The Marvels 2023

It's a fun movie. You just really have to work hard to get past Zawe Ashton being so much more attractive than everyone else in the cast. Like she's distractingly attractive. Which isn't the say anything about the rest of the cast. Iman is adorable as her character continues the arc from her show of being a fan-girl meeting her fav. One thing that stands out to me is I think Teyonah and/or her stunt double are the worst at stage fighting. She's fine for everything else but watching her fight she felt different. I didn't care though because the choreography felt purposeful in a way that most choreo hasn't lately. Movies forget this that the fights don't have to look good if the fight tells it's own story and The Marvels makes good use of it's fight scenes. It's not perfect but it feels less obligatory. I kinda would have liked to see Captain Marvel let her hair down in a way that showed she can be the most powerful solo character we've seen and still like just be sometimes. I was anticipating a Gomez style infatuated alien husband/boyfriend. But what we got was fine.

A lot of the story just flowed like they had time to work out what it was supposed to be and that made the whole thing just go down easy. Nobody felt out of character or excessive. There weren't too many wild cameros and wink-nods. I'm pretty sure we got close to Monica's codename a few times but I'm not comic-nerd enough to be certain. The Flerkins though were over done I though. Even with the context. The idea of this creature being a cat that can randomly grow tentacles and consume was interesting. It didn't look bad or anything but I do think they were a little too happy to give us Flerkin action. Heck they invented a whole subplot just to have it happen.

I am curious about the leftover plot.

There are two planets being siphoned. One of atmosphere, one of water. Neither were "saved" but the process definitely appears to take time to complete. The first planet was still being sucked when they left the second. So in the end did they use the bracelets to close the hole? Was it too late? did the planet that was 96% water now have to survive with 80% and explore all the new land? Were the Skrulls that got left behind.. did they life? Since they didn't fully suffocate? I just don't think this drama is important enough to show up in another movie but I'm curious in a way I'm not normally curious about MCU cliffhangers. it feels significantly big for an unanswered question. I don't need necessarily a whole arc where they go back and close the worm hole but something like Kamala saying they got delayed because they had to use the bracelets to fix the two wormholes would have just closed that off for me.

Non spoiler review of the marvels. ->it's a fun movie

Imagine you're a teenager who likes superheros and want to be a superhero. Then one day you become part of the adventure of your favorite superhero.

Kamala was as charming in the movie as she was in the ms marvel show. It's a fun adventure with good cast

Kamala shows that she is a superhero through and through putting other's first before herself. Nick fury is the same fun guy from captain marvel 1.

I liked Carol Danvers performance in this movie more than part 1 because she gets more opportunities to show her talent in action scenes in this movie (Action scenes are creative). She is also a joy person here unlike suppressed woman who lost her identity in part 1

I liked carol Danvers when she was spending time with nick fury in part 1. But here kamala, carol and monica chemistry is better than 3 Spiderman chemistry. I'm saying this as Spiderman fan.

Monica also gets more screen time to shine in action and emotional scenes.

I like kamala family but them feeling normal with all the aliens drama feels little artificial. I know they dealt with aliens in the ms marvel show.

I didn't understand why critics were mad at the movie. First 10 mins of the movie feels like a chore to watch. But once the gimmick of them switching places starts it's a fun ride. There was a big lag because of the exposition in middle of the movie. I was not a big fan of musicals. Action was good and story was good. It's entertaining, short and sweet. Both post credit scenes were cool.

I don't know what else you want from mcu.

The Marvels is the MCU trying to right the ship... and it feels like it. The shift in marketing prior to its release (i.e. Thanos appearing in the final trailer & TV spots) & the 1:45 runtime are the most obvious examples of this. The film is a good watch but also felt a bit like a sugar rush: Totally enjoyable, with a slightly hollow-feeling comedown. The Marvels has the bones of what could have been a genre-redefining swing for the fences, but in the brief moments where I could catch my breath as the story plowed ahead I couldn’t help but think that the changes that were obviously made during reshoots & in the editing bay were the wrong ones to make. Kevin Feige & Co. are smart enough to know that they've made mistakes of late. They're just not brave enough to make the kind of movie that would fix them.

The trio of Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris, and Iman Vellani have great chemistry and are loads of fun to watch. Vellani is the breakout star of the piece, but her arc felt rushed. In a more ambitious film Larson could have showcased a wide range of emotions- from rage, to soul-crushing guilt, to brooding loneliness, to broad musical comedy. We get to see flashes of each, but it left me wanting more. And Parris just kind of… is. She holds her own, but only comes to life in her quiet scenes with Larson & Vellani. She deserved more of that.

Until The Marvels, the average runtime of an MCU movie was 2:18. The choice to trim that down dramatically for this installment wasn’t necessarily a bad one- it’s just that the wrong things got left out. Instead of quick-cut flashbacks to fill in plot gaps (Zawe Ashton’s Dar-Benn barely gets any motivation for her malevolence, so her energetic performance is kinda wasted), they could have skipped a couple of set pieces and used the technological plot device in act two to do a lot more character development.

Imagine an MCU movie with flashy comic book stuff that felt like an addition instead of the raison d'etre of the piece. The massive battles & awesome stinger + post-credits scene could have bookended a Phase 5 bottle episode that served as a deep character study of the women at the center of it.

We could have seen Carol Danvers make a mistake and be devastated by her (genocidal) actions. We could have gotten much more of Monica Rambeau coming to terms with her abilities. And we could have seen Kamala humanizing her idol & coming to grips with the awesome responsibility of her powers. They could have even retconned the dismal Secret Invasion. (The filmmakers seem to have joined the rest of us in wishing that it never happened, as most of the plot contradicts what went down in that show.)

Instead, Marvel stuck with what it knows, and what we got was a perfectly serviceable entry to the MCU. It just wasn’t as good as it could have been if Marvel wasn’t trapped in the formula that it created.

Uncharacteristically, I am going to begin my review by giving my rating. I give this film a 7 (good) out of 10. My audience exit poll, asking people for a rating out of 10, yielded: one 7, a bunch of 8s and 9s, one 9.5 and a 10. I will now explain why I my rating wasn’t more enthusiastic.

I always get a little concerned when I have high expectations for a film and I had been counting down the days to see this one. I was a big fan of the CAPTAIN MARVEL movie (9 out of 10), the MS MARVEL series (7 out of 10) and was the Monica Rambeau story from WANDA VISION (8 out of 10) and was looking forward to the blending of those very different tones of production.

So, that was my mindset before walking into the prerelease viewing of this movie - high anticipation.

My first two impressions were related to the production quality.

1) My attention to the story was interrupted by a clash between the CGI and 3D. The 3D images were sharp but the background images were blurry, not a good start for a movie that is mostly CGI, I immediately wished I had gone to a non 3D viewing.

2). The trailers had already spoiled that the the plot twist of this movie was that all three main characters are caught up in a cosmic entanglement in which they arbitrarily swap places with each other throughout the universe whenever they use their powers. What was meant to be a cool effect ended up being a chaotic (if comedic) mess that made the fight scenes almost impossible to follow while disconnecting the audience from the characters and the action.

As for the rest of it, the story telling (besides the muddled character swaps) was fun and actually had a great story arc with some nice threads. The characters and their performances were engaging and delightful and well executed although there was little actual character development, beyond the expected bonding of the team of three (a crucial component of storytelling for me). I was particularly amused by the Flurkin (sp?) hijinks set to the soundtrack of Barbra Streisand singing Memories from CATS and the mini-musical and reveal on the planet Aladna (sp?).

However, the last scene of the film really excited me as it teased where the TV version of the Marvels might be going with a tie in of another favourite character in the TV Marvel Universe. The mid-credit scene tease almost brought me to my feet because it hints of a resurrection of favourite Marvel U franchise of mine. (Man, it was hard to write these without spoiling them), Don’t bother to wait for a post-credit scene, it was merely a sound effect drawn from inside the movie, itself.

Thanks for bearing with me for this L O N G review. [Superhero Adventure]

Better than I thought it would be, but not as good as it could have been.
Just like with any of the Marvel movies, the production is great... that's never the problem. The issue I had with this was the forced comedy. Now, humor is nothing new to Marvel movies, it has been there since the beginning, however somewhere along the way, jokes have been used to bring a scene to a screeching halt, because... I suppose the filmmakers think that the audience can't handle action or drama that doesn't have a joke at the end.
Speaking of which, the overall tone of the movie is a kids/family film. Now, that isn't by itself bad, although, there are two types of kids' movies: ones that are geared toward kids, but can be enjoyed by anyone, the other type is one that treats the audience like idiots, since "they're kids, they don't know." Guess which category this one fits into.
All that being said, there are some genuinely funny moments, but not many. Where the movie really shines is when it can take a moment seriously and just be action or drama. Then it's good.
Onto the characters: Brie is back as Captain Marvel, and I think she really did well in the role here - I was not terribly impressed with the Captain Marvel (2019) movie - it seems as though she is having more fun playing the character now.
Our second heroine kept refusing to take a superhero name, so I will not give her one. She was okay.
Third: Ms. Marvel. I thought she was great. This could have been her movie, and it may have worked better. Now, that being said, a huge problem for me was her family. I've not watched the Ms. Marvel series - and likely won't - so, I don't have a full appreciation of all of those characters, but if they are like this on the show, I would not make it beyond the first episode.
Finally: we have Nick Fury. Same issue. Too much comic relief. It is possible to make a family-friendly film that is serious, and have well-timed humor that works within the moment.
So, yeah, the movie is pretty good. I'd almost want to watch it again, however the musical scene was the death knell for me. I had heard there was a musical moment, but I thought it was a joke; nope, I wish it were.
I'd recommend this to anyone who liked the Guardians of the Galaxy (2014-2023) movies, but want something geared toward younger audiences.

Good:
- The first fight scene, long take, good choreography and music. Which is probably the only memorable aspect of the movie
- The VFX shots were great, only the landing shots after they flew were bit jarring.
- Kamala Khan and the family dynamic
- The usual MCU jokes landed well except few like with Nick Fury
- The teases for the Young Avengers and X-Men were good
- The training montage scene was good but should’ve been longer. And the switching powers should’ve been more inconvenient.
- Overall, much more serious than I expected even with all the jokes that were sprinkled in. They really tried to make the audience care with the dramatic music and shots of suffering but didn’t really work. But still better than treating everything as a joke like in Thor Love and Thunder.

Bad:
- The final fight scene was rushed, filled with quick takes and close up shots that were uninteresting
- Monica and Kamala did some cool stuff and choreographed action with their powers but their origins were rushed. Kamala especially fights way better in the movie than the show and the movie is supposed to be right after the show so it doesn’t make that much sense.
- The actors tried but the multiple emotional scenes didn’t work, it was either rushed or we didn’t know the characters well enough because they just told instead of showing the conflict between Carol and Monica, which connects with the next issue. Kamala immediately forgives Carol, she should’ve been more affected by it since she always had an idealistic view of her
- The motivations of the villain were cliched and she wasn’t intimidating at all. Marvel is used to having anti heroes as villains or antagonists. Doesn’t mean they should be bad for no reason like the Kree in Captain Marvel.
- Questions: Why did the prince stop singing, why didn’t Kamala create a hard light barrier over the bangle, why did Monica have to close the barrier from the other side, and where was Saagar’s (elder brother) wife. Yeah nitpicks
- The musical scene and the cats were kind of cringy but funny as well. Glad the musical scene was short and that the characters didn’t take it seriously
- Valkyrie’s cameo was nice but again her and Carol’s relationship was just told to the audience instead of shown. Also why not ask help from Thor, dude’s chilling with Love who is also very powerful.
- Overall the movie was rushed, it was fight scene after the other with some forced jokes like in the climax. Curious about the scenes that were deleted. This movie should’ve been the third one, the ultimate team up, and my complaints about so much being rushed should’ve been addressed with the actual sequel.

Marvel really needs to slow down with the world ending threats, it gets rid of any stakes cause you know there’s going to be a happy ending. The conflict needs to be personal like with No way home, GOTG 3 and Loki S2

I'm fairly certain that the recently quite negative sentiment toward the MCU will not significantly improve following the release of "The Marvels." The film isn't exactly visually appealing, and at times it's downright ugly. The CGI effects in particular are laughably bad in some moments. The story is rather generic overall, and there's nothing exciting to discover here on the villain level either. Zawe Ashton's Dar-Benn does hint at a deeper motivation for her actions in a few brief moments, but in the end, none of that matters.

However, I also see a huge problem with the state of the MCU as a whole. I've read a few reviews that say you need to have seen projects like "Ms. Marvel", "Wandavision" or "Secret Invasion" to understand "The Marvels". As someone who has seen it all, I would disagree. Quite the opposite: I would even say that you explicitly don't need to have seen these things, which is not a particularly encouraging statement for such a "connected universe". I really don't know who exactly Marvel Studios is trying to appeal to with their films and shows anymore. Neither the "completionists" nor the "casuals" are being drawn in. A return to former glory is not going to happen this way.

Despite all these negative points, I didn't really hate "The Marvels" as a superhero movie. This is mainly due to the chemistry between the trio at the heart of the plot. Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris, and Iman Vellani work well together. Vellani is the MVP; her hyperactive energy is infectious, as it was in "Ms. Marvel". In terms of humor, the family of Vellani's Kamala also provides plenty of laughs. In the end, the interplay between the main characters is also what lifts "The Marvels" above recent MCU projects like "Quantumania" or "Secret Invasion" for me. But I seriously doubt that these low points should serve as the benchmark for this billion-dollar franchise.

So, complicated thing about this movie. If you're watching it as a stand alone movie, I'm not sure you'd have any idea what the F was going on or who anyone is, and even if it's technically a sequel which requires you to watch the 1st one, it also takes 2 disney plus shows, and this is where some casual fans may start getting lost or losing interest. The movie isn't bad, and it isn't the worst Marvel movie made so far like some people are saying. It's fun, the characters have good chemistry, I feel like if you missed "Ms Marvel" though then you'd just be wondering who the hell everyone is half the time.

Now, onto your Marvel ride or die fans, aka the ones that watched everything and will totally get who everyone is and what's going on. While it's not a dumpster fire like Eternals and Quantomania, and while the action is fun to watch and the chemistry between the actors shines, it still comes across somewhat... Flat? I think more accurately, unnecessary. I hope this is the last of these Phase 4 and 5 marvel movies that just seem like they were created strictly to add content, because I can't see how much of anything that happened outside of the last few minutes in this movie is going to matter to the bigger picture here. I think Captain Marvel just might not be that... interesting I guess. And no, it's not because she's a woman, I'm not just hating on a girl power movie, I just can't break this character down. I can tell you almost everyone's intentions in all of these movies, and sure they did have a couple "cheap" villains here and there, but this is the only "Headliner" character that I just can't figure out what they want. And before anyone says anything like she's just doing what Spider-Man does on a universal scale instead of one city, I'm not talking about superficially what she's doing, I'm asking why is she doing it and where is it all supposed to be going? When it's mentioned to her she could save the Kree planet by just giving a fuck, it was like a light bulb turned on in her head "Oh, yeah, you're right huh?" Write her better already, or make her a less focal point of the story.

There doesn't need to be a 3rd captain marvel film, just like there doesn't need to be a 5th Thor (Or a 4th one). It would have moved the story along just as well as if we got the entire first hour and a half from the movie and just squished it with the after-credits scene, because other than moving the chess pieces around the board a little, nothing was accomplished here. Another one-dimensional villain, another movie where despite all the death and destruction around us, nothing in the world can stop a bad joke from landing! It's time to move on from this formula, it's starting to feel like Chat GPT is in the writers room.

The good:

• Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel. She's so entertaining and by far the most interesting character. Even her family's fun.
• The sisterhood dynamics between our trio. Needed a lot more interactions between them in this movie because those are the high moments.
• The character switching power thing was a great idea.
• A few good action sequences.
• They embraced the sillyness (cheesy, even) with this one and I dig that. I even enjoyed the dancing/singing scene, mixes up the recipe a little.
• A historical moment for cats (best scenes of the movie!)

The meh:

• Monica Rambeau. She was sidelined and feels underdevelopped. The character has potencial though and the actress is alright.
• Captain Marvel. I still have no idea who she is?? No connexion whatsoever with the character.
• The comedy is hit and miss.

The bad:

• The lamest villain in Marvel history. So empty. Forgettable. Terrible. Generic. Anytime the villains were on-screen this movie dropped in quality (quality that it already struggles to have).
• Rushed story and terrible editing. It feels like a lot of the story was cut out and some impactful moments with the characters are just missing.
• Bad looking movie in general. The effects are getting worse with every movie.

I still think Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is the worst Marvel movie but this comes in second place. Technically a 4/10 but I had a bit of fun so it gets a 5/10. The after credit scene setting up the setup to the next setup is arguably better than the entire movie.

I didn't see Ms Marvel yet, but somehow it doesn't seem like I missed much, you get her gimmick pretty fast, character and plot wise.

However there are other stuff that I missed, and this made me kinda lost there. I guess some of it is that I forgot the specifics of Captain Marvel 1, but I don't think it really dealt with the consequences or introduced the characters we there (on the villains sides). Is the Kree civil war, the end of their world shown somewhere and Dar-Benn introduced ?

Guessing the Skrulls and Nick Fury living in a space station are coming from Secret Invasion ?

On top of the initial confusion from these, the initial action scenes are really confusing too, with a lot of switching going on, while the rules of it are not clear.

Overall, the atmosphere is a bit too forcibly cute to my taste, and this is something that permeates through all thing, end to end.

1) I was clearly not the target audience for the whole part of turning Captain Marvel into a Disney Princess that has to sing to talk. Fun concept to introduce, but long and annoying sequence. Actually, the best part of it was literally when it stopped because "the Prince is bilingual". That was hilarious. A bit long to get to this punchline, but hilarious. I know there's a target audience though, and I guess lots of people loved it.

2) Kamala's relationship with Carol is basically an edulcorated version of Peter with Tony. Again, I'm definitely not the targeted audience, I'll take sarcasm over carebear world any time, but I can understand the appeal.

3) During the fights, while switching is taking place, there are enemies that can fight on par (at least for a while) with Monica, and even withstand Captain Marvel's shots. But it also seems that while no one else is fighting them, Kamala's family is able to keep them down with a broom. Again I get the childish appeal, but come on !

4) When evacuating the station I thought "Well duh, just put them all in the cat!" and that it would be a great idea. But they had to force it to cuteness overload with a swarm of kittens. And I love those, but once again, come on ! Know when to stop.

5) The switch training had to happen, but again, seriously ? Playing playground games ?

Anyway the concept of the switching is actually good. But it is somehow overused in the beginning when it's a bit confusing, and then underused as a battle mechanism.

Not clear how the Kree stealing portal works. They seem to just open a portal, so ok, a portal from a place with atmosphere to a place without will work that way and suck it. But how the hell does it absorbs just water in tiny tornadoes ? (By the way, no one ever wonders what happened to the people on the water planet afterwards...)
And as for stealing the Sun, it's show as starting, and then totally forgotten also.

The final part is really out of nowhere. Since when did Monica had the power to absorb and store then redistribute energy ? Never been seen or used. And to understand a break in space time and know how to fix it ? Also what did Carol did not understand in "from the other side" ?
And using both bracelets instantly vaporized Dar-Benn, but Kamala can effortlessly ? By the way, why would the two responsible adults around even let her try ?

Wow. Actually after seeing it, I thought it was kinda ok, even if low for a Marvel, entertainment. But thinking about it afterwards I realize it's really missing a lot.
Basically starts with confusing switching and an unintroduced antagonist (from what I could read, I did not miss these explanations from another movie or show, it was just not presented before).
Then Skrull planet. Disney water planet. Out of nowhere ending. With the whole space station part being just filler. Everything sugarcoated, with plot holes and abandonned loose ends.

In the end I guess it's a Marvel directed at an audience of children, specially young girls. Good that it exists, but not really my thing.

*The Marvels, the latest instalment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, presents a number of challenges that affect its ability to captivate audiences and maintain the studio's ever-declining quality standards.

From the outset, the film faces the criticism of being boring. Despite the visual spectacle characteristic of Marvel productions, The Marvels seems to lack the narrative spark that has defined the studio's other films. The plot, described by some as that of a 1980s B-movie, feels dated and lacks the innovation and complexity expected today.

Moreover, the film's plot is riddled with plot holes and Deus Ex Machina, elements that can distract the audience and diminish immersion in the story. These narrative tropes, instead of contributing to the coherence of the plot, seem to be easy resources to solve complicated situations.

Amidst these criticisms, the character of Ms. Marvel emerges as a highlight that brings freshness to the film. Her presence brings relief amidst the general lack of dynamism and provides a glimpse of the vitality that sometimes seems to be lacking in other aspects of the narrative.

However, The Marvels is criticised for placing the entire narrative burden on female characters, relegating male characters to mere embellishments. While diversity and representation are valuable aspects of contemporary filmmaking, the imbalance can be perceived as forced and can affect the sense of cohesion in the Marvel universe.

The predictability of the plot also adds to the film's challenges. The audience's ability to anticipate plot twists and developments may detract from the impact and surprise, leaving the audience with a sense of having experienced a plot that has been seen before.

While there are criticisms, it is acknowledged that The Marvels has managed to significantly reduce the ridiculous humour that has sometimes characterised recent Marvel productions. This change can be positively received by those who prefer a more serious, action-focused tone.

Spoilers

There are people that like this movie, and people that love it, I am not one of them.

This movie has very little for me to like, and it’s too reliant on parts of the mcu that a large part of the audience hasn’t seen. It’s not inclusive like other mcu movies, you lost an opportunity to get a bigger audience.
I’m fine with a movie that caters to teen girls and female empowerment but I am not sure this really does but it doesn’t even try to appeal to the comic book fans nor is it well done on its own.

I have watched the shows with both the main characters and they are the mains as captain marvel is kind of an after thought. But even watching the shows this could have had a little be more exposition.

I get Ms. Marvel’s character is a fan girl but tone it down it quickly gets annoying when it’s every scene.

Monica Rambeau is interesting here and she is really the heroine of the movie but they don’t even bother to give her a superhero name. And everything else with her has been vague.

Yes I’m going to complain about the stupid musical number crammed in for no reason. It could have been left out in favor of character development. Hell they forgot about the whole place and I am assuming that world is dying too, if not the movie failed to make it clear.

I did like the cats it’s goofy but fun. And the training montage is actually refreshing to have supers dealing with real issues but went way too long.

Maybe the planet of psycho space nazis should be done away with, maybe just make it a prison for them so they don’t destroy sane planets with their stupid ideas and complete cluelessness that they are the problem. The villain is so one dimensional that it collapses space around it.
While anyone with that much power could just find an uninhabited planet and move that would not be the marvel universe. And intelligent problem solving can only happen after fight scenes.

This film really highlights the flaw in the MCU's ambition to tell stories that connect to their TV-shows. I'm their ideal viewer. I'm caught up on all my MCU homework. I saw Wandavision. I saw Ms. Marvel. But the problem is they have to perform a balancing act of writing a movie that works on its own, while also leveraging the storytelling that took place on the small screen. The end result is a weird middle ground, where the characters from the TV shows feel like they get incomplete introductions, with awkward references to TV show events shoehorned in to connect the dots. It didn't work for me, and I suspect that it will be even less effective for the uninitiated.

As for the actual content of this movie, I think there are the seeds of an interesting plot (Captain Marvel confronting/atoning for the unforeseen negative ramifications of destroying the Supreme Intelligence), but the execution is severely lacking. Motivations feel forced, characters/relationships/conflicts are underdeveloped, and the story is rushed. There's sparks of creativity here and there (e.g., the power based body swapping, the singing planet), but none of it sticks the landing and the end result is another forgettable MCU adventure.