We’ve all been there. You pour a bowl of cereal into a bowl and open the fridge to grab the gallon of milk. But, oh no, it’s beyond the expiration date by a couple of days. Depending on your tolerance level, you may not want to give up yet. So, you sniff the milk to see how sour it has become. If you’ve found yourself in this situation, eating a slightly sour bowl of cereal, you’ve experienced what it’s like to consume any MCU products after Avengers: Endgame.
Well, The Marvels is that gallon of milk, but it’s a week and a half past its expiration date. It’s starting to curdle.
In this sequel to 2019’s Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers deals with the PTSD of not being considered a universal hero, but rather the opposite. Meanwhile, someone from her past is on the warpath and looking to destroy every planet that is linked to Captain Marvel. Through cosmic events, the powers of Carol, Kamala Khan, and Monica Rameau become entangled and they are immediately transported to each other’s place if they use their powers.
This sitcom-esque circumstance complicates matters as they begin to work together to stop the ‘big bad’ of the week from getting both space bangles and breaking the universe’s star gate.
There is plenty of required reading before going into The Marvels – namely Wandavision, Miss Marvel, Secret Invasion, and Captain Marvel. For those of us who believe a movie should be comprehensive and entertaining in its own right, The Marvels catches us up through flashbacks and exposition fairly quickly.
The movie’s biggest strength may also be its biggest weakness. It’s well under two hours! Because of the tight runtime, the whole movie feels brisk and will be over before you know it. On the other side, there’s so little time for any real explanation of the plot or character growth. It comes down to “The villain is bad and wants to destroy planets. Let’s stop her and tell a few jokes along the way.” If there’s ever an obstacle in the movie, Monica just says “This is how we fix it.” In the one scene where Carol feels remorse for her mistakes in the past, the other characters simply say “Just feel better, okay?” It all comes off feeling so simple and pointless.
The standout in the cast is easily Iman Vellani as Miss Marvel. She is the fangirl that could. Her overenthusiastic demeanor is played up in every scene and could get tiresome, but it’s the charisma that this movie needs. Every other actor sleepwalks through the script, seemingly forgetting the previous scene they were in and any large-scale consequences or global tragedies. The wise spotlight on Vellani will be tailor-made for a preteen female demographic. Though, anyone looking for a movie with consequence or value, won’t find it here.
To break it down simple, this is a superhero movie where the villain is searching for a Macguffin, while also harnessing poorly explained powers, with the heroes literally globe-trotting in pursuit. You’ve seen this movie before at least two dozen times in the MCU alone. It doesn’t help that this movie sports the worst MCU cinematic villain, and that bar was already sea level low.
There is an entire subplot involving Nick Fury. Okay, the term plot is generous. Nick Fury is on a space station where hijinks ensue to pad the already short run time. Disney has really tarnished the character of Nick Fury, as he’s nowhere near the presence he once was. #FreeSamuelLJackson
The Marvels only adds extra days to the fermented milk of the MCU. It will be a decent background watch on streaming, but I can’t recommend it beyond that. Other than Iman Vellani, the actors care as little about this project as the screenwriters did. Though, thankfully this light-hearted experience is only an hour and 45 minutes. This movie’s greatest legacy will only ever be a humorous scene with cats. D
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