The Marvels: Movie Review

Cast: Brie Larson, Samuel L Jackson, Iman Vellani, Teyonah Parris, Zawe Ashton
Director: Nia Da Costa

Arriving with such underwhelming fanfare thanks in part to the ongoing actors strije and perhaps a degree of apathy from previous middling Marvel Cinematic Universe fare, it feels like The Marvels has its work cut out for it.

Essentially a follow up to Captain Marvel and Disney+ series WandaVision  and Ms Marvel, this latest manages to be a slightly more intriguing proposition, but also one that feels at times, like a mixed affair.

Simultaneously a film that's a team up movie as well as a take on invasions, Nia DaCosta's snappy 1hr 45 film offers various pleasures among pacing issues and a movie that somehow manages to capture the zeitgeist of the Israel-Hamas conflict as well.

When Captain Marvel (Larson) investigates a series of disruptions in space at Nick Fury's request, she's put on a collision course with Zawe Ashton's Dar-Benn, a Kree warrior hellbent on revenge against the Annihilator (Captain Marvel) herself.

Forced to team up with Iman Vellani's Captain Marvel fangirl Ms Marvel and Teyonah Parris's Monica Rambeau after their powers become intertwined, the trio face a race against timeto stop Dar-Benn.

It's fair to say The Marvels deserves kudos for trying to be different.

Vellani's Kamala Khan is an absolute blast of energy from the get go, building on the character we met in the Disney+ series but yet also soft-launching herself to non-fans on the screen. For a film that's about guilt and family, Vellani and Kamala's family feel central to it all and their bond serves to highlight what a lonely Carol Danvers feels and the anguish also felt by Rambeau.

Parris and Larson also bring heart to proceedings, but feel a little more restrained in their performances; both are solid but don't really stand out above Vellani's character, even though the trio has an undeniable chemistry, the writing just isn't there for them.

There are also some impressively different worlds explored, including one in which Larson effectively gets to be a Disney princess and Bollywood comes to the MCU. Along with more shenanigans from the Lovecraftian Flurkin, there's a lighter touch at play here that both simultaneously embraces the deeper Marvel lore and remixes it into something fresher - though it nearly becomes inconsequential in large swathes.

Conversely though, that's also The Marvels' problem.

At its heart it has a villain that feels underwritten and not as threatening as perhaps they should be; and certainly the shorter running time leaves the finale feeling somewhat underwhelming and suddenly in service of a deeper desire to embrace a wider world.

Equally, there are long sequences of oxygen-reducing exposition that are dumped without any kind of life within; and perhaps a little more fatally, the film seems to lack a flow, perhaps robbed of some of its fluidity by an excessive amount of time in an edit suite.

The Marvels may look to explore the guilt of being a hero and the cost to those who admire them, but in many ways, it feels like Marvel itself doesn't quite have the confidence to try something different still. It's perhaps no surprise Eternals was released roughly two years ago at this time, because it shares much of the DNA of difference. It's just a shame the uneven nature of what unfolds on screen threatens to derail the great chemistry and Vellani's big screen star-making turn.