The Marvels
Girl power is given a major set-back in the female-centric, maddest Marvel yet.
Less than marvellous: Teyonah Parris
Malfunctioning jump points can be a problem. There has been a massive surge in the universe, resulting in a residual effect on all sorts of wormholes. Energy is leaking all over the shop. Matters are further compounded when our only hope for salvation – Captain Marvel – is transposed into the body of a 16-year-old schoolgirl. So the splintering universe of the franchise has been metamorphosed into a body-swap comedy, and then some. The powers that be have been so eager to break the mould that they have thrown everything into the blender, in the process producing the cinematic equivalent of a highly suspect homemade soup.
The sad part of all this is that Carol Danvers herself – aka Captain Marvel – played with spark and self-deprecating humour by the excellent Brie Larson, is the most engaging protagonist in the entire MCU. But her superpowers are so prodigious and her feats of split-second intergalactic travel so instantaneous, that she makes a colleague like Iron Man look like a grub. And as The Marvels is almost entirely created in a computer, it is hard to engage with anything on screen on a remotely emotional level. Flash, bang, wallop, and another impossible obstacle has been vaulted.
Here, the aforementioned rip in the multiversal membrane has unleashed a whole new law of physics, where the ebullient Kamala (the Karachi-born Iman Vellani), an über-fan of Captain Marvel, can turn light into physical matter. And so, as the cosmic combat ensues, sitting rooms, cities and entire worlds are reduced to rubble, while a new super-villainess (Zawe Ashton) emerges to wreak untold havoc. All this is so disappointing, all the more so as the prospect of a female superhero, a female director (the oh-so promising Nia DaCosta), three female scenarists, a female villain and two female sidekicks had the potential to provide something far more human and intelligent than the usual sci-fi fodder. But all we get is more brawn, more fighting and more CGI.
Initially, DaCosta’s The Marvels proves quite entertaining, even challenging (in a good way), but then a sense of desperation sets in as the whole thing turns into a pantomime of tacked-on skits. One such tonal diversion might have reaped dividends, but a Disney lampoon in which the characters break into song (!) and another that is a full-blown pastiche of Cats (complete with Barbra Streisand’s rendition of ‘Memory’), is a major malfunction. To paraphrase one character, it’s a major skitshow.
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Cast: Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris, Iman Vellani, Zawe Ashton, Gary Lewis, Park Seo-joon, Zenobia Shroff, Mohan Kapur, Saagar Shaikh, Leila Farzad, Abraham Popoola, Samuel L. Jackson, Tessa Thompson, Hailee Steinfeld, Lashana Lynch, Kelsey Grammer.
Dir Nia DaCosta, Pro Kevin Feige, Screenplay Nia DaCosta, Megan McDonnell and Elissa Karasik, Ph Sean Bobbitt, Pro Des Cara Brower, Ed Catrin Hedström and Evan Schiff, Music Laura Karpman, Costumes Lindsay Pugh, Sound Tim Nielsen, Dialect coaches Sarah Shepherd and Thom Jones.
Marvel Studios-Walt Disney Studios.
104 mins. USA. 2023. UK and US Rel: 10 November 2023. Cert. 12A.
