The Marvels

 

As the Kree home world Hala lays dying, Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton) seeks quantum bands that will allow her to create jump points that tear open the fabric of space and harness the power of the sun. She finds one, but the other is held on Earth by Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani), aka Ms. Marvel. Spymaster Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) operates the space-based defense agency S.A.B.E.R. and sends Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Paris) to investigate a jump point while Carol “Captain Marvel” Danvers (Brie Larson), Kamala’s idol and Monica’s estranged surrogate aunt, tracks Dar-Benn. When Monica approaches the jump point, she, Carol, and Kamala experience a quantum entanglement that causes them to switch places when they use their light-based powers. Amid this complication, Dar-Benn’s relentless pursuit of the other band, and Kamala’s worrying parents, the three marvels will have to find a way to work together.

 

Sometime during the past few years, “Marvel fatigue” metamorphosized from the sour grapes of elitists to a phenomenon much harder to deny. Delays, declining quality, runtime bloat, weird tonal shifts, and a general lack of vision have hampered MCU projects as of late. Add to that the lack of publicity stemming from recent Hollywood strikes, and The Marvels never really stood a chance. That makes it a victim of circumstance, undeserving of either anemic box office or critical scathing though even under more favorable conditions, it would still skew more adequate than impressive.

 

Director Nia DaCosta (who co-wrote the script), best known for indie debut Little Woods and the Candyman remake, seems an odd choice of director here, but it’s hard to fault her taut, fluid directorial work here. The titular leads play well off of one-another. In the Ms. Marvel streaming series, Vellani played Kamala with hyperactive enthusiasm, and while she starts in that mode here, she’s given more opportunities for depth and nuance here. Monica, dealing with the trauma of her mother’s death and Carol’s prolonged absence, is often thrust into being the responsible adult in the room, and Paris captures her frustration well. Larson, long unjustly derided as wooden, continues to be a more-than-capable Captain Marvel, and even when the material is below his ability, Samuel L. Jackson is never bad as Nick Fury.

 

On the other hand, Ashton, a newcomer, is utterly forgettable as Dar-Benn (following, sadly, in the way that previous films mangled the character’s predecessor, Ronan). At 105 minutes, The Marvels is mercifully tauter than recent MCU outings, but it also can’t help but feel somewhat disposable. The convoluted plot certainly won’t resonate. Flerkens (alien cats that can spawn a mouth full of tentacles) are back and feature prominently, but while they represent the “good” kind of crazy, the same cannot be said for an utterly contrived musical sequence that seems shoved in to give Larson a reason to sing.

 

For those who have felt themselves straining to maintain interest in recent Marvel projects, The Marvels’ lightness may be a refreshing change of pace. However, one can hope that it is but a stop on the elevator ride back up, not the new top floor.