The Marvels (2023) Review

I think most people can agree that this isn't currently the best time for the Marvel Cinematic Universe and some of their projects haven't got the best responses. The next film to come out under this banner is The Marvels and I saw it the other day and here is my review for it. The premise of the film sees Captain Marvel get her powers entangled with Kamala Khan & Monica Rambeau forcing them to work together in order to try and save the world. 

Main Character

Ever since she was cast as Captain Marvel it feels like Brie Larson has received a bunch of unnecessary criticism and I am going to say that I thought she was really good here. It seemed that she was actually having a lot of fun here and she made Carol Danvers a likeable character and one that I actually cared about. She has progressed as a character and the film does a good job in making her less over powered then she has been in previous films. 

Supporting Characters

I wasn't a huge fan of the Disney+ show Ms Marvel but I can't deny that I really enjoyed Iman Vellani's performance as Kamala Khan in this film. She is a complete fangirl here and she added so much energy to the film and was really fun as part of this larger project. 

Teyonah Parris reprises her role as Monica Rambeau and I thought she was very good too, she is the most serious of the three characters and the film does an okay job of showing that but Parris sells it well and makes you care about how her character has been affected by other characters actions. The chemistry between these three characters is what carries this film. 

Samuel L Jackson is once again back in the role of Nick Fury and he is clearly having the blast. The serious character from Secret Invasion is gone and he is here for comedic relief and though that is a little frustrating I can't deny that it was fun watching him here. 

Zawe Ashton plays the main villain Dar-Benn and she does a decent job, this won't be one of the most memorable MCU villains but I thought the character was pretty well written and Ashton did the best she could with the amount of screen time she had. 

Story

The story is okay, I think it does a really good job of establishing the three characters in case you haven't seen the Disney+ shows that Kamala & Monica are in. It establishes a bond between the three main characters and the issues that concern them, they also give the villain an interesting motivation that makes some sense. But the issue is that none of it is developed enough, it feels a bit rushed and like certain arcs aren't given enough time to shine and that holds the film back a bit. 

Script

The script is also just okay. There is some pretty good humour and some moments of conflict that hit hard but there just isn't quite enough. It doesn't take many gambles and is quite generic which leaves it a little short. 

Style 

The film looks pretty good it avoids the CGI issues of some previous MCU films and has some fun action sequences that due to some certain story choices allows for some real creativity. It's more of a pacing issue that the film has, it takes a bit of time to get going and then seems to rush at other times which makes it a little jarring. 

Overall

Overall, The Marvels is a good fun film. It will not save the MCU but it is a quick and easy fun film to go see, I think the reviews have been pretty harsh and I think it is worth a viewing especially for comic book fans. 

Rating - 7/10