345: The Marvels

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[00:01:06] 53. Let's get to another new film. Changing it up a little bit this week again.

[00:01:12] Let's get to the Marvels, which is the latest MCU installment. Came out late last year in 2023 and it's on Disney Plus now to stream.

[00:01:22] It's directed by Mia D'Acoosta. It stars Brie Larson, Taiana Paris, Eman Vellani, Samuel L. Jackson, Zawi Ashton, and a few others.

[00:01:36] And the snups is Carol Danvers gets her powers entangled with those of Kamala Khan and Monica Rambo, forcing them to work together to save the universe.

[00:01:48] So we did review the first Captain Marvel on the show way back when, and I liked it a fair bit.

[00:01:54] I really like Brie Larson. She's really grown on me a lot over the years.

[00:01:57] I didn't love her when she first got started, but I think since she was in room and then when she got to be Captain Marvel,

[00:02:04] I was a big fan of hers and happened ever since.

[00:02:08] But when this one was announced and leading up to it, I just every single trailer that I saw any still images as I think many were thinking the same for when I understood.

[00:02:22] Very uninterested. It looks so generic.

[00:02:26] And it's no shock to say that the MCU is definitely in a bit of a gray area right now because after in game, they're trying to figure out, I guess, trying to figure out where to go next and what they're leading to because right now it does feel fairly directionless.

[00:02:42] And there has still been a good amount of movies since in game that I have enjoyed and even enjoyed a fair bit, but it does lack the drive that the original few phases had.

[00:02:55] And just got around to seeing this one in the last week had some time and I didn't have a whole lot of interest in seeing it, but I did want to cover it on the show.

[00:03:04] And since I've seen all the other MCU movies.

[00:03:07] And overall, I think I'm with the general masses here as I talked about on my letterbox review.

[00:03:14] I think it's pretty bad.

[00:03:15] I don't think it's horrible, but it was so land and underdeveloped.

[00:03:21] I thought the direction, it's not horrible.

[00:03:24] And it is directed by the woman who did the Candyman remake, which I have not seen yet.

[00:03:29] I don't want to watch it at some point though.

[00:03:31] But the direction feels so insignificant.

[00:03:36] I guess if that makes sense, it really does feel in terms of the pacing, how scenes are structured, the overall flow of the story.

[00:03:43] It does feel like an extended TV pilot.

[00:03:45] Like this is something that would be the first episode of a Captain Marvel or the Marvel's show on Disney Plus.

[00:03:51] It breezed through scenes that that scenes were so short and never had time at all to really think about what they were saying.

[00:03:59] The dialogue, like I'm fine with sci-fi space intergalactic jargon in terms of dialogue, like worlds and portals and all that stuff.

[00:04:10] But I don't know if it was just overkill in this or if it was how it was presented in direction and writing and all that.

[00:04:17] But the dialogue was so nonsensical.

[00:04:21] I could not follow anything that they were saying about what was happening, why they were not to spoil anything too much.

[00:04:28] But like the switching back and forth between the different characters, like I even know how to explain it properly.

[00:04:34] But that whole thing didn't make sense to me.

[00:04:38] I didn't know much at all about town of Paris or Miss Marvel.

[00:04:43] I was very unengaged.

[00:04:45] The villain is terrible.

[00:04:47] Like don't know anything about her.

[00:04:49] The performance is fine.

[00:04:51] But there's like one cutscene away to develop her backstory and why she's doing what she's doing.

[00:04:57] But even that is really low hanging fruit and something we've seen many times before.

[00:05:03] And as I've talked about a lot on the show over the years, one reason I typically prefer DC is because Marvel's villains are typically not very good.

[00:05:12] Not always.

[00:05:13] I think the MCU has a few really good ones like the Winter Soldier, but this is a perfect showcase as to Marvel not having a strong villain or not caring enough about the villain to develop it.

[00:05:25] Because typically if you have a good villain that helps to develop the hero too and to drive them to do what they're doing in the movie and you get behind them.

[00:05:36] And in this there's none of that.

[00:05:37] So I didn't care about the conflict between the two of them.

[00:05:41] I didn't really care about the whole intergalactic big world issues.

[00:05:45] I think one of the only scenes that really stuck out to me was the civilization that they come across that they speak entirely through song.

[00:05:53] I thought that was kind of interesting.

[00:05:54] And then the whole dance thing.

[00:05:56] I thought that was charming.

[00:05:57] But besides that, so forgettable.

[00:06:01] Visually it's okay.

[00:06:02] I think the special effects are good, but that sort of comes with the territory.

[00:06:05] I really like Brie Larson's Captain Marvel.

[00:06:07] As I said, like I think overall she's just a very, very good actor.

[00:06:10] I like the design of the character and I think her moral and ethical grounding is something that I really attached to and I really connect with.

[00:06:19] So I am always invested in what she's doing and what she's saying, but everything else not so much.

[00:06:25] So I think it's probably the worst MCU movie maybe since Endgame.

[00:06:33] And I'm trying to think if there's anything else that comes to mind, but this is definitely a dud.

[00:06:38] And I don't know if Marvel, in terms of the last few movies that have not done all that well.

[00:06:46] I don't know if they saw that coming and they were thinking, all right, we need to take a break.

[00:06:49] Or this was just a natural break point where they're just doing one or two movies a year for a little while, which I think is very, very smart.

[00:06:58] But I'm glad that the Marvels is a endpoint in some ways because I don't have superhero fatigue as I talked about on the Madam Web show.

[00:07:08] But there's something going on in the superhero movie world that is lacking.

[00:07:13] And this is a perfect, perfect showcase for almost all of those problems.

[00:07:19] Sadly.

[00:07:20] So check it out if you must.

[00:07:22] It's diverting enough.

[00:07:23] It's not too long.

[00:07:24] I appreciate that, but not much else.

[00:07:28] So that is a two out of five.