The Marvels - MCU

flazio

Coming to Disney+ on the 7th of February

Brief_Lives

Watched The Marvels last night. It wasn't as bad as I remember.

Iman Vellani is excellent.

Homelander

Not as bad as I expected. I actually preferred it over Captain Marvel, which I really disliked. I also preferred it over Blue Beetle, another I watched recently, which was so incredibly uninspired I stopped watching half way through and never went back.

I'd probably put it on a similar footing with something like Quantumania.

The three leads have genuinely good chemistry, Ms. Marvel was definitely the stand out. So much so I'll probably go watch Ms. Marvel now. Brie Larson was fine, villain was serviceable.

Pretty forgettable overall and the plot is extremely generic, but there is some fun to be had and it's extremely short at just 90 minutes so there's very few dull moments.

Very interesting mid-credits scene, not at all what I expected. Not sure where they're going to go with that.

Honestly though I struggle to understand the absolutely titanic budget it had.

I also think it's fair to criticise the director given she also wrote the movie. I don't see anything particularly wrong with the direction, but the story is all within an incredibly formulaic framework we've seen infinite times already.

eightieschewbaccy

I couldn't actually get through Quantumania. So this was a lot better IMHO. Not to say it was particularly good. Vellani was the life of the movie. The singing sequence and the cat scene were the strongest parts of the movie imho. The cat scene had me genuinely laughing and and those two scenes in general actually felt like the actors were enjoying their roles.

The big aspect for me that ultimately made it feel pretty poor for me was that it was so disjointed. Starting off, it felt like I'd almost joined a movie midway through. Jumping galaxies every five seconds felt like nothing had the opportunity to develop. It just felt very unmemorable.

dubstepper

Watched it Saturday and would agree that it is more enjoyable than captain Marvel. Leads good. Story ok.

I didn't really get why there were two other people with marvel powers. I may have missed a prequel or tv spin off ...

Aul' Samuel Jackson must have a pain in his balls playing that character in bit parts of those movies.

Singing was annoying

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121692192#Comment_121692192

Ms.Marvel got her powers in her own Disney+ show. Monica got her powers in the Wandavision Disney+ show.

CastorTroy

Quick summary for both given in the movie as well.

I was wondering about Kamala's powers since they seemed to be based around the bracelet yet she was still able to use them when she removed it. United it just amplifier the powers.

Trying to remember if she always had the bracelet in the series when using powers. Maybe mutant powers?

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121693941#Comment_121693941

I can barely remember, but I think because she's a descendant of whatever group, and possibly also a mutant, I think she can still use the powers to some degree. It could be a Mjolnir type of thing, where the power comes from Thor, but Mjolnir was just the tool to help him focus and use the powers better.

pjohnson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121693941#Comment_121693941

Henry said she had a mutation compared to her family in the final scene (tracked by a tease of the X-Men Theme).

And shes retconned to being a mutant and X-Man in comics now.

flazio

His name name isn't Henry. Would have been funnier if you called him Brian. But it's actually Bruno.

Kamala's great grandmother, Ayesha was a member of a celestial people called the D'jin. Something similar to the people Shang Chi comes from.

pjohnson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121694716#Comment_121694716

Ah crap he was Henry on The Walking Dead, thats what happened there!

jface187

This was one of my problems with Ms. Marvel. She got her powers from a bracelet, no she a descendent of ailen race, no she's a mutant.

Which one is it? Who knows.

Bacchus

Got round watching this recently and I thought it was pretty good. Far better than some bashing it got on release would lead you to believe. Ms Marvel was great, and was a perfect balance to the tension between Rambeau and Captain Marvel. The visual were popping in this. Crisp, clear, vibrant. The action was great too with the entanglement twist on it. This felt like Marvel got their mojo back between being character driven with action but also using humour well... the "let the Flerkins eat you" scene 😅

It's not without it's flaws though. The singing planet was immediately grating and then abandoned really quickly (thankfully). Bringing Ms Marvel's parents up to the station felt out of place and entirely unnecessary, and only served as a convenient way for Ms Marvel to interact with her parents occasionally. The villain was the biggest disappointment though. Given this is a race we're already familiar with, and the motivation and evil plan were solid, the casting of the Dar-Benn was woeful. She just had no menace about her. There was no pain or anger behind her plan or interactions with Captain Marvel. One of the limpest villains since the Dark Elf.

TheIrishGrover

Finally got around to seeing this. It is refreshing to see that, thankfully, the main positive notes about this film are in reference to Ms Marvel. Barely a woke-troll in sight.

Because she is just great. She has GREAT sense of comic timing (Hew seeing the Flerkle/cat/whatever thing eat someone for the first time is hilarious). Her infatuation/girl-crush of Captain Marvel is very funny. I enjoyed her family (But I do agree with @Bacchus that their extended use was a bit out of place). But they were funny without being annoying and she brought heart to the overall movie and I REALLY hope she has a successful career.

As for the movie... Yeah, again I agree with @Bacchus the effects, especially the larger scenes, really were very pretty. Especially when compared to the Spy-Kids level of effects of Ant-Man 3.

I actually really liked the fight scenes. They were very well planned out and dynamic (You've seen the gist in the trailers: They swap positions and use this accidentally and intentionally in fights).

But I had NO investment in any of the characters apart from Ms Marvel: Not Captain Marvel (So wooden she should be Captain Ikea). Not Rambeau (Forgettable). Not Fury (Somehow also forgettable).

Spoiler Warning

The Disney Princess planet didn't land for me. I just thought it was too silly. And yes, I DO realise the irony in saying that when you have walking/talking/fighting trees, talking racoons etc). I know it sounds silly but.... the LOGIC of them not understanding someone unless they sang didn't land for me.

I DID love Ms Marvel's reaction though and Rambeau's line along the lines of "This is gonna spawn some amount of Fan Fiction, huh?"

The baddie was a basic baddie of the week. TRYING to go for a Killmonger by attempting to give her a genuine beef but they didn't give the actor enough time/space and she just didn't have the gravitas.

I get that they were trying something different and fun in the climactic scenes but, again, I just don't think it worked.

I was never gone on the original movie. Not for some neckbeard moaning about "females" but simply because I wasn't gone on the performances and also the fact that her character was so powerful that they had to "Poochie" her in the last Avengers movies.

So, it's not terrible. It's not great. The characters are dull, unlikeable or forgettable. With the exception of Ms Marvel. The effects are well done. The fights are dynamic and fun. But it just doesn't hold together. I saw it on Disney +. I will complete Ms Marvel on the back of this. But I'm glad I didn't fork out extra money to see this in cinema

pixelburp

I do have this in my backlog but ... I dunno. I'd jump if this was some hidden gem but "not as bad as the box office suggests" ain't a low enough bar that it keeps the film from being passed-out by other films in my watchlist.

Quantumania and Secret Invasion was the one-two punch that killed my enthusiasm for the MCU stone dead it seems; haven't been able to get over both since. Guardians 3 felt like a last hurrah from a creative force no longer present in the franchise.

TheIrishGrover

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121806317#Comment_121806317

And I can understand that Ant-Man 3, as I've said before, looked like a Spy-Kids movie without the fun and at least their hard lean into green-screen was partially a stylistic choice.

And as for Secret Wars: How do you take such an interesting idea and make it SO dull (And the less said about the climactic fight, the better. Just look at the Pitch Meeting sketch for that)

And, TBH, that's what Marvels is: "Not as bad as you'd think" but that's about it.

LambshankRedemption

How do you take such an interesting idea and make it SO dull 

That was my sum up of Venom 2.

Admittedly my expectations were set pretty low for Venom 1, but I loved it. So with Venom 2, co-starring one of my favourite actors, Woody Harrelson, I had maybe set my expectations too high. So yeah, how do you take an interesting idea, two established characters, two great leads, and then make such a dull movie?

pjohnson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121806317#Comment_121806317

Iman Vellani is literally the sole thing that makes this watchable.

Gary_dunne

Recently watched this after not giving it a chance for a long time because of the negative reviews I'd heard about it. Decided it'd be an easy enough hangover watch and was pleasantly surprised by it. Yes there was some very poor CGI, not a great villain etc but it didn't deserve the hammering it's taken.

A very easy watch, probably won't ever get a re-watch just a solid 6/10 B grade superhero movie.

eightieschewbaccy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121807456#Comment_121807456

The cats were also pretty entertaining but felt like a much more fun movie.