The weather outside across most of the country is quite frightful as the new year opens. Cold temperatures across most of the nation have kept thousands if not millions indoors to stay warm. The problem with staying indoors is finding ways to pass the time and avoid those feelings of cabin fever. Next week, Marvel Studios will give audiences a new way to do just that when it releases The Marvels to home media on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD. Released to digital outlets last month, the sequel to 2019’s Captain Marvel, The Marvels proves worth watching despite being imperfect. The movie proves worth watching in large part because of its story. At the same time, the story is a big part of what made audiences less receptive to the movie than its predecessor. This will be discussed shortly. The work of the movie’s cast makes for its own appeal, too and will be addressed a little later. The bonus content that accompanies the movie in its home release is not necessarily memorable but does add at least a little bit of something to the viewing experience. This will be discussed later, too. Each item noted is important in its own way to the whole of the movie’s presentation. All things considered they make The Marvels maybe not among the best of Marvel Studios’ current offerings but still worth watching at least once.
Marvel Studios’ The Marvels is anything but a marvel of a movie, but it is also not the worst of the company’s ongoing slate of comic book-based movies. It is a presentation that is worth watching at least once, if only because of its story. The story in question is a continuation of the story established in 2019’s Captain Marvel. Audiences catch up with Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel (Brie Larson – Room, Avengers: Endgame, Short Term 12) years after the events of Captain Marvel. This time she teams up with two other superpowered women – close friend Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris – Dear White People, If Beale Street Could Talk, Chi-Raq) and Kamala Khan (newcomer Iman Vellani) a.k.a. Ms. Marvel – to form the all-female superhero squad and face the villainous Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton – Blitz, Grets, Velvet Buzzsaw). Dar-Benn is bent on destroying other worlds in order to return her own home world to life after Captain Marvel destroyed the Supreme Intelligence at the end of Captain Marvel. That is in order to take those planets’ resources for her own Kree planet, Hala. This is where things start to get a little convoluted. Thanks to the work of the movie’s writing team of writer/director Nia Costa, Meghan McDonnell and Elissa Karasik, Captain Marvel starts having an existential crisis of sorts as she realizes that maybe Dar-Been is not necessarily the ultimate big bad she thought she was. She starts to blame herself as she realizes in her own mind, that she was ultimately to blame for what happened to Hala after she destroyed the Supreme Intelligence. This causes her to start having a lot of doubts about other things as she and her fellow superheroes travel from world to world in an effort to prevent Dar-Benn from stealing the planets’ resources, which really becomes a little hard to believe. Her self-doubt becomes problematic because it simply seems too convenient a plot element and so cheesy as a result. The whole matter of protagonists hating themselves, doubting themselves, has been going on for ages and just becomes so boring and trite here.
As if all of this is not enough, the inclusion of Ms. Marvel into the story makes for even more problems. That is because it forces audiences to have to delve back into her story (which is presented exclusively through Disney+) in order to grasp the importance of her inclusion into the story, what with the super powered bangle that she uses and its connection to Dar-Benn’s quest. This has been an issue with all of Marvel’s movies. Audiences who want to fully grasp the interconnectivity of its movies and TV series have to watch them all, and that requires way too much time dedicated to it all. What’s more, it essentially forces audiences to buy into Disney+ if they actually want to catch everything.
Making things even more annoying about this movie’s story is one sequence in particular. The sequence in question is a song and dance number that comes up on one planet whose ruler apparently married Captain Marvel at some point, as is revealed here. That this was not addressed in the first movie is bad enough. That this female-fronted movie could not get through itself without some song and dance number only serves to widen the gender gap in cinema. That is because it further leads audiences to believe that no female-centered and targeted movie can happen without such an element. It really does a disservice to what is otherwise supposed to be an empowering presentation for women. Between that matter and the contrivance of the writers having Captain Marvel have her self-doubt, these elements are enough to make for plenty of concerns about the story.
At the same time that the story has some clear concerns, audiences should also appreciate its run time. Much like Ant Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, this movie’s run time actually clocks in at less than two hours. As a matter of fact, not counting end credits, it comes in at approximately an hour and a half. For Marvel (and for most blockbusters in the current era, that is incredible). The story has a clear execution of beginning, rising action, and denouement. It gets right to the point, stays focused throughout (even despite that pointless musical number and the unnecessary brooding), and closes out the story while also expanding the MCU in the end. Considering how over the top and how long so many Marvel movies are nowadays, that focus helps keep the movie moving fluidly, and in turn helps the story’s appeal that much more. The positive of that focus works with the easy to understand story itself to make the story a relatively stable foundation for its presentation.
Resting on that foundation is the work of its team of super-powered superheroines. There is a certain clear chemistry between Larson, Parris, and Vellani that shows the women must have gotten along well off camera. This is especially the case as the women learn to transport at the same time and balance their powers. At first there is a clear reluctance among the women about teaming up and the group makes the gradual change in attitude fun to watch. The changes make for plenty of moments that will leave audiences laughing in the best way possible.
On another note, the more emotional moments between Danvers and Rambeau in which the women discuss the events of the past could easily have been hammed up so easily. Thankfully, Larson and Pariss did not allow that to happen. They actually made those moments engaging rather than the saccharine sweet emotional content that so much female-centric content boasts. That is a tribute to the expertise of both women.
On yet another level, the starstruck behavior that Vellani brings out from Ms. Marvel as she takes in the realization of her situation is just as entertaining to watch. That is because that is about how so many young people are when they meet their idols. As she settles in alongside her teammates, that nature is still there, but audiences also see a personal growth in her character courtesy of Vellani’s experience. When her engaging work is considered alongside that of her cast mates, the trio’s collective work makes for plenty of reason for audiences to give The Marvels a chance, too.
The bonus content that accompanies the movie in its forthcoming home release rounds out the most important of its elements. It does its own share to play into the viewing experience because of the background that it offers. The feature-length audio commentary, for instance, finds DaCosta talking about her dedication to keeping the story as true to the source material as possible. She notes how she poured over old copies of Captain Marvel and related books to make the story one that diehard fans would find appealing. Audiences will appreciate that she actually took the time to focus on keeping the ties as strong as possible. Another intriguing comment that DaCosta makes is her attempt to limit the use of CG in the movie during the course of the bonus featurette, “Entangled” and the audio commentary. In an age when so many blockbusters rely way too heavily on CG, the balance of live sets and CG is quite noticeable throughout the movie. It is a nice change of pace and leaves one wishing more movie makers would go back to the old days of relying on the physical versus the digital even here in the way of moviemaking. This alone adds so much more reason for audiences to take in the movie because of the sense that it creates in viewers.
There is also during the audio commentary, note by DaCosta that she intentionally wanted to show her stars in everyday wear and less in the typical spandex and other outfits that so many superhero flicks present. It is something that in actively watching the movie, viewers do not think about. However, in hindsight, hearing DaCosta talk about the deliberate approach to show maybe another side of superheroes (so to speak) actually creates its own interesting aesthetic that actually makes for even more aesthetic appeal here. Keeping this in mind along with everything else noted and with the rest of the bonus content, it is clear that the bonus content featured in The Marvels’ home release does just as much to make the movie worth watching at least once as its story and the work of the movie’s lead cast. All things considered, they make The Marvels maybe not a marvel in itself but still a movie worth giving a chance.
The Marvels, the latest addition to Marvel Studios’ ongoing slate of superhero flicks, is an intriguing offering from the company. It is neither the best nor the worst of the company’s offerings. Rather it is just an interesting work that is worth watching at least once. Its appeal comes largely through its simple, straight forward story, which tells the tale of three super powered superheroines who join forces to stop a woman bent on destroying certain worlds. She is just another misguided figure. This formulaic approach to the villain and the equally formulaic heroic brooding is problematic to the overall story (as is the totally unnecessary song and dance number – yes there is even a song and dance number in this story) but is not enough to completely doom the movie. That the movie runs only 90 minutes and remains focused throughout that time ensures audiences’ engagement and entertainment. The work of the movie’s lead cast does its own share to make the movie worth watching. That is because of the obvious chemistry between the women. The bonus content that accompanies the movie in its forthcoming home release adds just enough background to make for more engagement and entertainment. Each item examined is important in its own way to the whole of The Marvels. All things considered they make The Marvels not marvelous but still worth watching.
The Marvels is scheduled for release on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD Feb. 13. More information on this and other titles from Marvel Studios is available at:
Website: https://www.marvel.com
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/marvel
