**Spoilers ahead; for IT and the greater MCU**
The Marvels is assembly-line cinema at its most superficial; and showy-yet-empty production values give the film a pretty-but-shallow vibe that is taking the interconnected nature of the MCU for granted instead of treating it as sacred territory to justify the film's purpose.
The Marvels does have good moments with Nick Fury when he's being a somewhat comical voice of reason, but interacting with the 'retcon cat' Goose as the basis of his 'trust issues' just feels silly and his being 'dead' since Captain America: The Winter Soldier is now the worst kept secret of all-time that EVERYONE knows he's back full-swing. He's basically a super-spy celebrity like James Bond now.
The story: the three Marvels are intertwined thanks to a 'space-bracelet' that can teleport them with use of their powers, and they need to help a dying planet get its resources back: only a discount villainess (whose name I never caught on at all) wields Ronin's hammer from Guardians of the Galaxy and has no backstory to draw upon, and before you know it: she dies by having the two space-bracelets smashing together... so stupid that it feels like it hardly mattered at all!
The Marvels feels like a passion project that lost the passion for itself thanks to the streamlined MCU formula of set-up, universe-leveraging, comedic one-liners, big CG-fuelled finale, and the post-credits scenes that tease another movie wishing what you just watched was as good as THAT scene (especially in this case)! It feels like these movies follow a laundry-list of studio mandates that don't ALWAYS work, and it's becoming obvious with more of the post-Endgame movies that these cliches are becoming tiresome and uninspired if the film itself doesn't have anything truly memorable about it. Give or take a few months this film's gonna have a compilation video of 'The Marvels but only the MCU connection references' or something; and the film itself is gonna dry up like a flower garden in a desert.
The Marvels has the typical set pieces of MCU stuff, but the fun factor of previous entries isn't here and the story suffers the 'Superman Problem' where the writers don't know how to make invulnerable characters interesting in spite of the creative possibilities of superhuman abilities in a real-world setting.
The Marvels is a middling blockbuster that tries to revitalise the MCU but doesn't really do so by any stretch. It wants to be a high-concept sci-fi space opera drama, except the high-concept stuff isn't high enough here. It almost comes off like Ryan Reynolds' Green Lantern film sometimes in terms of the limits it puts on itself with the 'otherworldly stuff' at play.
2/5 stars; The Marvels don't really marvel its universe or heroes like the title would make you believe. It may please newbies, but veteran watchers are gonna find better stuff elsewhere.
P. S. The main selling point here: SPACE CATS!!
The Marvels is assembly-line cinema at its most superficial; and showy-yet-empty production values give the film a pretty-but-shallow vibe that is taking the interconnected nature of the MCU for granted instead of treating it as sacred territory to justify the film's purpose.
The Marvels does have good moments with Nick Fury when he's being a somewhat comical voice of reason, but interacting with the 'retcon cat' Goose as the basis of his 'trust issues' just feels silly and his being 'dead' since Captain America: The Winter Soldier is now the worst kept secret of all-time that EVERYONE knows he's back full-swing. He's basically a super-spy celebrity like James Bond now.
The story: the three Marvels are intertwined thanks to a 'space-bracelet' that can teleport them with use of their powers, and they need to help a dying planet get its resources back: only a discount villainess (whose name I never caught on at all) wields Ronin's hammer from Guardians of the Galaxy and has no backstory to draw upon, and before you know it: she dies by having the two space-bracelets smashing together... so stupid that it feels like it hardly mattered at all!
The Marvels feels like a passion project that lost the passion for itself thanks to the streamlined MCU formula of set-up, universe-leveraging, comedic one-liners, big CG-fuelled finale, and the post-credits scenes that tease another movie wishing what you just watched was as good as THAT scene (especially in this case)! It feels like these movies follow a laundry-list of studio mandates that don't ALWAYS work, and it's becoming obvious with more of the post-Endgame movies that these cliches are becoming tiresome and uninspired if the film itself doesn't have anything truly memorable about it. Give or take a few months this film's gonna have a compilation video of 'The Marvels but only the MCU connection references' or something; and the film itself is gonna dry up like a flower garden in a desert.
The Marvels has the typical set pieces of MCU stuff, but the fun factor of previous entries isn't here and the story suffers the 'Superman Problem' where the writers don't know how to make invulnerable characters interesting in spite of the creative possibilities of superhuman abilities in a real-world setting.
The Marvels is a middling blockbuster that tries to revitalise the MCU but doesn't really do so by any stretch. It wants to be a high-concept sci-fi space opera drama, except the high-concept stuff isn't high enough here. It almost comes off like Ryan Reynolds' Green Lantern film sometimes in terms of the limits it puts on itself with the 'otherworldly stuff' at play.
2/5 stars; The Marvels don't really marvel its universe or heroes like the title would make you believe. It may please newbies, but veteran watchers are gonna find better stuff elsewhere.
P. S. The main selling point here: SPACE CATS!!