There’s a lot of weird stuff happening around this film. First, it was released later than planned, and second, it was released without the usual wall-to-wall guest appearances and press junkets that usuall accompany a Marvel film release. So, in the midst (or rather, close to the end) of the writers’ strike, no one should be too surprised that The Marvels had something of a soft launch. What did surprise me though, was the amount of glee floating around the Twittersphere when declaring that this was the worst weekend opening for a Marvel flick, ever. Never mind the fact that it was still the highest-grossing movie for that weekend. Without diving into the conspiracy swamp, I did wonder if there was something about the film that was attracting such vitrole.
This was a rare outing for a superhero film, in that it was fronted by not one, but three female characters, something we haven’t seen since Wakanda Forever. We also had a female villain too, in the form Zawe Ashton, who gave a creditable perfomance as the Kree Accuser, Dar-Benn.
Iman Vellani did a superb job of bringing her Ms Marvel character from the Disney+ to the big screen; same with Lashana Lynch who eased Monica Rambeau from WandaVision to make the third side of the body-swapping triangle.
So how was it? Well, formulaic, but it’s a formula that works, and Marvel can now churn them out in its sleep. And again, maybe that’s the problem, but hell, why change what you know works?
The Marvels was the usual mix of camaraderie, action, sorrow and sacrifice. The ending lacked the dynamism of the Guardians of the Galaxy Volume Ⅲ, but it was enjoyable, with a nice post-credit surprise thrown in for good measure.
Ignore the naysers; if you’re a fan of the Marvel franchise, there’s no reason why you won’t enjoy this one.