Fresh off the backs of one of the best season (series?) finales I’ve ever watched in my life courtesy of Loki Season Two, I recently headed out to the theaters to take a look at The Marvels, the newest big-screen entry to the MCU. So what if I end up being one of only twenty people who see it in theaters if the low projections are to be believed? I’m a sucker for the MCU, and I wanted to go have a fun time!
And I did have a fun time!
Clocking in at around an hour and forty minutes, The Marvels is officially the shortest movie in the entire MCU catalogue. And while it’s true that I absolutely prefer longer films to shorter films (as long as that extra length is justified), sometimes a shorter runtime is all you need to tell a compelling and fun story. The Marvels is just that: a fun, simple story and an enjoyable way to spend a few hours watching an entertaining and wholesome movie with a charismatic cast and a few other pleasant surprises thrown into the mix.
If you’re following along with the MCU, you’ll want to have done a few things before checking out this film. Specifically, you’ll have obviously wanted to see the original Captain Marvel film, but you’ll also need to watch the first (and currently only) season of Ms. Marvel, as well as WandaVision. Yeah, technically you don’t need to do any of that, but it obviously comes highly recommended in order to have the most understanding of the three main leads and their supporting circle of characters, as well as be caught-up-to-speed on relevant plot details.
Not that this film will break your brain with complicated character dynamics and deep intricate lore and plot. As I mentioned, this is a fairly simple film. The big bad wants to destroy a few planets and steal their natural resources for their own dying home planet, and the good guys rush to stop her. Along the way, they learn how to manage the crazy entanglement of their similar power-sets and grow as friends and a team, and a few side characters have some wacky shenanigans too.
‘Wacky‘ is actually a fairly apt word to describe this movie, and I mean that in the best possible way (and not in the Taika Waititi way). From the surprisingly high content of laugh-worthy jokes and quips, to the very entertaining early fight scene with our three leads constantly swapping locations, to a cute training montage sequence in the third act, to a full-blown musical number, The Marvels isn’t afraid to embrace its silly side. And yet, it doesn’t sacrifice meaningful tone for these silly moments either, knowing how to separate the serious from the goofy. It’s not an especially weighty movie, but the heavier scenes stand alone, and the comedic bits don’t interfere when they shouldn’t.
There are some other bits about this movie that are pleasantly surprising, and I’m speaking more from a filmmaking perspective here. It’s been a while since the CGI in a Marvel movie has been noteworthy (lately dipping into ‘uncanny‘ a few times), but The Marvels has some really pretty shots and solid composition throughout. Likewise, the action choreography is pretty stellar too, especially in the very weighty final showdown with the villain. The soundtrack is good too, though I was missing Captain Marvel’s old leitmotif from her original movie. Maybe I just didn’t pick up on it, or maybe it’s just another case of the MCU’s on-and-off struggle with motif consistency.
As for MCU interconnectedness, The Marvels manages to avoid feeling like a bloated behemoth existing just to sell other products. There’s a cute cameo right in the middle of the movie, and then two end credits scenes. The first is a personal favorite of mine that ties into character growth of one of the leads ands tease more to come, and the second will appease a lot of die-hard comic fans who have been waiting years for a certain something to happen.
Overall, The Marvels isn’t going to blow you away, but I highly doubt that it is going to disappoint you either. It’s a very fun, simple movie that you can just sit down and enjoy. That’s the best way I have to describe it, and honestly that’s enough sometimes!
9/10
The Contrarian Corner 