[DISCUSSION] [SPOILERS] - THE MARVELS - Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris, Iman Vellani - Dir. by Nia DaCosta

Astrealix, 7 months ago

Just saw it, honestly not too bad, I see why it’s like kinda mid cuz there wasn’t really much of a climax and not like, engaging in the same way some other stuff has been, but it’s a fine movie, if you ignore the standards of the MCU, imo. I may be biased by the mid-credits scene, but it was fun — and to me that’s more important than a lot of things. Not much character development or room to breathe though, which was a shame. And no resolution for the first two planets.

Squorlple, 7 months ago (edited 7 months ago)

This might be a coincidence, but Kamala’s fantasy at the start of the movie and the music video for Beastie Boys’ “Intergalactic” are both about defending a city from a giant robot.

Anybody else feel like there were a few scenes which had too much information removed due to hasty editing? Mainly how quickly Carol flies to the Kree spaceship when the characters first start switching, and later when the movie skips over how Carol’s spaceship docked with the struggling SABER space station.

Aladna reminded me of Pabu from The Bad Batch: each is an ocean planet with a single island society holding a utopian close community.

The make-up department must be getting a break since it seems like the Kree are getting decreasingly blue and Fury’s space crew is getting decreasingly alien-looking (Skrull or otherwise).

I think there is a canonicity error in the flashback with Maria and Carol talking; Monica is said to have been “blipped”, but the term wouldn’t make sense in the usage until after Thanos’ snap was reversed. The term “dusted” would make more sense for the setting.

The mid-credits scene could potentially be in the same X-Men universe as in Multiverse of Madness, even though Maria and Prof. X are both alive in this movie’s alt universe. Since the bangles interact with time as well (as seen in the Ms. Marvel series), they could have sent Monica to an earlier point in that universe.

I feel bad for Aamir having to go almost the entire movie (a couple of days?) without his glasses. Couldn’t SABER have made him some?

canthidium, 7 months ago

I don’t know where any of the positive reviews are coming from. It was awful. Not even for a MCU movie, it was a bad movie, period. Everything is so disjointed and all over the place. There’s no explanation for things that need explanations and they over-explain things that are obvious. The villain, while having some motivation, was just weak and forgettable.

Brie Larson was in and out. Sometimes she was decent, but a lot of times felt like she was reading off cue cards. Teyonah Parris was OK, but she’s terrible at fight choreography. She kept running up and getting in position constantly and just looked off. Sam Jackson was a clown. I mean I don’t think he had a single line that wasn’t a joke. I don’t even get his characterization at all. Iman Vellani was the best thing about this film. She was a delight every time she was on screen and I love how she’s the new ‘Fury’ in recruiting the YA team. Glad to see references to the other members finally.

The whole singing planet was just…IDK. The flerkin stuff was OK but I felt wore out its welcome, especially the end there. But the mid credits scene was interesting. Beast looked kinda weird, but he seems to be a completely CGI character and not Kelsey Grammar, despite using his voice. So I wonder if the X-Men are only in that universe. It would give an explanation why we haven’t seen any mutants up until recently.

I’m still in as a long time Marvel fan, but wow, this movie was a mess.

jordanlund, 7 months ago

My big problem was on the water planet fighting the space ships, the CGI physics were terrible.

And yeah, it kind of felt like a TV movie, not a real film.

gmtom, 7 months ago

Not even for a MCU movie, it was a bad movie, period.

This implies Marvel movies are typically great movies.

MimicJar, 7 months ago

It’s funny I agree with the majority of your review, but I came out of it thinking it was OK. Better than Ant-Man Quantumania, probably about on par with Thor: Love & Thunder.

Marvel still has a lot of work to do, but this was at least a tiny step in the right direction. A tiny tiny step, but still a step in the right direction.

canthidium, 7 months ago

Lol, it was worse than both of those for me. They at least had a mostly coherent story. This felt so muddled and all over the place, like AI wrote it. Oh and I forgot to mention the cinematography. The fight scenes looked incredibly choreographed to me. Like I noticed people standing still waiting to get hit and the heroes running to their marks and then taking action. Also why was the camera right in everyone’s face during the fights all the time?

I dunno, it just didn’t work at all for me. I don’t begrudge anyone for liking it, but I felt like I was watching a movie, if that makes sense. Like I wasn’t swept in at all. Just reminded I was watching a movie constantly.

thisisdee, 7 months ago (edited 7 months ago)

It was quite fun. I think Kamala might be one of my favorite new characters. Her being around just lightens the scenes. Although I do think that the pacing is a bit rushed. Movie is less than 2 hours long so maybe they could have gone longer and give each act a bit more time.

I love musicals usually but having random songs in the middle of the movie just felt a bit awkward. Definitely funny but I found it a bit cringey.

Also that mid credits scene. They just threw X-Men right in there!

Edit to add: my biggest question to my partner when we walked out of the movie: how come now there are so many people with the power to just break reality suddenly? I hope that gets explained that’s not just “we need the movies to have bigger stakes”

MimicJar, 7 months ago

I agree that this movie has a lot of characters who just had whatever power made sense. Oh no we need to close the big hole, ah, well, I have hole closing powers now, but also I’m trapped I guess.

Kamala was my favorite character going into this film and I think she remains my favorite by the end. In fact her character was the most grounded, her powers were well established and she generally stuck to them. Carol and Monica fly off, she awkwardly asks to borrow a spaceship.

thisisdee, 7 months ago

What is that hammer made of? How does it just knock Captain Marvel so easily and somehow that + bangle = punching through space time? Are these things just way more powerful than infinity stones and just casually being used everywhere?

SuiXi3D, 7 months ago

Honestly just excited to see more of Ms. Marvel!