By Francisco Omar Fernandez Rodriguez
Staff Writer
“The Marvels” is the newest film addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). It has mixed receptions and a low box office performance for an MCU film. Despite this, I found it to be an exciting and funny movie to watch.
The film was directed by Nia DaCosta, who is the first African American woman to direct a Marvel film. She is also known for directing “Little Woods” and “Candyman.”
The story follows three main protagonists - Carol Danvers, also known as Captain Marvel, who has been mostly in space since the events of “Avengers: Endgame,” Monica Rambeau, who has been working with S.A.B.E.R. alongside Nick Fury in their space station, and Kamala Khan, also known as Ms. Marvel, a kid who lives with her family in Jersey City.
Due to some cosmic shenanigans, the three heroes start teleporting to each other’s spots. This continues to happen every time they use their powers at the same time. The Kree soldiers Carol happened to be fighting gets teleported as well, causing the fight to spread to the S.A.B.E.R. station and the Khan household as the heroes keep teleporting.
Afterwards they discover that the teleporting is caused by quantum entanglement. The three heroes team up to figure out what is happening without accidently getting warped across the galaxy, and go to deep space to investigate the Kree.
Brie Larson once again plays the role of Carol Danvers. She is known for her previous role as Captain Marvel in the MCU, as well as for many other projects including “Kong: Skull Island.”
Monica Rambeau is played by Teyonah Parris, who also played her in the Disney+ series “WandaVision.” She is also known for her starring role in the horror “Candyman,” which was also directed by DaCosta.
Kamala Khan is played by Iman Vellani, who previously played her in the Disney+ series “Ms. Marvel.” This is actually her first role in her acting career.
Samuel L. Jackson returns as Nick Fury, a fan-favorite side character who once again has some of the best moments.
Also, Goose the Flerken - a cat-shaped alien - is played by cats Nemo and Tango, replacing the previous cat actors from “Captain Marvel.”
This group of characters sets up an interesting and comedic cast that goes well together. The three heroes bounce off each other nicely.
The story is full of hilarious moments, such as the Khan family’s reactions to aliens and superheroes in their home, or Goose’s return. Although, the tone does get much heavier when the plot focuses on Carol and Monica’s history, as well as the Kree.
There are times where the writing seems to favor being funny over common sense. It is not overly frequent and I was laughing at the comedic parts anyway, so I enjoyed it. But I understand that it can feel like a mess sometimes, especially for someone used to more serious MCU films like any of the “Avengers” movies, or a “Dr. Strange” movie.
Some people are probably on the fence about watching “The Marvels” because it might be strongly related to “Ms. Marvel,” and many people skipped that show, including myself. But I still understood this film perfectly fine without watching the show, with maybe one or two small exceptions.
If you didn’t watch “Captain Marvel,” it’s still all right because “The Marvels” summarizes most of what you need to know from that movie anyway. Of course “Captain Marvel” was Captain Marvel’s origin story so it wouldn’t be a bad idea to watch it too.
Monica is from “WandaVision” but you’ll definitely be all right if you didn’t watch that either.
Kamala’s fangirling can be annoying to watch. I honestly gave up watching “Ms. Marvel” because of it. But she calms down over time, and in the meantime there are two other main characters to watch.
Despite the issues, I found this movie to be fun. The relationship between Kamala and Carol is naturally funny. The fangirl gets to fight alongside her hero.
The relationship between Monica and Carol, on the other hand, is much more serious and familial. It gets explored in more detail than it was hinted to in previous MCU entries.
Still, the writing can be a little off sometimes. Some problems don’t feel fully resolved and some answers just leave more questions. But despite this, I really enjoyed watching “The Marvels.”
Rating: A-
What a Marvel!