Failed Marvel Studios products always intrigue me because the reviews online are not too different from comments on the internet. Some reviews are insightful while others are both incoherent and wildly off-topic. The hatred for The Eternals and Secret Invasion makes sense. Other times, it seems unwarranted for series such as She-Hulk and WandaVision. Personally, I’m the odd man out on Moon Knight, but my love for Jeff Lemire and Greg Smallwood’s run sets a high bar for that hero and his trippy adventures. As such, I was confused for the hatred for The Marvels.

The movie centers on Kree extremist Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton) looking for two mystical bangles to revive her dying planet. Things get more complicated when Carol Danvers (Bree Larson), Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani), and Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) all find their light-based powers entangled, which causes them to physically switch places with one another when using them.

The lighthearted movie makes great use of its runtime, delivering a fun romp with Carol, Kamala, and Monica, but the story also tugs on the heartstrings when focused on the family beats whether it’s Kamala’s overbearing family or the distraught, post-Blip Monica.

The visuals at times do look cheap especially when you compare the opening shot of Dar-Benn on the moon to when Carol and Goose go investigate the same location. The lack of stars in the background makes a world of difference. That said, The Marvels really bridges the gap between Marvel Studios productions and the smaller series on Disney+, namely WandaVision and Ms. Marvel.

Kamala’s family – Muneeba Khan (Zenobia Shroff), Yuseuf (Mohan Kapur), Aamir Khan (Saagar Shaikh) were good in the Ms. Marvel series, but they really shine in this movie, and I’m definitely looking forward to whenever they show up next. The odd characterization here is Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to see him with so much energy, but the performance here provides a stark contrast to the way he was portrayed in Secret Invasion, which is meant to take place before the events of this movie.

Ashton’s Dar-Benn is a dull villain, but I don’t think she’s actually a proper “villain” until the end of the movie. She’s a victim lashing out when her world faces annihilation. How she goes about handling the situation is wrong, but the lack of villainy does work for the character.

My biggest complaint of this movie is the undefined power level between Dar-Benn and The Marvels. At times, their foe is taken down with a simple punch or photon blast, while other times she seems to be resistant to them even before her bangle absorbs their powers. That said, it’s nowhere as bad as Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania which spends so much time setting up Kang (Jonathan Majors) as an all-powerful being only to have him struggle to win a fist fight against a non-superpowered Scott Lang (Paul Rudd).

I’m really surprised by the lack of enjoyment people seem to be getting from this movie. Iman’s Kamala is adorable as Captain Marvel’s fangirl, which is seems much more genuine than Tom Holland’s, “Oh, we’re using our made-up names,” cringy introduction to Doctor Strange in Infinity War. Sure, the musical number and Captain Marvel becoming an official Disney princess is excessive, which is sure to become new cosplay favorite, but the movie tells an entertaining, stand-alone story that teases a much larger event on the horizon not dissimilar to the first issue of a comic book event/crossover story – which is really all you can ask for from the non-Avengers stories.

Rating: 3.5/5.

The Marvels is available on Digital now and will be available on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD on February 13.

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The writer of this piece is: Laurence Almalvez
Laurence tweets from @IL1511

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