Film: The Marvels

 

GENRE: Action Fantasy
RATING: PG-13 for action violence and brief language
RUNTIME: 1 hour and 45 minutes
PLATFORM: Movie Theatre
STARRING: Brie Larson (Room, Fast X, Just Mercy, Captain Marvel)
Teyonah Parris (Wandavision, Candyman); Iman Vellani (Ms. Marvel)
DIRECTOR: Nia DaCosta (Candyman)
WRITERS: DaCosta (Candyman); Megan McDonnell (Wandavision); Elissa Karasik (Loki, WeCrashed)
PLOT: Carol Danvers, Monica Rambeau and Kamala Khan’s powers get entangled as they try to save the universe.    

FULL DISCLOSURE: Expectations were incredible low.

STORY STUFF: I like a good space saga but not in the hands of Marvel. I just found the film messy and I either didn’t know what was going on or didn’t care. Kree and Skrulls? Sorry, not my thing. I did like the Khan family getting involved. Other than Nick Fury one-liners, the saving grace of the film were the kittens, sorry Flerkens. Lots of laughs when the ship is overrun by kittens trying to save the day with their outrageous appetite. I could watch that scene over and over again.

ACTING STUFF: Larson and Parris do an okay job but don’t look like they are having much fun. Vellani is having too much fun at times. She gets a couple good reactions but it gets a little much, kinda like her television series. The Khan family trio is fun to watch. Samuel L Jackson gets all the great lines though. He’s much better in a supporting role as compared to the dull Secret Invasion series.

ARTISTIC STUFF: Lots of space stuff that didn’t wow me. There’s an odd singing land that made me exhausted watching them constantly dance. I like the Beastie Boys track and some of the other song choices. The first post-credit sequence might excite a few viewers. Luckily, a Cinplex employee warned us that the last post-credit thing is just a sound effect and not worth the seven-minute wait. We took his advice. So should you.

VERDICT: Two stars out of five
SEE IT IF: You feel need to watch every Marvel film.
UPCOMING REVIEW:  The Killer