“The Marvels” is what I look for in a comic book movie, and has been a film I’ve been looking forward to seeing almost all year.
“Ant Man and The Wasp: Quantumania,” “Secret Invasion” and “Thor: Love and Thunder” have all been real hard oofs for me, and “Loki: Season 2” is dealing with time travel shenanigans that even this “Doctor Who” fan (less than two weeks to new episodes) is struggling to follow.
Mostly, “The Marvels” is something zany and fun. It does not take itself too seriously, but plays with tropes you might find in other genres of films, it offers comedy, spectacle and action in equal parts, while not losing focus on the characters.
That includes body/power swapping of our heroes and basically throwing one of the trios into situations they are not possibly equipped to handle, like the other Captain Marvels would be.
It helps that I like much of the talent on the camera and behind the scenes. Nia DaCosta’s films “Little Woods” and the reboot of “Candyman” have both been favorites of mine, and I was excited to see what she’d do with a Marvel movie. I think she nailed a lot more than she faltered at, and the areas that didn’t work for me were the ones producer Kevin Feige needed to connect to the overarching continuity elements of shows and movies.
Iman Vellani has been one of the best casting decisions Marvel made for Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel. Yes, the television show changed a lot of her power set and shape shifting to blue forcefields and other things that do not make as much sense as her first comic appearances. But she gets the aspect of young teenager enamored with Carol Danvers and working alongside her down in spades in this movie, and her family and spanning two worlds in the series “Ms. Marvel” was one of my recent favorite Marvel properties. She also has a lot invested in Kamala outside of representing her on screen, as Vellani is currently writing the new Ms. Marvel comics.
This movie has one of the issues that have plagued Marvel projects for a number of years – an inconsequential villain.
It truly comes to life, however, when each of the people who hold a portion of the moniker Marvel are interacting with one another.
And apparently I’ve gotten to be this guy as I’ve aged – it clocks in at just under two hours, a reprieve from Marvel and DC’s tendency to bloat films.
What is more, it’s here at the Bijou up until the week of Thanksgiving, when they get “Disney’s Wish.”