The Marvels

So, guys, we've arrived at the last M.C.U movie of 2023, but one of its least anticipated, The Marvels. This was a film that was gonna be crossing over aspects of the movies and the Disney+ shows that I haven't reviewed yet, but I have watched. So, I'm not gonna lie, I went into this not expecting much. I was honestly expecting this to be one of the most forgotten and unmemorable M.C.U films, especially since the marketing made it look like it was just one of those films that maybe should have just been another show. Not to mention the fact that Captain Marvel is one of the lesser M.C.U movies so a lot of that was indicating to this being another M.C.U property being panned. But, then I heard that audiences were actually liking it fine. No, it wasn't anything amazing, but some were saying it was a very simple and fun time. And, having seen it myself, I can say I think the exact same way. This is a very simple, small scaled movie that actually does have a lot going on, but still feels very small compared to other M.C.U projects, despite what actually happens in the film. I honestly enjoyed it, no, I didn't think it was great or anything and it has some dumb and kinda cringy stuff in it, but I did actually like this more than Captain Marvel and thought it was more likeable. Something that I think helped with that is that I have watched the Disney+ Marvel shows and, even though I haven't reviewed them yet, seeing them definitely helped because this film obviously relies on them a lot. I feel like this film was just one of those small M.C.U movies that was short and fun enough to pass the time. But, yeah, something like that did leave a lot of problems too like some dumb stuff too like I mentioned. But, we'll get into that later, for now, let's talk about the plot, and, like always, this will have no spoilers for the first part and then I'll talk about all the spoilers after a warning. So, what's the story? In space, Carol discovers a new power, but when she gets too close to it, she discovers that her, Monica and Kamala Khan, played by Iman Vellani, switch places when they use their powers and now they need to team up after a new villain decides to go after them. That's really the best I can do without spoilers, but there's actually not that much to spoil in this anyway. So, this is sort of a weird situation of a film where, based on the plot and what we've seen from the trailers, and I guess also just with how the M.C.U has been going lately, it kinda felt like this was gonna be a smaller film despite having big aspects to it. And that is the vibe I got from watching this. I feel like that could also be because the film incorporates aspects of the Disney+ shows that are usually smaller scaled. So, like always, I'll go over the negatives and then positives that I saw personally. So, as far as what I didn't like, and this is something I noticed in all the M.C.U movies this year, but the opening felt pretty rushed and felt like it was trying to get into the main plot really, really quickly. Though, I think I noticed it more here because the pacing in the opening really just gets you into it immediately because we're introduced to our main villain from the first scene and then we see them get straight into the action pretty fast with seeing where Carol, Monica and Kamala are. The effects also didn't all look amazing here. A lot were, but there were some moments where it looked kinda weird, especially one scene in particular where we see a spaceship come into view and it looked really off. The villain is also super forgettable in this. Not memorable or interesting and has a lot of fairly generic villain stuff going on. Plus, with the whole jumping around to different perspectives a lot, it also makes some editing moments feel out of place and kinda messy. Plus, in general, it does feel like a mess with how the story is being told. Just different aspects about it can feel kinda outta place and underdeveloped and not explored all that well and it doesn't always flow as a proper narative. A big part of that is also the fact that this is now the shortest M.C.U movie ever, and while that does sorta help make the film not overstay its welcome, it can also lead to that lack of proper flow or development like I mentioned. And, again, there are some moments that were maybe supposed to be kinda stupid, but there was one in particular that really didn't work for me and that led to that whole section of the film being kinda pointless, despite how it does have a point later on. So, yeah, a lot of that, I imagine, would be stuff that would throw a lot of people off  from the film, not to mention the fact that the film is already pretty much underperforming financially. But, with all that said, I definitely saw some enjoyable aspects in this and, enough for me to say that I was happy enough leaving the theatre. For starters, most of the performances are really good, some weren't and some were really forgettable, but most of them were. There's also some cool ideas in this and I like how it answered some questions left open from some of the previous properties like Ms. Marvel and we got to see. Speaking of, the Ms. Marvel show was one of the most uniquely edited things in the M.C.U and this continued that. Sure, like I said, some of the editing didn't work out very well, but they use some really unique things for them and I enjoyed seeing that make a return in this film. I also just enjoyed the overall sense of adventure in this film. I liked following Carol, Monica and Kamala through this. I will admit, usually I love having characters interact and crossover for the first time in the M.C.U, but here, I will admit, while it was cool at times to see it happen, some of it also did feel kinda forced and not natural. But, overall, the three of them did have a fun dynamic and I enjoyed them together. I also enjoyed other interactions too like all of them and Nick along with Kamala's family and there is a fair amount of fun moments to be had in my opinion, one scene in particular where everyone is having to get off a spaceship. That scene was pretty cool and had some creative ideas. And, honestly, in general, despite having a lot of bad elements and dumb moments, I just felt like this film had a very likeable feel to it that made me really enjoy it. Whether or not I can say that makes the film good is kinda hard to say, but I do believe that I really enjoyed the film nonetheless and am really happy I saw it. Plus, there are some specific things about it that make me really excited and that I'm really looking forward to talking about in the spoiler section, so I'll just wrap this part of the review up. Overall, I'm not entirely sure if I can say this is a good film in general, despite the fact that I did really like it and enjoy it and would really want to see it again. So, I would say take what I've said and decide if this is something you'd be interested in. I personally would really like to see it again and would recommend if you're the least bit curious. And so, everyone, those are my thoughts on The Marvels.Thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think. Okay, now we're gonna go into the spoilers, if you don't want anything spoiled, go see the film then come back and read the rest of this.

Spoilers:

So, there's really not a lot of stuff to talk about in terms of spoilers since, again, the film was pretty short and it didn't lead the way to many surprises, but there's still a lot to dissect anyway. For one, the film really does just sorta get into the story pretty quick because the first scene is literally just showing the villain getting the second bangle and immediately cutting to Carol, Monica and Kamala as Carol and Monica come in contact with that Jump Point that causes all of them to have their powers connected and then we start getting a lot of different information like how the villain has been trying to make some promise with the Skrulls and so we see Carol, Monica and Kamala try to help that planet full of Skrulls and not being able to protect everyone. That part was pretty cool though something I found kinda weird was afterwards when we see that Nick brought Kamala's family with him to that S.H.I.E.L.D carrier in space. I know it was probably because since Kamala was involved, he wanted her family to be safe, but it was still odd and I don't think it made a lotta sense. Anyway, after that is when we see that the villain is doing all this to try to restore life to the Kree planet and so she's trying to take different things from other planets to restore it. This is kinda what I meant because, even though we clearly see what the villain is doing and why, it still doesn't really show the villain herself having much of a character to her. Killmonger I think is a perfect example of having an understandable motivation and we see what he's doing and why, but he still has his own character and so we see him act like a character no matter what he does and that aspect just wasn't apparent with this character. This then leads to Carol, Monica and Kamala properly working together and putting together that the villain is trying to get Kamala's bangle. The film then does try to have some nice moments like when Carol and Monica try to sort out why Carol never came back and we see it's because Carol destroyed the Supreme Intelligence on the Kree planet and that's why the planet's dying and why the villain is trying to restore it back to normal. I'm not entirely sure if I can say they all succeeded in being great character moments, but I appreciate they tried to have moments like that. Especially since we have had that whole thing set up since Captain Marvel. Though, probably the worst moment in the film is when they had to go to that singing planet and had to sing to communicate with the people there. I know the M.C.U has had weird moments like that for comedy before, but this just didn't work, especially since they're able to speak normally to the only person they need to talk to anyway and so that made that whole thing feel even more cringy. I guess it didn't necessarily last very long, so that was good, but still. That then led to the fight on that planet and that was pretty cool with Carol, Monica and Kamala having to switch positions over and over and so that was cool and the whole spaceship fight reminded me a lot of a Star Wars fight, so that was cool. And then, the thing I mentioned before that I thought was really cool was when they went back to Fury and the others and realised the ship was about to explode and they didn't have enough escape pods for everyone but then realised that Goose had baby things and so they used them to eat everyone and have them be in the escape pods to take up less room. That actually was pretty funny and did seem kinda creative. Then as the final fight came along, this is actually where I feel like the film was missing any real stakes. It's a little hard to explain, but when I kept talking about how the film was really small scaled and didn't feel like there was that much to it because of that, it made the finale feel kinda hollow because we have a huge deal going on since the villain was trying to steal the sun and take it away, but, because of how it was being done and because of how the rest of the movie was feeling up until that point, it didn't feel like that big of a deal despite the fact that it technically is a huge deal given the circumstances. I also found it kinda clichéd when the villain was acting like she was willing to cooperate only to try to kill them again and that led to her death, even if it did look cool. And so, that then led to a big thing where Monica is having to absorb so much energy from Carol and Kamala and be into the Jump Point to close it and so that causes her to disappear, then we get a nice ending with Carol and Kamala bonding more. That was a nice ending, I guess, but the main thing I want to talk about is the real ending because we get some scenes that made me really happy and really, really excited. The first is when we see Kamala go and visit Kate Bishop from the Hawkeye show, played by Hailee Steinfeld, which I also saw, and we see her recruit her the same way Nick recruited Tony in the first Iron Man film and so that was really exciting and I heard that this was leading the way to a Young Avengers project with them and also Cassie from Ant-Man, so that was really cool, but then we get a mid credit scene where we see Monica in some other dimension and we actually get to see that she's in the X-Men mansion with Beast. That was so incredible to see. We finally get to see the X-Men in the M.C.U and it was actually Kelsey Grammer back to play Beast again and so that was really exciting. Especially since Deadpool 3 is technically the next M.C.U movie to come out and so that paves the way for a lot of incredible opportunities and I can't wait to see more and I'm really excited for Deadpool 3 next year. Overall, this ending made me really excited for the upcoming projects. So, overall guys, I just found this to be a really likeable and harmless film. Sure, that does lead to a lot of problems like not feeling anything special from it and not feeling like it's a properly structured story, but, for what it is, I really liked it and I really do think this could be one of my most underrated M.C.U projects. I was just happy and fairly satisfied after leaving the theatre for this and I honestly am happy with what we got because I was honestly expecting nothing out of this film at all and was glad I found a fair amount of enjoyment in it and I personally would be happy to see it again. So, whether or not I can say that would intrigue people enough to want to check it out is hard to say, but, I personally would say that I think you should try to give the film a chance. And so, yeah, everyone, that's my review of The Marvels. Thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think.