The Marvel Cinematic Universe has continued beyond the epic Endgame story, but none of their newer stories have had much of an impact. That trend continues with its newest, The Marvels, a female-centric adventure teaming Captain Marvel with two compadres and Nick Fury to defeat some crazy despot named Dar-Benn who has it in for Carol Danvers for what she did to the Kree ruling class. Not only did I have some trouble following the convoluted plot; I really didn’t care about it at all.
Nią DaCosta’s film has a space anomaly splitting Captain Marvel’s (Brie Larson) powers between herself, astronaut Captain Monica Rambeau (Teyonnah Parris) and young student Kamala Khan (Man Vellani). When one of them uses a specific power of light, they switch positions instantly, creating all sorts of chaos. Eventually they learn to team up together, using their powers to battle Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton). Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Goose the cat — actually a Fleurkin — are the backup plan.
I confess to having trouble to following the rapidly-deploying plot. I’m still trying to figure out Captain Marvel’s light-based power, not to mention how it can be split into three parts. None of this would be very important if the film told its story in an entertaining, incisive manner. It does not. Its tropes regarding the importance of family and friends are as pedestrian as can be imagined. The one bright spot is the method employed to gather S.A.B.E.R. employees on the disintegrating space station to get them to safety. Now that was funny.
The film raises as many questions as it answers. Its science is wishy-washy at best, and the inter-dimensional possibilities it raises are troubling, not to mention ridiculous (you know how I feel about the multiverse). These new organizations are confusing to me. S.W.O.R.D.? S.A.B.E.R.? What happened to S.H.I.E.L.D.? I can’t keep up, and I’m not sure I want to or need to. Carol Danvers may be strong enough to save the universe but she evidently cannot save this movie from mediocrity. ☆ ☆. 25 November 2023.