@thearmag3ddon here with yet ANOTHER movie review you didn’t ask for:
have a question for you.
As a movie goer or movie fan is it your job to be excited for an upcoming movie, OR, is it the job and responsibility of the movie maker to effectively generate said excitement to draw you in to see the film?
I ask that because there’s an imaginary pink elephant in the room we need to talk about really quickly before we dive into this not review. With the lowest opening of any MCU movie at $47 million we can’t not discuss whatever lead to this disappointment of epic proportions.
I will be one of the first to tell you that I am one of the many folks out there that is tired, or exhausted or just plain over it when it comes to Marvel. For context I have been a HUGE comic book fan and most of my early life revolved around reading those stories and anticipating the next chapter and then the next and the next. So watching all the great content and seeing Marvel finally consistently crack the nut of delivering well-told and quality superhero films was a blessing, after decades of misfires and suffering through . And yet, I’m still tired. And regardless of what some defenders and stans of the MCU will say, if you are exhausted, then you are exhausted. They don’t get to tell you how you feel about your own feeling of excitement or lack there of.
The fact of the matter is, the MCU no longer has a sense of anticipation it once had. Which leads me back to the question…is that your job, or is it the job of the filmmakers to deliver that sense of building and growing into something for YOU? Personally in a perfect world I wish that the MCU could have taken a nice 5-7 year break after Endgame then sort of resumed with a bit of a soft launch to get some distance from the mountaintop we were on and also have a sense of exploring new territory. For me anyway, right now it mostly feels like homework, and I am mostly over it.
And I say all of that as a set up to talk about The Marvels. Because you know what?
The Marvels was actually pretty good.
I’d heard a lot of people who had seen it already say it was really fun, but I have to admit I met those declarations with a bit of skepticism. Why you ask? It’s not fair to anything or anyone but because there is such a large vocal contingent of folks out there who hate the very idea of a woman or any non-hegemonic character being the focus of their movies, I sometimes feel that folks who don’t feel that way, but still aren’t necessarily enamoured with the content will give said film platitudes anyway as a reaction TO instead of it being said honestly and purely said from the chest. But in this instance I was wrong. I was so very very wrong.
As usual, I can only speak for myself but I actually liked it. I really really liked it. It was fun, I laughed, and it had a light-heartedness filled with big emotional honest relatable heart that I felt has been lacking in the last few MCU films I’ve seen. Can I trust that I’m not going lighter on it because I feel bad that I was almost literally the only one in the theater watching it. I can’t be sure. But I do know myself to know I’m terrible at liking things I don’t genuinely like.
Again, I go back then to whose job is it to build anticipation? Because this film didn’t do terribly well out of the gate, but that was because in this case, the movie had a lack of anticipation by the audience that traditionally goes to see these films. And to be honest I was one of them, and really the only reason I went to see it, was so I could do this review. And man, I’m actually really glad I did. It wasn’t an somewhat objective bad film bomb like say Space Jam 2, rather it never had a fighting chance to begin with because folks had already made up their minds before seeing it.
Marvel Studios has done a terrible, clunky job of building anticipation for its projects of late and has been operating as it had been during the salad days of Avengers, and Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain America: Winter Soldier when we all were on the edge of our seat until the next chapter. This reliance on Phases sets the audience up to look forward to something, and then when it isn’t delivered, the audience is made to feel like they are the problem for wanting to be whisked away to forget about their problems. I do cut Marvel some slack as both the pandemic and the tragic passing of Chadwick Boseman greatly altered some of their plans, but nevertheless, I think Marvel has failed to “read the room” and approach their universe of stories from the new set of facts and mood of the folks they are trying to still engage.
Do we really need 5 years of multiverse stories that inherently cause nothing to have true stakes? One movie is enough, thank you, let’s move on. But anyway…I digress.
It’s a shame because they failed to generate enough excitement to get people to even bother to go see this film. Mind you they hadn’t seen it so they truly didn’t know beforehand whether it was good or bad, but the perception and lack of energy around it absolutely did not help it at all to get the butts into seats.
So that’s that part. And now to step down from my soapbox and actually talk about the actual film.
I’ve been critical of Brie Larson as Captain Marvel, and I’m a bit grumpy because to me Monica Rambeau is still the FIRST female Captain Marvel and Marvel just seems to want to overlook that and doesn’t quite give her, her due. BUT, this really is the first outing of Brie Larsen as Carol Danvers…the Carol we are meant to know and it is MUCH better than the version of her we saw in previous depictions. She’s a lot more animated, likable, and…human than she was in Captain Marvel and the snippets of her we got to see in Endgame and whatever post credits of the movies and shows since.
Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau gave us a relatable character that we can get behind, and there’s lots and lots of room to grow and expand. This is really the most we’ve seen of her as she’s only been a side character previously as opposed to the Captain Marvel and Ms. Marvel characters who both had their own stories previously, but I’m pretty sure with time she can carry her own story as well.
And truly the “stole the show” award goes to Iman Vellani, who was just genuinely funny, genuinely heartful, and brought the entire thing together.
I was grumpy and skeptical going into this movie, but I left with a renewed sense of possibility for what the MCU could be.
Do I still want a bit of a break. Kinna. I don’t want any of this to feel like homework like it has been. And the last time I gave something a reprieve and it ended up going on to break my heart was LOST, and I really don’t want to go through that again. But this was a nice little bit of story that felt like it stood on its own for the most part.
I’m hoping for the best, but not holding my breath, but I DEFINITELY am looking forward to something soon…. (yeah…that mid-credit scene was a bit of a doozy. Spoilers.) This was a well made movie, but don’t expect epic. And just because this one got it right doesn’t mean the MCU has found its way. That remains to be seen. But this by itself was indeed fun with stakes that were tied to character growth which is what all myths should do. If you don’t see it in the theater I know you’ll like it when it drops on Disney+. But come on…go check it out in theaters. Nicole Kidman is counting on you to keep her company. Homegirl watches all of her so-called magical movies alone. Tom must have really done a number on her.
I give The Marvels 4 Ugly Rainbow Speckled Crocs out of 5. I might have given it 4.5, but….they really had Crocs in this movie so I was forced to deduct points on principle.
Until the next review you didn’t ask for, @thearmageddon signing off.