First Take: The Marvels - two out of three ain’t bad

Spoiler free as usual. Because Goose would eat me.

SYNOPSIS: Carol Danvers gets her powers entangled with those of Kamala Khan and Monica Rambeau, forcing them to work together to save the universe.

Ah, the sequel the internet wrote off when it was greenlit. The Marvels is one of the MCU projects which has suffered from Covid delays the most - July 2022 initially, then November, then February 2023, July, and finally settling here - as a direct knock on of all the TV shows on Disney+ (including the vital setup of this movie in Ms Marvel and WandaVision) being displaced due to Covid shutdowns. But even with no cast able to promote it until the early hours of its release day, The Marvels has some promise, but its execution does have some minor quibbles.

Nia DaCosta of 2021 Candyman reboot fame is in the big directors chair (And also co-writer with Megan McDonnell and Elissa Karasik) on her first major Hollywood, big budget film - and she does an admirable job turning in a rare Marvel film under two hours - a tight 1 hour 45 minutes - that is very up and down. Some elements excel, others feel like hasty rewrites, and some ideas feel a little out of place, those who have seen the film will likely know which sequences I am referring to. It is shot really well by Sean Bobbitt, as any MCU project would be at this stage (with the IMAX kit - something which must be a blessing with the film currently taking the screenings that should’ve been occupied with Dune 2 had the strike not happened) and of course, the Kamala character isn’t the only thing making the leap from Disney+ to cinema screens, as Laura Karpman provides the music just like she did for the first season of What If and Ms Marvel.

Where this film is saved from the depths of another MCU rant is its cast, and it is obvious that Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris and Iman Vellani get along well, as the chemistry this trio have is damn good. On top of these leads we’ve got Zawe Ashton, Gary Lewis, Park Seo-joon joining in, with Zenobia Shroff, Mohan Kapur and Saagar Shaikh returning from Ms Marvel, and of course, for the first time since Secret Invasion was torn apart, Samuel L Jackson is back in an MCU film as Nick Fury - along with a few MAJOR cameos throughout the film that *finally* set off future development into Phase 5 (and beyond). It might’ve been Marvel’s worst opener to date, partly because of the strike and the internet’s response to Larson - but for the first time in a while, I can see where this is going. Over to you Shawn Levy - bring us Deadpool 3 in a state that’s worth the wait.

THE VERDICT

The Marvels is a perfectly fine - not a great - MCU film that gets the job done in under 2 hours. Had SAG/AFTRA not been on strike it would’ve fared better at the box office, but considering the impact this film - and particularly the last 10 minutes have - on the rest of the Multiverse Saga to come, off the back of Loki’s season 2 finale it feels like Kevin Feige, once again, had a long term plan… but we just didn’t know it yet.

RATING: 3.5/5