The Marvels

            So, as Fall continues to roll along, I finally get to officially review a Marvel Studios film. I’ve been watching them from the beginning and unofficially reviewing them for my friends and co-workers for years. So, sit back and I will take you higher, further, and faster for my review of “The Marvels”. You also don’t have to be a superhero to know that there will be spoilers in this, so if you haven’t watched it yet, please use your powers of sight and look the other way. Feel free to check out some other reviews here though as you’re here. Click here to see what’s available.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a vast and sprawling empire of movies and Disney+ shows. Thankfully, you don’t have to watch them all to enjoy this one, they do a great job of telling a story that you can enjoy either way.

            The last time we saw Captain Marvel aka Carol Danvers was in the last episode of Ms. Marvel when she suddenly appeared in Kamala’s bedroom at the end of the episode and a brief mention of her in the other Disney+ show “Secret Invasion”. Before that, most of her story had been told through her first standalone prequel film and of course her actions in Avengers Endgame. We don’t know a lot about what happened in the time between then and now.

            “The Marvels” brings us up to date on everything she’s been up to including getting married (more on that later) and destroying an AI entity that she thinks will help the Kree, but ultimately ends up creating more havoc for them. You can tell throughout the film that even though she is the hero, Carol is still human and is struggling with some of the decisions she has made in her past.

            I wasn’t sure how the three main stars would do with sharing the spotlight, but Brie Larson (as Carol), Teyonah Parris (as Monica Rambeu), and Iman Vellani (as Kamala Khan) do a great job of sharing both the spotlight and the laughs. Their characters play off each other just as well as their characters share their powers. This shows throughout, but it really shines during the training montage. It is full of laughs and some decent fight scenes throughout. The supporting cast of a Marvel film are almost always great, this is no exception with Samuel L. Jackson coming back once again as Nick Fury along with Mohan Kapur, Zenobia Shroff, and Saagar Shaikh as Kamala’s family.

            I was engaged from the very beginning, right up until the part when we found out Carol got married to a Prince on a planet that is mostly made of water. This is where the story started to derail a bit. Up till this point, I was sold on the progress of the story and the characters. The parts of the movie that took place here didn’t ruin the whole story but definitely slowed the momentum quite a bit. The native people of that planet could only communicate through song. So as long as the main characters talked normally without singing, the natives couldn’t understand them.

            Thankfully, the story rights itself and is able to bounce back and have a strong finish. Of course, a big part of that bounce back was Goose and his seemingly new batch of kittens. The scene of the kittens eating the workers on the ship so they could put them all on the escape hatch was pretty funny all around. Plus getting to see all three of “The Marvels” using and swapping places with their abilities was pretty neat. …and of course, who could forget that amazing mid-credit scene with the biggest nod to The X-Men yet… Kelsey Grammer’s reprising his role as Beast made me happy inside as to what could be coming down the pipeline in the future.

            Before I get to my rating, I think I would be doing all of us a disservice if I didn’t say it helps to do your homework before you watch a new Marvel movie. I was caught up on everything so I didn’t have any trouble following along, but if you are someone who hasn’t watched any of the Disney+ shows, not only have you missed out on Ms. Marvel, but you might have been a little lost at points in this movie as well.

            Overall, this was a solid outing in the MCU, but nowhere near the top. It does a great job of moving forward the story and character arc of Carol Danvers and Co. but falls flat in other areas. This is still worth a visit to the theaters and a must-see if you are a Marvel fan. But with everything listed above, I give this a 6 out of 10!!!

            Have you watched “The Marvels” yet? What did you think of it?