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Coming off of COVID-related production delays, 2023 has been one of the strongest years (on the consumer side of things) for major tentpole releases both in video games and in movies. That’s not to say that every movie has been quality, however, major franchises like John Wick Chapter 4, Creed 3, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1 have been among some of the year’s best. That said, there has been a certain amount of emotional weight to these films that turns them into massive narrative-driven spectacles that are borderline overdramatic, even extending to some of the less-than-great offerings like Fast X and The Flash. That’s where The Marvels comes in, serving as a bit of a palate cleanser with a movie that is just a fun experience from beginning to end.
The Marvels unites Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani), and Monica Rambeau/Spectrum (Teyonah Parris) after their powers get entangled causing them to switch places whenever they use their powers at the same time. The three have to team up to take down Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton), a remnant of the Kree Empire who seeks revenge against Captain Marvel. Samuel L. Jackson, Zenobia Shroff, Saagar Shaikh, and Mohan Kapoor also star.
To address the elephant in the room, one does not need to have seen WandaVision, Ms. Marvel, or Secret Invasion to understand what is going on in this movie. Why that suddenly became an issue with this movie is confusing since one of the real strengths of the MCU since its inception is its interconnectivity without feeling like one needs to watch everything to understand the big tentpoles (see The Avengers) but the key moments are quickly explained to give context without slowing down the pace or leaving audiences confused about what hasn’t been said. Secret Invasion
is actively ignored at best if not contradicted at worst so it really can be skipped before watching this movie. If someone could follow a main character being killed off in one movie and resurrected in another movie between Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, they’ll be able to follow this with no problem.
The cast does a great job of bringing out the best in each other with all three of them really feeling like they’ve reached a point where the characters are more clearly defined. Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel has developed a personality and actually feels like a person, not just a weapon. Teyonah Parris’ Monica builds on her prior appearance and allows her to show some emotional depth as she grapples with her and Carol’s shared past. Iman Vellani did not have a lot to fix coming off Ms. Marvel, however, she continues to just nail the character.
The biggest strength of the film comes from Nia DaCosta’s direction. On a technical level, the movie is a tight hour and forty-five minutes that is perfectly paced. The action sequences and cinematography are among some of the best in Marvel’s recent years and the effects are largely very good, even if the seams do show at times. The stakes are also kept reasonably small which helps the film and allows for more of the runtime to be devoted to exploring the relationships between the leads.
If there is a downside to the film, it is that the villain is a little underdeveloped, but this is hardly the first time Marvel has made a movie with an underdeveloped Kree villain. That said, this movie is definitely a must-watch and will hopefully help open up the Marvel Cinematic Universe to new demographics of fans. The larger premium format screens are also a huge benefit to the film and it is worth the time to watch it in a theater.
Final Rating: 9/10
