The Marvels

The Marvels

Me and the first Captain Marvel have some history together. You see, this has been one of the few movies I’ve seen at least twice in theaters. I believe there was nothing new and exciting the next week after the film’s release, and I got a bit late to the showing the first time, so I wanted to see what I missed. Then I rewatched it with my mom a year later or so. And what’s funny? I’ve seen this film multiple times, yet I think its okay. Not my favorite of the MCU, but it was okay. So coming into this sequel and looking at the mix of negative receptions it has been getting, needless to say, I came with very low expectations.

And yeah, all the criticism it has gotten has been warranted. Especially those like Dan Murrell, who pointed out how it feels like there’s at least five movies that mesh into one. This is a real Frankenstein of a movie. In many ways, it reminded me of that Venom: Let There Be Carnage. Tonally inconsistent. Very rushed, where you feel like some scenes were chopped off. The editing is a mess. Like the most basic thing, a transition scene is very awkward. Like the movie starts with Ashton, they find a thing that will give them power for X thing, and then she says some generic line like “who will stop us now?” and then we do a hard cut to Kamala on this extensive scene from the last few minutes of her show. and then, when Brie appears on her room, we jump to what she was doing. The point is that it all feels very clumsy when put together. Then there’s this flashback scene with these weird 00s transitions, almost like comic panel split screens or the whole memory flashback between the three that felt forced and terrible edited and written.

Then, speaking of the tone and writing of the film, this one definitely leans too heavily into the goofiness. Some of it kind of ultimately worked and made me chuckle. As many have noted, Iman is incredible, and the quirkiness and all really feel much in line with her and Ms. Marvel's entire character, to the point where I wondered if this was her movie, set in her world, and Brie and Monica just happened to be there. Don’t get me wrong, Brie has got to do a lot, but it really feels like everything is happening in the Ms Marvel universe rather than Carol Denver's. If that makes sense, That may explain why all of a sudden Captain Marvel has given a complete 180 in her whole personality from this wet blanket, snarky, miserable to this all-fun, goofy woman. Don’t get me wrong, that’s more than welcome, as I felt the whole stern Captain Marvel from the original was boring as feck and lacked any sort of personality, something she seemed to have here in spades, and it seems like Larson is having fun playing the character. Parris is great, but she often felt sidelined, and the entire apparently first encounter between her and Larson was done very poorly and awkwardly. There’s like an emotional moment between the two towards the end that didn’t feel very earnest. And yeah, the villains’ motives were interesting, if it wasn’t because it was already done in the MCU with better effects and a better villain. Dar-Benn is more memorable than the elves in Dark World, so she has that going for her.

What else? Well, the action is, for the most part, well executed. The whole sequence where they start changing places whenever they use their powers started very rough with some bad editing and writing, but by the end, they picked up and loved the fighting choreography, and they integrated their powers. There’s another one clearly inspired by Demy that was nice too. The cinematography wasn’t that bad, I guess. Oh, and the ending of the film was really nice; I definitely loved who they chose to play. They basically do a little throwback to an early film in the MCU, and I’d be excited for that. And the mid-credit scene was… interesting. I already self-spoiled the big character; btw, the CGI looked AAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWFUL-, but I really love how they are doing things there, and let’s just say, it makes sense they did this here. There are two characters returning; I honestly don’t know the superhero they are playing, so I was left confused.

All in all, it is certainly a film with a plethora of issues, starting with terrible editing that hurts what could have been a nice little fun sequel. I don’t know if I should give this a lower rating, but I liked Brie Larson, and Iman is infectious. Loved the weird little stuff they brought in, even if many of them don’t work. It got me giggling, as did the fact that I had a decent time despite not having the best movie theater experience. It is subject to change and probably will go lower. But yeah, it’s alright. Not sure if I would rush to see it in theaters, though, and it shows they have to fix their s—t over there in Marvel. Apparently the only movie they have for 2024 is Deadpool and like one or two shows, so I guess that’s a good sign they are pulling the breaks.

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The Marvels

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