The Marvels

I am terribly sorry that genre viewer fatigue, fandom toxicity (who says there isn't any here, let them browse any discussion forum), and unfortunate timing collided here of all places. Of course, I can respect the fact that many people get lost in the universe and that this is the intersection that demonstrates most clearly that escaping from such a labyrinth is not easy. It's not just about connecting two film series; here you have to immediately check out multiple TV series, where Ms. Marvel and WandaVision are an absolute must if the experience is going to make any sense. Also refresh your memory/rewatch Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame, arrange an approximate timeline, remember all the features that this shuffled universe includes, will include, or could include. It's an endless task; and just because I enjoy it, it doesn't mean everyone else does too, and honestly, going to the cinema to unwind yet not being able to relax completely is a completely understandable objection. Unfortunately, I feel that the audience here has refused even to meet the film halfway, and of course that will inevitably harm the result. And when they're down, why not kick them again. Marvels shines with unparalleled light for me. I don't know exactly how they did it, because the script is a bit messy in terms of genre, connecting the main Marvels with Monica could have ended up as a forced digression, but just the opposite. The power of friendship, that ordinary driving force of many adventure blockbusters, is in first place here, with a classic smaller team in second, and fighting an understandable villain in strange new worlds in third. It recalls classic adventure movies, where there is humor, likable actors, beautiful actresses, and super heroes the viewer wants to see over and over again. All of that is here, on a silver platter. Don't let this feast disgust you, one day we will miss it. (2023-12-22)

The Marvels relies on an all-female (super)heroic cast, but this can have its pitfalls. I'll start by saying that I was expecting a more feminist-tinged charge, but The Marvels keeps a pretty low profile in this regard. What couldn't be overlooked, however, was the very blatant targeting of the girl audience in places: we haven't had this many girls (and babes, for which I give a thumbs up though). The BFF-line was too forced, and the post-credit scene only sealed this "blatant targeting". But whatever! Fortunately, The Marvels has an optimal running time and offers clear and brisk action, but it also has a reprehensibly bland villain and a couple of WTF-moments (the Bollywood-tinged visit to Aladna was, ahem, weird). All in all, marginally better than Ant-Man 3. (2023-11-12)

A below-average and obviously mismanaged Marvel film, which impresses with unexpectedly decent action scenes and some chemistry between the central trio. Apart from that, it can only offer a not very interesting story, boring visuals and really very poor attempts to work with the characters and their psychology. And some really really idiotic ideas. It's not a complete blunder like, say, the latest Thor, but it's not a good movie either. (2023-11-09)

Just another (boring) Marvel. I expected The Marvels to be the weakest addition mainly because of the boring characters, but in the end that's actually the only thing keeping the film afloat. Which isn't outright praise, as they're definitely not "good", it’s just that the rest of them are sadly worse. Cpt Marvel is uninteresting because she can literally do anything, Ms Marvel on the other hand is tragic because she can actually do almost nothing and the only thing that saves her is her character because as a young, natural and funny girl she's actually a pretty cool addition to the superhero family. Anyway, the rest of it is just classic generic sh*t that I'm tired of watching over and over again, and I'm really hoping that because of The Marvels’ ridiculous almost garbage rating, the studio will finally wake up and break out of this tragic loop of spinning boring repeats without any innovation. The story is boring, the villain is horribly uninteresting, the action has no juice and the whole thing is actually a completely pointless mess. The only good thing is that it's finally time for the X-Men and their connection to the universe, finally!!! (2023-11-14)

Better than Quantumania and I do believe Nia DaCosta is a talented director. The problem is that she said she wanted to make a film that her young daughter would enjoy watching. And that's it. The target audience for this mess is somewhere between the ages of five and early adolescence, and the rest of us are probably going to have a hard time digesting this over-the-top girl-power manifesto, and with a female villain who is the biggest casting blunder in the entire Marvel franchise. Yes, it's got one funny idea (the scene to the music of A.L. Webber), but watching the rest of it is only entertaining in its reassurance of how Marvel is in a downhill and doesn't know which way to go. (2024-01-18)