I would like to begin this review by saying that I was one of the five fans of the original Captain Marvel movie, as well as a big fan of the Monica /Photon character from the comics. With that being said, I walked into the theater with hope and not hate. As an award-winning screenwriter and line producer of several feature films, I’m going to rate this movie through the lens of a filmmaker and break it down into its production elements.
The movie was written and directed by Nia Decosta, who outside of 2021’s Candyman has done very little in terms of credits. Candyman was budgeted at $25mm and grossed $77mm. There is little doubt that the success of the film was mostly based on the recognizable name of the IP. The other two female writers also have small credit lists. Megan McDonnell and Elissa Karasik wrote WandaVision and Loki respectively but have no other major credits outside of Marvel.
With that in mind, this group of creators was handed a minimum production budget of $275mm, a handful of decent actors, and were told to pump out something great. Of course, this is in light of the character of Captain Marvel being disliked by most fans, while the other two characters are generally unknown. The reason for this dislike is due to the character having very little personality, no flaws, and never having to struggle for anything — as documented by many fan outlets.
The Marvels goes into wide release beginning November 10th into more than four thousand theaters and one would think that the writers would address these items and correct the mistakes of the previous film. Negative. The film has very little concentration on any of the characters and takes precious time away from them to give it more important elements of the story like singing dance numbers and dozens of flerken cats.
Let’s talk about the acting. Generally, I thought the acting was good. It was very easy to see that the actors were trying very hard. Even Brie Larson, knowing the criticism that was levied upon her, attempted to give her character more personality and emotion. However, the script and dialogue held her back at every opportunity. Vellani, playing Ms. Marvel, a character I care very little about even in the comics, exudes a great persona, but comes off as annoying during several scenes. I do appreciate her acting choices in an attempt to flesh out a blandly written and tropey fan-girl character. Teyonah Parris, on the other hand, had absolutely nothing to work with other than holding a grudge against “Auntie Carol” for not coming back to Earth. Nick Fury, played by Samuel L. Jackson, and Kamala’s family are thrown in for good measure but could have been removed and no one would have been the wiser. Despite all the elements stacked against them, the actors were able to pull off some decent emotional scenes that held no weight in the overall plot of the film and were quickly forgotten.
The plot was constructed around a silly gimmick that was executed just as badly as it appeared in the trailers. The constant switching made the fight scenes hard to follow and became stale very quickly. Dar’Benn, the villain, could not have been flatter and her motivations were revealed far too late in the film. Also, her plans are silly and make no sense even in a sci-fi setting. This plot point reminded me of Space Balls’ classic line — “Suck, suck, suck.” This harkens back to the faltering writing and directing where the concentration is not on the characters but on all the “wackiness” going on around them. There are no personal stakes in the film. The writers throw out plot points that should be personal to the characters, but they never land. They don’t even bother to throw in a Kryptonite for Carol and leave her as an indestructible superhero with no flaws. They gleaned nothing from the criticisms of the first film. The sacrifice that is made in the third act could have been easily rectified.
The costumes were hit-and-miss. I saw several renditions of the Photon costume on the internet that looked better than the costume seen in the film. One with white boots that were very symmetrical and eye-catching. The first Captain Marvel costume seen in the film was simplified and sleek, but the second design harboring the huge star on her chest should never have been approved. It’s extremely ugly and gaudy as is the Ms. Marvel costume that looks like a series of paint cans thrown up on the fabric. The princess dress on the singing planet was probably the best design in the film. The most costume changes belonged to Dar’Benn whose designs got better as the movie went on. The alien costumes, however, are nothing to talk about and are as generic as they come. It was obvious that very little thought went into them.
The hair and makeup department went on vacation during the alien planet scenes and didn’t bother doing anything unique whatsoever. All the aliens looked like people you’d bump into during a leisurely walk around Central Park or down 5th Ave. In the comics, the Kree are blue-skinned, which they mostly held to in the first film, but here, they threw accuracy to the wind and apparently, there are every race of humans mingled throughout the universe. This included the casting of Park Seo-Joon of Parasite fame as the prince. He even spouted a very thick Asian accent without explanation of the trio having universal translators. As a sci-fi lover as well as the producer of a Star Trek pilot, I found this lack of effort extremely disappointing. On the other hand, I did like the hair department’s choice to pin up both Carol’s and Monica’s hair on one side. At least that brought something different to their looks.
The special effects were decent and there were no scenes that stood out as incredibly bad or amateurish as in some other Marvel and DC projects. Thank goodness for that. However, some of the planets looked like something out of Lord of the Rings rather than a sci-fi movie. It looked as if the project was given to a group of production designers who knew very little about the sci-fi sandbox in which they were supposed to play.
Arguably one of the most important parts of the final cut of any film is the music. The role was yanked from Pinar Toprak, who, in my opinion, did a great job scoring the first film, and given to Laura Karpman. Her credits include Ms. Marvel and What If…? I am a big fan of movie scores and this one was lacking in every degree. There were no heroic crescendos where I felt the power of the characters, or orchestration where I felt the villainous might of the antagonist. Gone of the days of the Imperial March and welcome the bland drone-like score of The Marvels. One I will not be purchasing from iTunes.
Lastly, let’s talk about the end credit scene. I won’t spoil anything. There are two, but don’t waste your time waiting for the credits to be completed – there’s nothing there. The one featuring Kamala felt a bit out of place for her character and I wasn’t sure if it was a Multiverse version of her at first. I did like seeing the character she interacted with. The second features Monica where we see a hint of some upcoming characters to be revealed in future MCU films. Let’s hope Feige can get his act together before then.
Overall, I’d give this a 3.5 out of 10 only due to the actors trying to squeeze something out of a garbage script. I predict the film will make less than $60mm on opening weekend and less than $300mm for its entire run, which will leave it as a $200mm loss for Disney. Sorry, Bob, your butt is still in the ringer.
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