The Marvels

Yay, the Hollywood Strikes are over! 

My first review of a post-strike film is The Marvels, which functions as a sequel to both Captain Marvel and the Disney Plus show Ms. Marvel. It's a nice diversion even if it has some narrative issues.

Ms. Marvel ended with its titular heroine, Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani), inexplicably switching places with Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel (Brie Larson). The film explains that it's all the doing of Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton), the "Supremor" of the Kree. She needs the Quantum Bands, a pair of MacGuffins, to save her home planet, Hala, from uninhabitability. How? By opening up space portals that let her siphon some unfortunate planets' natural resources to Hala. Kamala has one Quantum Band, and Dar-Benn gets the other when she opens the film. 

Anyway, because of the space portal stuff, Kamala, Carol and Capt. Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) - the last of whom got superpowered in WandaVision - switch places when they use their powers together. It's all very confusing for Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Kamala's family. But "The Marvels" have to figure out how to manage it before Dar-Benn's quest goes too far. That's basically it.

Nia DaCosta, who directed and co-wrote the recent Candyman, helms this film as well. She and her co-writers, Megan McDonnell and Elissa Karasik, create a pretty basic "stop the bad guy" comic book plot. The mechanics behind all the switching is jumbled at best, and contradictory at worst. Naturally, you'd have to do your MCU homework to follow a few plot threads. It gets weird when the returning "Flerken," Goose the Cat, introduces a new plot thread.

It’s a delightfully silly comic book film. The first major fight is a farcical, yet somewhat overlong, brawl between the Marvels, assisted by the Khans, and two Kree goons. Prince Yan (Park Seo-joon), Carol's political husband from the musical planet Aladna (roll with it), is a pretty cool new character. Goose’s plot thread is resolved in the most audaciously hysterical manner. It’s sometimes serious, especially concerning Monica’s late mom Maria (Lashana Lynch) or Carol’s biggest diplomatic failure. It's not completely serious, but it's far better than the real-life stuff I've dealt with lately. 

Anyone who missed Ms. Marvel gets a great introduction to its star. Kamala's superhero fangirling is endearing, especially when she visualizes her and Carol's first meeting in fanfic form. It's fun to see her bond with the older Marvels and to see them warm up to her idealism. We feel for her after she nearly falls out with Carol after Dar-Benn's attack on the Skrulls' world. We definitely feel good once she proves her mettle as a heroine. As for the others, Carol, Monica and Fury are pretty good, Dar-Benn's a decent misguided villain and Kamala's family (especially Zenobia Shroof as her mom, Muneeba) are fun.

Now for the technical Marvels. A few highlights of Care Brower's splendid production design include Fury's S.A.B.E.R. space station, Dar-Benn's ship, the desolate Hala, and Aladna's palace. The Aladna scenes make for a good highlight reel for the costume and makeup designers. There's some great CGI for The Marvels' powers, whether it's with Kamala's hard-light attacks, Monica's intangibility or Carol's energy surges. Goose is still creepy when her true nature is revealed. The film retains Ms. Marvel's composer Laura Karpman, who gives the film a rousing theme perfect for its cosmic scale.

Did I mention that it's pretty short by superhero standards? It's just 105 minutes long, which makes it a concise, but not perfectly told, superhero adventure. It'll make for a great pre-Thanksgiving matinee just before the glut of new releases between next Friday and Turkey Day. If you're still not convinced to see The Marvels, then do it for a surprise cameo in the prerequisite mid-credit scene. I'm sure it's not the last you'll hear of this character.