stick the landing with “Thor: Love and Thunder” (2022). I went to the theater with little sleep and a day long headache. If it just kept me awake, it would have been sufficient, but I left without a headache. “The Marvels” is good medicine.
