With the Marvel Entertainment Universe having expanded to 33 feature films and more than two dozen TV shows, prepping for the next chapter in the never-ending saga entails more research and timeline-checks than getting ready to see “Oppenheimer.” Then again, there’s almost always that scene(s) where the main characters stop in their tracks to discuss what’s happening, why it’s happening and what they need to do next; it’s the next best thing to them turning to the camera and addressing us directly to explain what’s going on.
We get one of those scenes in the flat, uneven and wholly unmemorable “The Marvels,” but by then, it’s too little, too late, as we’re just not that invested in this lightweight romp. “The Marvels” has a kind of 1990s B-movie vibe throughout and is neither as funny nor as engaging and warm as it tries to be, despite the best efforts of the talented director Nia DaCosta (2021’s “Candyman”) and a trio of gifted and enormously likable leads in Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris and Iman Vellani.
This is a direct sequel to the far superior “Captain Marvel” and takes place after events in the TV series “Ms. Marvel,” “Secret Invasion” and “Wandavision,” with the action set primarily off-Earth, on various green-screen ships and planets that aren’t particularly stunning or original. Even more regrettably, some of the battle sequences are clumsily staged and at times come across as only slightly improved updates on the fights on the old “Batman” TV series, only with CGI enhancement.
“The Marvels” picks up with Larson’s Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel dealing with some complicated memories as she does her solo thing in space, accompanied by that Flerken cat creature Goose, who as you might recall can shoot fanged tentacles from its mouth and can gobble up everything in sight, including entire humans. (And you think your friend’s cat is a force to be avoided.)
When Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury asks Carol to investigate some sort of anomalous wormhole, her powers become inextricably linked to those of her estranged niece, Capt. Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) and the New Jersey fan-girl-turned-superhero Kamala Khan aka Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani). It’s not exactly the Multiverse; it’s more like the old Switcheroo-Verse, or as Monica explains it, “She’s entangled our light-based powers, so we switch places whenever we use them.”
Who’s “she”? Glad you asked! That would be our medium-level main villain, the Kree leader Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton), who has taken possession of one of those magical bangle deals — it’s half of a pair, with the other bangle attached to Kamala — and will stop at nothing to obtain Kamala’s bangle in her quest to destroy everything that is near and dear to Carol, whom she refers to as “The Annihilator” and not without some justification. (It’s complicated. It’s ALL complicated.)
That’s your movie right there. After Carol and Monica resolve their issues— which date backs to the death of Monica’s mother, who was Carol’s best friend — they team up with the still awestruck Kamala to form, well, “The Marvels.” That’s pretty awesome, and the three actors have a fun and natural chemistry together, as they try to figure out how to stop Dar-Benn, with the obligatory, CGI-fueled battle sequences popping up every 20 minutes or so. Still, even with a running time of just 1 hour and 45 minutes, “The Marvels” feels stretched thin at times. We get comedic interludes involving Kamala’s parents and her brother, as well as two very strange and awkwardly staged scenes:
- The Marvels have to make a pit stop to the planet Aladna, where everyone is colorfully costumed and communicates via song, as if they’re in a 1950s musical. This is where we meet Prince Yan (the Korean star Seo-Jun Park, wasted in a tiny role), who has a very special connection to Carol. The entire scene feels as if it might have been more entertaining had I taken a gummy beforehand.
- Remember Goose the Flerken, the cat-creature who can gobble you up and swallow you whole, among other tricks? We get a whole flock of Flerkens in a bizarre sequence that invokes the use of a certain Broadway standard. Whatever charms the Flerken is supposed to possess, whatever comic talents it brings to the screen, I must confess are completely lost on me.
As is the case with many an MCU film, we get an appearance or two from familiar characters from other storylines, and that’s always good for a crowd-pleasing surprise. The problem with “The Marvels” begins and ends with a story that comes nowhere near the high-stakes gravitas of the most memorable superhero movies, due in large part to a second-tier villain who seems almost like an afterthought through much of the adventure. Larson, Parris and Vellani are terrific together, but they’re stuck in a mediocre vehicle.
