REVIEW #325 The Marvels (2023)

Captain Marvel finds herself apart in a new team when their light bearing powers link them together. But the unpredictability of this link is the least of their worries, as the tyrannical Kree threaten the universe.

I think it’s fair to say that The Marvels won’t be contending for the fans favourite award and it’s likely to be towards the bottom of most people’s MCU rankings. That being said, despite its obvious flaws, I actually had fun watching it and it’s clear that Nia DaCosta intended for it to be goofy and silly, a point that is evidenced from the planet of people who can only communicate in the form of song… Some of those silly punchlines landed, garnering quite a few laughs from the audience in my cinema and others fell flat, coming across as cheesy and cringe. I guess that’s the risk you take when you opt for that approach and with the current atmosphere amongst MCU fans right now, it’s a risk I personally wouldn’t have taken. The Marvels is guilty of hollow writing, producing potentially the weakest antagonist I have seen from a marvel film. Dar-Ben’s motivations were clear but the build up to flesh out that backstory was skipped completely, leaving us to settle for a couple of quick flashback scenes to buy us in to this rivalry. This ultimately left the entire film feeling hollow, thrown together for the sake of producing a team up with the three main characters.

Now on to the positives, the leading trio do actually work together quite well and they provide and interesting dynamic with Kamala fawning over Captain Marvel and Captain Marvel desperate to build bridges with Monica. The combat sequences which involved the characters swapping places when their powers were used simultaneously, actually created a really fun aesthetic for the fight scenes and made those sequences feel a little more unique compared to the usual choreography we see. The CGI did seem to improve slightly compared to some of the previous instalments, nothing of note that stands out of being below par. I guess a film shouldn’t be complimented for doing the bare minimum but I’m hoping it’s a sign Marvel are taking note and improving this area. To conclude, I don’t think it’s as bad as some people have been making out, I expected what I got to be honest. The director said they would be embracing the goofiness and they did, it’s certainly not a great film and the writing is pretty damn awful but fortunately enough it’s a film I could enjoy despite its flaws.

Overall (6/10)

Thanks for reading.

Callan