Movies THE MARVELS (Dragonlord's Review; Worst MCU Second-Weekend Drop with 78%)

If you have seen THE MARVELS, how would you rate it?

  • Total voters
    92
The Clinch said:
Bringing back RDJ, Evans, or anyone else that’s “done” in a “full time” capacity will be the death of the MCU.

Recast the characters they portrayed via “multiverse shenanigans”.

It’s basically admitting they are creatively bankrupt bringing back actors that have moved on.
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I mean, comics have this problem/solution - whenever you need the characters to stay the same age or whatever, you create a different universe or retcon everything.

I'm not sure this works in movies. Sure, it's been fun the first few times, but then no casual viewer is "connected" to whatever happens in one of the universes. I was invested in the Phase 1-3. I was gasping for air when Infinity war ended. If it's "just one" of the millions of universes? Meh, who cares.
 
I thought the movie was fun if nothing great. Doesn’t live up to the standards of the Infinity Saga films.

One thing I did like, plot-wise, was how it recontextualizes what was going on in the background with the Kree Empire during the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie.

  • Why is the Kree Empire ruled by an Emperor at the time instead of the Supreme Intelligence? Because Captain Marvel already made good on her promise to Yon-Rogg and came to Hala to destroy the Supreme Intelligence.
  • Why did the Kree Empire decide to sign a peace treaty with the Nova Empire after 1000 years of war? Both because the warmongering Supreme Intelligence was dead and because the Kree Empire was busy fighting a civil war, probably for years already at that point. Fighting a foreign war at the same time you have a civil war at home is a big No No.
  • All those "riots" the newscasts talk about across the Kree Empire at the start of the film as a result of the signing of the peace treaty? The Kree Civil War escalating.
  • Why doesn't the Kree Empire give a shit or lift a finger to intervene when one of its top military leaders goes rogue and starts a genocidal campaign that might trash the peace treaty they just signed? Because they can't actually do anything with their attention caught up by a civil war. For them it's probably a relief that Ronan is off on his personal crusade against Xandar instead of joining one of the factions in the civil war.
 
The constant thing I'm hearing about this film is that Kamala Khan is the best thing about the film.
 
Are there any rats or rodent like creatures in this film? My favorite part of marvels movies has always been the "rat scenes", where they feature rats, or give backstories to rodents.
 
JadeOwl said:
I thought the movie was fun if nothing great. Doesn’t live up to the standards of the Infinity Saga films.

One thing I did like, plot-wise, was how it recontextualizes what was going on in the background with the Kree Empire during the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie.

  • Why is the Kree Empire ruled by an Emperor at the time instead of the Supreme Intelligence? Because Captain Marvel already made good on her promise to Yon-Rogg and came to Hala to destroy the Supreme Intelligence.
  • Why did the Kree Empire decide to sign a peace treaty with the Nova Empire after 1000 years of war? Both because the warmongering Supreme Intelligence was dead and because the Kree Empire was busy fighting a civil war, probably for years already at that point. Fighting a foreign war at the same time you have a civil war at home is a big No No.
  • All those "riots" the newscasts talk about across the Kree Empire at the start of the film as a result of the signing of the peace treaty? The Kree Civil War escalating.
  • Why doesn't the Kree Empire give a shit or lift a finger to intervene when one of its top military leaders goes rogue and starts a genocidal campaign that might trash the peace treaty they just signed? Because they can't actually do anything with their attention caught up by a civil war. For them it's probably a relief that Ronan is off on his personal crusade against Xandar instead of joining one of the factions in the civil war.
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That’s how I felt about it. Entertaining enough. Its biggest issue is that it feels so uneventful at the end of the day. As others have said- end of the world type stakes in the narrative but it doesn’t feel that way at all.

I thought the interaction between Danvers, Kamala, and Rambeau was really the main selling point of the film. They did a good job of that- all three actresses did well- and it didn’t fall into typical cliches you might see in an impromptu superhero team up story- ie dissension in the ranks, falling out before resolving differences and coming back together, etc .

some funny lines here and there though, as with a lot of MCU movies, a lot of humor that fell flat too. Vellani was great and the actors playing her family had a lot of screen time to the extent I almost felt like I was watching an extended episode of the series.

I’m sure on paper the switching/teleportation seemed like a good idea (and it actually wasn’t badly done from an editing/fight sequence perspective) but it felt narratively odd to me and inconsistent at times. Probably could have come up with a better way to unite the three characters.
 
This movie just never found its footing. The script is weak. The villain was the lamest to date. I’m not entirely sure what this film adds to the MCU, or why it even exists.

At one point a main character even says “What are the odds of that..”, acknowledging how far the writers went to make this plot happen, because it is ridiculous.

It felt like Brie Larsons unease with the character was so evident on screen that they had to write it in to the movie. The writers were like, “We know you don’t feel comfortable with the character because you contributed to the destruction of the entire franchise.. so in this movie we will have you contribute to the destruction of a planets entire ecosystem.. BUT then you show that are sorry and humbled from your mistakes and ready to turn the next page and be a hero again with the help of DIVERSE GIIRLS!!”, and that’s essentially the film.

As for positives, Iman Vellani as Kamala Kahn acting like a fan girl the entire movie was charming at times, but bordered on obnoxious. Oh and there are kitties.

Teyonah Parris and Samuel L Jackson are also in the movie.

4/10


Now, I’m no MCU lore person, but can someone explain why Skrulls are good again and Fury is helping them again?

Didn’t they just covertly have a million members of their species infiltrate Earth, assume positions of power, and plot to take over the planet? Just because that one bad Skrull died, everything is cool again? Even the Skrull leader that Fury trusted betrayed him and brought more Skrull than he knew to the planet.

The only silver lining is the end credit scene. Teasing the X-Men in a Captain Marvel film makes sense, as Rogue stealing Captain Marvels powers is a major storyline, and has potential to recapture the fans if done right.
 
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liner said:
They should race swap Samuel Jackson's Nick Fury to a gruff white guy like he should be. get some howling commandos in there too. Heads would explode and ratings would go up.
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White Nick Fury even managed to impress Frank Castle himself,

"Nick Fury. Old school Cold Warrior. The original Black Ops hard case. Long before I stepped off a C130 at Da Nang, Fury and his team had set fire to half of Asia"
- Mother Russia(Punisher MAX)
 
I can honestly say that I watched Love Island Games longer than The Marvels when I was stoned wanting to wach something.
Both scenarios played out in under 3min.
 
I actually had a bit more of a favorable view of this than @Dragonlordxxxxx did.
My expectations were low, so I was pleasantly surprised that it didn't totally suck. I do agree with a lot of what Dragonlord said in regards to the power switching, characters, and the overall story---there's POTENTIAL for a lot of this stuff, and/or the start of good ideas, but it's just poorly executed a lot of the times. I thought the bigger problem was wasted potential, not that the movie was bad in and of itself.

You don't need to have seen Ms. Marvel or WandaVision to get Spectrum or Kamala's back story, but there is SO much missing/happening off screen that it hurts the movie. There are a lot of heavy things going on, but the movie breezes through and around them in a whimsical fashion so it's hard to give them the proper level of thought and feeling they deserve.

Captain Marvel should have made way MORE appearances in the MCU considering how important and powerful she is. Between the last Thor, Dr. Strange, and Guardians of the Galaxy movies, Nick Fury's secret wars, and the future projects that have to do with multiverses and galaxies, it makes no sense why they haven't had her as a more prominent figure, akin to Tony Stark. Space shit is her backyard.
If any character in the MCU needed that extra screen time, it was her. That being said, Brie is so much more likeable than in her previous appearances. I wish they highlighted her military career more so that it would help explain her prickliness.

There was great chemistry between all 3 of the female leads, there was just not enough time and work done to really cement what they showed us on screen.
I loved Kamala in her own series, and she is still her loveable self here. But the fan-girling was overdone...a lot. It doesn't really make a lot of sense why she loves Captain Marvel so much because Carol hasn't had the same public visibility of other Avengers.
While I didn't mind some of the wackiness like the singing planet and the Flerkens, it came at the expense of some really needed gap filling.

The villain was weak, but I largely don't think it was her fault. Her backstory had plenty of potential, but they just didn't do the work to build it up. This backstory is a huge part of Captain Marvel and why she's doing what she's doing, and they really glossed over this way too quickly. This should have been the third movie of the Captain Marvel series.
This is just an ongoing issue with the current state of the MCU. They spent a lot of time building up teams and characters and worlds....and then they get to multiverses and magic realms and galaxies and they just rush through it.
Overall, I enjoyed it for the most part, I'd give it a 6.7
 
SmilinDesperado said:
I actually had a bit more of a favorable view of this than @Dragonlordxxxxx did.
My expectations were low, so I was pleasantly surprised that it didn't totally suck. I do agree with a lot of what Dragonlord said in regards to the power switching, characters, and the overall story---there's POTENTIAL for a lot of this stuff, and/or the start of good ideas, but it's just poorly executed a lot of the times. I thought the bigger problem was wasted potential, not that the movie was bad in and of itself.

You don't need to have seen Ms. Marvel or WandaVision to get Spectrum or Kamala's back story, but there is SO much missing/happening off screen that it hurts the movie. There are a lot of heavy things going on, but the movie breezes through and around them in a whimsical fashion so it's hard to give them the proper level of thought and feeling they deserve.

Captain Marvel should have made way MORE appearances in the MCU considering how important and powerful she is. Between the last Thor, Dr. Strange, and Guardians of the Galaxy movies, Nick Fury's secret wars, and the future projects that have to do with multiverses and galaxies, it makes no sense why they haven't had her as a more prominent figure, akin to Tony Stark. Space shit is her backyard.
If any character in the MCU needed that extra screen time, it was her. That being said, Brie is so much more likeable than in her previous appearances. I wish they highlighted her military career more so that it would help explain her prickliness.

There was great chemistry between all 3 of the female leads, there was just not enough time and work done to really cement what they showed us on screen.
I loved Kamala in her own series, and she is still her loveable self here. But the fan-girling was overdone...a lot. It doesn't really make a lot of sense why she loves Captain Marvel so much because Carol hasn't had the same public visibility of other Avengers.
While I didn't mind some of the wackiness like the singing planet and the Flerkens, it came at the expense of some really needed gap filling.

The villain was weak, but I largely don't think it was her fault. Her backstory had plenty of potential, but they just didn't do the work to build it up. This backstory is a huge part of Captain Marvel and why she's doing what she's doing, and they really glossed over this way too quickly. This should have been the third movie of the Captain Marvel series.
This is just an ongoing issue with the current state of the MCU. They spent a lot of time building up teams and characters and worlds....and then they get to multiverses and magic realms and galaxies and they just rush through it.
Overall, I enjoyed it for the most part, I'd give it a 6.7
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Great call. Yeah I tend to agree with most of this. Villain’s most glaring problem was the screenplay made her so generic. Her motivation and backstory weren’t bad but there was nothing to really make her stand out. Can’t blame the actress. Took me a minute to realize that was Hiddleston’s fiancé as well lol. So that’s pretty cool.

Also, this might go without saying but because each scene where the villain is confronted, for the most part, involves the protagonist trio working in tandem against her, it didn’t seem to me like there was any sense of danger for them. When everybody teamed up against Thanos in the Titan battle in IW (great scene) you really got the sense that they needed all of them plus a good plan by Quill plus nebula joining in out of nowhere plus Mantis’ unique ability to get the upper hand because they had established Thanos from the opening scene of the film where he ragdolled Thor and murked The Hulk as a massively powerful force.

I don’t think this movie really established Zawe’s character as that formidable (more like she just could wield an insanely destructive force) of a fighter. So when it was Danvers, Kamala, and Rambeau vs. her in each instance, it seemed like a mismatch.

The scene with the cats was mildly amusing but felt very much like it was trying to be Gunn-lite.

Singing planet scene wasn’t so bad except that it felt like it led to nothing. Sort of a throwaway sequence. A lot of the film felt like that. The three leads’ performances and interactions deserved a better film.
 
Busgosu said:
Well tbf I don't give a flying fuck about this film and def won't watch but I stumbled upon a recent video with Brie Larson on Jimmy kimmel and was actually shocked to see how much better she looks now. def wood!!!!
brie-larson-still-kinda-hot.gif



transformers-dick.gif
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Damn. I really didn't need to see that less than two weeks into No Nut November:(
 
So, it gets a 7/10 from me. Enjoyable movie all around. Villain was pretty weak and there were some choices in story I would've changed, but pretty good movie overall. It'll suffer from a lack of marketing and two TV characters being in it that they filled some backstory in on, but I thought the protagonists were good. Brie was great in this, imo and it should've been more of a direct sequel as DL stated.
 
Watched it at an early showing at 11am on a Saturday. Including me there were 5 people there .

I actually quite enjoyed it. Liked Ms Marvel series and enjoyed her role in this. Larson wasn't too bad either . Parris was a bit meh , nice little nod to her original costume from the comics when she removed the armpit bits from her top.

Like the Khan family, good for a chuckle . The guest appearance of Goose was nice and the multiple Flerkins running around had me laughing out loud.

Thought the villain was underutilised and was a bit meh. Needed some more character development and did I miss what happened to her sidekick?
 
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