Welcome back to the fun and sly humor of the earlier Superhero blockbusters that made Marvel a multi-billion dollar entertainment juggernaut. Director Nia DaCosta (Candyman) becomes the first black woman to direct a Marvel movie which stars 3 women heroes teaming up to defeat a female super-villain.
DaCosta finds multiple ways to create some gasp-worthy laugh-out-loud moments. Instead of the over-used time-travel formula, DaCosta has her characters jumping locations through wormholes while the Marvels team unintentionally at first, keeps swapping places with each other. Quick cuts and perfect timing by the editors makes it work almost seamlessly.
Brie Larson (Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel) Iman Vellani (Kamala Khan/Ms Marvel) and Teyonah Parris (Monica Rambeau/Spectrum) are the unlikely trio who find themselves working as a team to, yet again, save the universe. Captain Marvel is the super-serious, no-nonsense, stoic, yet sometimes clueless leader.
Monica has long history with Carol Danvers. Monica’s Mom was Danvers’ BFF Maria (Lashanda Lynch). Carol is her godmother who never returned following the events to save the Skrull civilization in the original Captain Marvel. Monica still smarts from that hurt and rejection. You should remember Monica who acquired her powers of using as Spectrum in the WandaVision series.
Iman Vellani is the delightful breakout member of this team. As the teenage Jersey City super fan of Captain Marvel, she brings a lot of whacky whimsy to her comedic turns using her newly obtained powers. And she’s got a magical wristlet that brings all the more service to the team. Too bad the CGI effects used for her scenes are some of the weaker visuals. Especially disappointing are the pink-purplish glass-like discs she throws around as shields and steppingstones. In this era of enhanced realistic effects, these things just looked like something you’d see in a Looney Tunes cartoon.
Samuel L. Jackson once again calls the shots as Nick Fury. There’s nothing especially special about his appearance here. He’s simply to throw around some quips and wear his eyepatch. Credit to Nia DaCosta and three co-writers who found the way to integrate this storyline into the MCU without getting so deep into the weeds it would make your head hurt.
The major themes revolve around the leader of the hated Kree people. Dar-Ben, is underplayed by Zawe Ashton who shows seething intensity and not much more. She plots revenge on Carol Danvers. In the original Captain Marvel she ravaged the Kree’s planet for kidnapping her and stealing her memories. Now Dar-Ben will pay her enemies back by stealing the life giving resources from those planets dear to Captain Marvel and save her own dying planet. The Marvels must find a way to thwart her plans.
But, just when it gets the most serious, DiCosta creates two wild and situations to get your undivided attention. The fan favorite sidekick to Captain Marvel is Goose, the erstwhile cat companion who happens to be a Flerken. That’s a creature whose tentacles coming out of his mouth can swallow anything, and you’ll see…ANYTHING. And if one Flerken is good, how about dozens of cute little kitties with the same talent. DiCosta has them devouring everything in sight while one of the most recognizable songs in Broadway showbiz history is being belted out. It’s the most memorable, and soon to become iconic, scene of the movie.
And a side trip to the planet Aldana that comes out of nowhere exemplifies where we think the film loses focus and control. We find Captain Marvel has a whole other life as she enters a well costumed musical world where every word is sung by it’s people who also dance. It was just a silly excursion that gave the costume designers a lot to do, dressing everybody up in colorful outfits, including Captain Marvel.
In recent Marvel films like Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania or Avengers: Endgame, the scripts lost their sense of entertaining while still thrilling the audience. Of course the seeds for next episodes of the MCU are shown here in the final scenes and post clips. Thankfully manageable at the 1 hour 45 minute runtime. With hit or miss visual effects and choppy storyline, The Marvels is not marvelous, but this trip gets the MCU back on track with fast, colorful, explosive action and a power-ful team of superheroes.
Marvel Studios 1 Hour 45 Minutes PG-13
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