“Is This an Avengers Test?”
I’ve let myself fall behind on the Marvel movies again. (Let’s not even discuss how far behind I am on the shows.) Part of that is because I stopped enjoying the movies, and what I was hearing about the movies I hadn’t seen wasn’t good. Still, I’m hoping to catch up, at least on the movies. And the first step toward that was The Marvels. It was…interesting.
As the movie opens, the Kree, being led by Dar-Been (Zawe Ashton), are on the move, and Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), is trying to stop them. Her stop at a wormhole that is sending out power surges coincides with Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) investigating. And, back on Earth, Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani) is playing around with her bangle. When an energy surge sends them swapping locations, chaos ensues. But Dar-Been is still on the move. Can the linked trio figure out a way to work together to stop her?
I’d heard lots of bad things about the movie, and for the first act, I was pleasantly surprised. The opening action scene was quite fun. Yes, Kamala and her fan girling was a bit much, but I was willing to look past that since it was appropriate for her character and her age. It did go on a bit too long, but I was happy with how Carol responded to it.
As long as we are talking character stuff, the needed scene between Carol and Monica was way too short. I get it, they only had 90 minutes or so of story time to work with, but it just didn’t seem like they earned the character reunion they pretended happened with the rest of the movie.
It was in the middle of the movie that things went off the rails. The first time for me was the planet we visit half way through the movie. Yes, it’s a fun gag at first. But then, it goes on too long and just gets weird.
Then there’s the bit near the climax that, again, is just too weird. Sorry, but I’m not buying it.
Overall, the movie seems to gloss over some plot details as well. I felt like some crucial scenes were cut. Or a major plot point was covered by one sentence of dialog.
Granted, I was watching this on Disney+, but I felt the special effects held up. Which is good because, in many ways, the plot was just an excuse for special effects and stunts.
The acting was a bit of a mixed bag. Some of the cast were fully committed, others felt like they weren’t that invested.
There was promise in this film, but it just got too silly by the end. Unless you need to keep up with the MCU, there’s no reason to watch The Marvels.
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