The Marvels

A film that will live in infamy. Not that it really deserves that. Upon first release this movie was declared as the death knell for the MCU, with box office to match that characterization. Imagine, then, my surprise when I sat down to stream this piece and found it to be an eminently watchable action movie. It is hardly perfect, to be sure; the story suffers for being the latest installment in a now sprawling and over cooked fictional setting. It’s near impossible to remember exactly all that has gone before this point in the storylines: what events from earlier episodes are relevant to the current plot; where exactly are we in this timeline; who exactly all of these people are. Indeed, I’m not sure I ever even saw half the events and people that play influential roles in this story. (A few key elements seem to have been retroactively developed in order to fit this plot.) So complete comprehension of the greater storyline is a bit too much to ask of the viewer. Mostly, you just have to accept this thing at face value and enjoy what you can—and then, suddenly, the piece resolves into a fairly good time at the movies. The best revelation here? Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel  She is a delight, completely charming and fun to watch (as can be said for the members of Kamala’s on-screen family). Much of the the joy in these proceedings comes from her. Other highlights include Sam Jackson as Nick Fury—behaving more like his old self versus his presence in other recent outings—and some effective use of cats for both plot advancement and comic relief. There are downsides, too. An uneven tone that sometimes takes everything far too seriously (the movie is a lot better when it is more focused on having fun—though even there the film sometimes falls into the trap of getting too damn silly). And then there's also, frankly, a weak performance by putative star Brie Larson; it turns out Captain Carol could stand to lighten up a bit. So the movie is hardly a classic, but hey, what’s up with you that you’re expecting Oscar-bait from a superhero flick? The reaction seems less about the movie itself and more the product of overdeveloped expectations from hardcore Marvel fans (who might want to watch a grown-up movie once in a while in order to re-calibrate). If you preordered a ticket to see this in a theater, maybe you had cause to be disappointed (though really, in that case you deserved your chagrin). But if you watched this one by paying a fraction of that for a month of the streaming service, then I think you got a bargain. Not especially marvelous, but no real complaints here, either.