THE MARVELS

Much is being made of The Marvels being the MCU’s lowest opening weekend box office ever, however this must be considered in context. 

We are just coming out of the writers strike and, most importantly, the screen actors strike. Meaning that in the build up to it’s release The Marvels has had virtually no press tour. Outside a couple of trailers, there has been no publicity due to the actors refusing to take part in the standard media runs.

When, in the age of social media, where viral videos of actors are key to generating buzz around a film, this is clearly an unenviable position to be in, and goes some way to explaining its modest box office.

Because, in reality, The Marvels is a good, if unspectacular, Marvel adventure, and certainly one of the most enjoyable of the Multiverse saga so far.

We pick up sometime after the events of Ms Marvel, with Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton - a far cry here from Fresh Meats “Vod”) retrieving a quantum band from a desolate alien planet, before vowing to find its partner - which conveniently happens to be resting on Ms Marvels forearm. Who, in turn, in trying to use her powers, discovers a new found ability to teleport with Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) and Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris)

Larson, Parris and Vellani have great chemistry and there is a lot of fun to be had in their teleportation exploits. Both in the beginning, when it takes them by surprise, and as they begin learning to use them to their advantage.

An initial fight scene seeing them switching up during a battle at the Khan family home is particularly well choreographed and a joy to watch unfold, managing to be funny and thrilling all at the same time.

And the relationships between these three is pretty much the main draw of the film. Zawe Ashton is good as Dar-Benn, but her character and motivations are forgotten almost immediately, because they aren’t really the point of the film.

She is purely the trigger for The Marvels to come together. She’ll pop in whenever the plot needs to be driven forward a little, and then she’ll dip out again, leaving Larson, Parris and Vellani to do their thing, and director Nia DaCosta deserves praise for recognising that this is what will get audiences into the cinema.

People are getting bored of big overblown battles and fight scenes. Instead she leans more into the characters and their relationships, and the film is all the better for it. It means that the fight scenes that we do get a enjoyable and memorable, without ever becoming tedious.

It may not be as bombastic as the likes of Infinity War, or have the emotional weight of Black Panther, but it is fun, and sometimes that’s all we need.

The Marvels, already one of the MCU’s shorter films coming in at under two hours, gallops along at pace; a refreshing change from some of the overblown entries we’ve seen of late. It never gives the film the chance to become stale or boring 

I do have some reservations. The scenes on Aladna are fun, but I couldn’t help but feel some cynicism over Disneys motivations, and I do have issues (as I often do with MCU films these days) with the lack of threat that I feel as an audience member, but it is almost impossible to delve further into these qualms without getting into the realms of spoilers.

However, while none of these things impacted my enjoyment of the film in any meaningful way, it does through up questions about the direction of the MCU, and other Disney franchises, moving forward.

There are also, of course, questions to be asked about the increasing level of interweaving plot lines in the MCU, and the amout of “homework” you may have to start doing before seeing a film. The Marvels for it’s part goes some way to setting up events that we may not even return to in the Multiverse Saga, and therefore we won’t even see on screen for at least five years. By which time this entry, as enjoyable as it is, may legitimately have been forgotten.

Overall though, The Marvels is a fun, funny and pacey, if not a little slight, entry into the behemoth MCU. It won’t be remembered as one of the greats, but in the moment it is engaging and enjoyable. Something which Marvel should consider leaning into just a little more.