Years after the destruction of Hala, Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton) plots revenge against Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) and her new team known as The Marvels. With the three heroes, Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani), and Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris), having issues with their powers becoming entangled, their mission to stop the malicious Dar-Benn will prove to be more difficult than expected.
In a film that has been scrutinized for months (even before it was released), The Marvels was set to be the next disappointing entry in the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The naysayers and the boycotters, the ones that led to this film having the lowest box office opening of any MCU film, couldn’t have been more wrong. Captain Marvel (released in 2019) was underwhelming to me. The character was interesting, but the film itself, sandwiched between the likes of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, just didn’t live up to the hype. With that being said, The Marvels rectifies so many issues that came before, not just in its predecessor, but in the recent MCU.
What may have been the most important (and interesting) development in The Marvels is the fact that it dialed back the absurdities and ridiculousness that plagued films like Thor: Love and Thunder. Viewers find themselves thrown into a narrative of epic proportions, but we actually get to understand how grave the circumstances are, and how important the outcome is to the world existing inside this cinematic universe. With comedy sprinkled throughout the course of The Marvels, fans of the franchise get what they love in terms of humor, but cinephiles get a delectable balance that transcends the entirety of the superhero flick. Writer-Director Nia DaCosta and Writers Megan McDonnell and Elissa Karasik develop that balance early, and it holds steady from beginning to end. Again, the comedy that we all love as fans of Marvel is prominently featured, but in the most opportune places, rather than having it thrown around willy nilly like we’ve seen in the recent past.
With semi-recent criticism coming from the likes of renowned Martin Scorcesse about superhero cinema not being real filmmaking, the world has tended to look down on films of the genre since those asinine remarks. Let’s be honest: I don’t know if I’m going into a superhero film hoping for stellar cinematography, choreography, or the like (even though we’ve seen it done many times). However, The Marvels shakes things up and delivers something that is so brilliant in terms of filmmaking that I believe there are few others of the genre that can truly compare. The Marvels is action packed, and there are a ton of moving parts here–but the choreography, particularly that of the fight sequences, are insanely well developed. Larson, Parris, Vellani, Ashton, and more come together to create picturesque fight scenes, and the team behind developing these moments in the film should be commended for all that they were able to accomplish with this group of actors.
Going hand in hand with the choreography is the editing. With the light-based powers of the three superheroes forcing them to switch places–sometimes across the galaxy–in an instant, the editing has to be perfect for these situations to be believable. The editing team of Catrin Hedström and Evan Schiff is stellar, and together they bring to life some of the coolest moments in recent MCU memory. Throughout the course of The Marvels they piece together seemingly dozens of things at once, transporting us to new worlds, pulling us into the story of this superhero trio, and lighting up the screen with something truly spectacular.
With the MCU at this point you have to understand that Producer Kevin Feige and his team will include enough fan service to appease the nerds. FYI, I’m one of those nerds. With a handful of characters popping in now and again throughout, and a mid-credit scene that’s sure to knock your socks off, The Marvels does just enough in this regard without going overboard. As a fan of the ongoing franchise, I was thrilled, but the cameos don’t steal from the titular characters or their stories, and that all-important balance was achieved nicely in The Marvels.
Is The Marvels perfect? No; and I’d be lying if I said there weren’t some creative decisions made that I found completely absurd. With that being said, however, those things are few and far between. I absolutely adore this film. I understand and appreciate it from the standpoint of a fan. It does all the right things in helping to propel the greater MCU forward without overstepping, and it’s a promising installment for those of us that may have been worried about the future of the MCU. Furthermore, from the point of view of a cinephile, one who likes to dissect every piece of a film–The Marvels is a brilliantly made film that hits all the right notes, employs a series of beautiful filmmaking tactics, and deserves to be seen in theaters; and it deserves some recognition from The Academy. I’m excited for the film’s release on Disney+ and blu-ray, as this just might be the next MCU project that I watch over and over again.
Directed by Nia DaCosta.
Written by Nia DaCosta, Megan McDonnell, & Elissa Karasik.
Starring Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris, Iman Vellani, Zawe Ashton, Gary Lewis, Park Seo-joon, Zenobia Shroff, Mohan Kapur, Saagar Shaikh, Samuel L. Jackson, etc.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐½/10
