Me really only tuned into Ms. Marvel to see how many Jersey City locations they used (me moved out here when Sesame Street got to gentrified), and me was won over by Iman Vellani and watched whole thing. (Fun JC location fact: while Kamala's' high school is based on real JC high school, they used elementary school for establishing shots because it have parking lot across street where it presumably easier to set up cameras)
And me went into Marvels with low expectations, even knowing so much of anti-hype was just angry nerdbros, and me thought it was very fun night out at movies. But me agree it felt like lot of flashbacks were to Captain Marvel 2 movie that we not get to see.
Me would argue that problem with Captain Marvel as character is that she both overpowered, and not have demonstrable character flaw like Tony Stark's arrogance or Thor's insecurity or Banner's unease with being Hulk. Carol determined and kind of closed off. Which make sense for Air Force pilot who had memory erased, but it not that much fun to watch. So pairing her with someone incredibly fun to watch make perfect sense.
And that kind of sum up whole movie. On one hand, you have genocidal world-ending plot. On other hand, you have tentacle cat and planet where everyone sings. And me have seen reviewers complain about those wild shifts in tone, but me thought DaCosta handled those well — it stopped movie from being either too leaden or too frivolous. Best Marvel movies (and maybe just best movies full stop) manage to be very dark and very funny, sometimes at same time.
I had a blast with The Marvels and have been so disheartened by the discourse, which talks *around* the movie a lot, but not *about* the movie. And the movie was incredibly fun! Yes, there was some wacky stuff in there, and not all of it worked, but the humor was great, the relationships between the three were great, the action was great, and Iman Vellani (and Kamala's family) stole the whole thing. Ms. Marvel is one of my favorites of the Disney+ shows precisely because it feels like a breath of fresh air and I felt that here, too. It's such a shame more people won't see it because of the dreaded Discourse.
I do think both The Marvels and Captain Marvel were hamstrung by a bad story choice: wiping Carol's memory. In the first movie it left her blank, giving little for the audience to hook into in the character, which is a real problem when we should love our lead. It's mystifying that they continued with that here, not restoring her full memories. Yes, part of this is Brie Larson, sorry to say, but they could easily have fixed this problem and just...didn't. And her lack of memories wasn't even relevant to this story! Bizarre.
Still, I think The Marvels will be one of the movies that will be an enjoyable rewatch on its own (a la CA: TWS) unlike a lot of these. I'll see it again!
It's such a bummer that The Marvels is going to have the recent MCU issues nailed to it in this fashion, because the movie is such a delight. Particularly given how dark and dour the franchise has been lately (looking at you, Eternals, Quantummania, basically every D+ series), this was such a breath of fresh air. Iman Vellani gave one of the most fun performances in any Marvel property for a while now, and the movie has the single most demented musical cue in MCU history to boot.
This was what I liked about (the also-underrated IMO) Hawkeye. It was just a goofy show for the most part: the universe wasn’t at stake, the bad guys were called the tracksuit mafia. I for one am looking forward to one of those things that was teased at the end of The Marvels, in hopes it will continue this more upbeat attitude.
I'm much more looking forward to that thing happening than Thunderbolts, to the point where if I were Feige I'd fast track it (as a movie!) to get it on the schedule soon. There are enough charismatic stars involved that I think it'd really help get the MCU back on track. (Also, related to Hawkeye, when are we getting that Steinfeld-Pugh "Hawkeye and the Black Widow" movie?)
It's funny you mention how dour it's become. One of my younger colleagues who is 24 and grew up with the MCU movies summed it up as "enough with the trauma". Her argument was that all the films post-Infinity War have largely been bogged down in the trauma of the blip.
Which is understandable but after years of movies about that, plus having gone through Covid and everything, she's been reticent to check out some of the MCU stuff as a result.
Joanna Robinson's talked a lot recently about how the MCU has just been hit with so much bad luck lately; that's a great example. The properties coming after Endgame HAD to deal with the fallout from the blip, and were always going to have that tone. What they never could have expected was that it would come at a time when the world would also be going through mass, collective trauma that would make audiences less receptive to those storylines when they just wanted a brief escape from the real world.
Falcon and the Winter Soldier was another good example of that bad luck - if they'd been able to use the rumored original storyline of a pandemic-like weapon, the show may not have been so choppy and confusing. But given real world events, they didn't have a choice.
FWIW, I'm with your coworker. Time for the MCU to get back to that levity that lifted it up in the first place.
Yes very much so. There's been an astonishing amount of bad luck.
Plus, having had to skip 2020 and cramming so many films into 2021-23 meant that it all felt like they were coming at once and dwelling on it, something which would have been less pronounced had it been more spread out.
I really enjoyed it! I've realized that what I really want from these projects (Disney+ stuff or the actual movies) is to hang out with cool characters. I have no real expectations regarding plot, because ultimately none of it matters with this type of storytelling. So, give me good times with cool characters, please!
The Marvels really nailed a who slew of things, and the fun characters and great character moments top the list for me. It was a solid B of a movie for me, and that's pretty much what I want. In contrast, I agree that the most recent Ant-Man was a total slog and felt like the opposite of what I wanted (it went heavily into world-building and plot and lore and the characters just had zero time to exist and have fun).
If I could tweak anything about The Marvels, it would be giving the characters more time with each other, and doing less to either bridge the gap to past/future projects. I truly think that this movie was fantastic (a... marvel?) at juggling waaaay too many components. I think pretty much any film would've buckled under the pressure of doing everything this movie was asked to do, and I think that's the MCU issue in a nutshell. Things are either too connected, or not connected enough, they're ether too insubstantial, or too world-changing, and they just can't win. What they need to do is just tell good stories with the characters, and they're actively sacrificing that to give us easter eggs and past/future references. Love the characters and the cast, and I think I'm just tired of not allowing stuff to be its own thing, and instead feeling like it's all a middle chapter.
It feels like Disney wants to have their cake and eat it to, in so many ways, including Disney+ itself. They want me to pay for this service, and also shell out 15$ for the theater experience, you know? Loki S2 really worked for me, so it isn't like I'm against MCU stuff, but maybe what I want is changing (or becoming clear to me).
ALSO, I'm super bummed this didn't do well, and I'm worried that all the wrong lessons will be learned.
I largely agree with all of this, but just want to add that I actually think Monica is supposed to be Carol's "Bucky" here — an emotional link between the two films despite their decades-apart settings. In fact, I actually wish the movie had been longer to give the Carol/Monica dynamic a little more time to breathe, which I really think could've elevated this from a fun romp to something more genuinely impactful.
Yeah, there's not nearly enough time to establish that link. I'd argue that as much as I fundamentally appreciate the desire to be under two hours, the film both rushes its way into its central conflict and cuts off its climax prematurely.
Thank god for the cast because the boring plotting, pointless villain, and over editing did this movie no favours.
Ms. Marvel was one of my favourites of the shows, my biggest worries were that they’d tone her down for a film and/or get rid of the family. The fact that neither of those things happened, and that the four leads mostly worked together well (as you say, Monica was given the boring role here) saved the movie for me.
I would rather have seen a movie about Carol fixing the problems she caused with the help of the other two, instead of watching more Skrull misery porn and engaging in punchups with gender-swapped Ronan.
Oh yeah and: I'm surprised that very little of the discourse around the "failure" of The Marvels at the box office mentions that because of the strike the stars weren't able to do press to promote it. That seems relevant.
The Marvels is OK but nothing much more than that. Very mid if enjoyable. I'm more sad that Eternals is not getting more respect and there might never be a followup to its space-adventure setup.
Regarding continuity: according to the new MCU book, apparently the initial idea was for Wanda to become slowly corrupted and then do a heel turn at the end of 'Multiverse of Madness,' so a future movie would have her as a full-blown villain. It was writer Mike Waldron's to have Wanda be the villain upfront rather than build to it.
Oh wow interesting. That would have been cool to see in a way we didn't get to see in the comics either (see her sudden heel-turn in Avengers Disassembled back in 2004)
Lol they haven’t even got a follow up mention of the giant hand sticking out of the Pacific Ocean that should be wreaking havoc on global sea levels and shipping routes, if not the rotational stability of the planet itself.
(And which I now see has already been mentioned elsewhere in the comments.)
Pretty sure the hand thing is relatively minor following the blip. I mean, there have been something like 5 events that should've upended the foundations of civilization already. Though I would like to indeed see Eternals having some acknowledgment.
I really enjoyed The Marvels as well. The light tone, the cast, the special effects and the short run time hit just the right way for me. I absolutely adore Kamala Khan and her family and really hope we get to see more of them in the future.
Guardians Vol.3 is probably the better movie but I had a lot more fun with this one though it's trying to do a lot less weighty stuff.
I've been a lot less down on the recent years of Marvel than many others but my observations would be this.
There's been a lot of content. I've struggled to keep up with it and some of it hasn't been as good for sure. Secret Invasion particularly.
Of the post-2019 films:
Black Widow: Totally fine with some good moments but it felt very lacking in urgency and a step backwards given it was set years earlier after Civil War. I haven't rewatched it since the cinema but I remember finding it to be totally while a bit underwhelming.
Shang-Chi: I really like about two things of this film - the last third with the giant dragons and everything was a bit of a come down after the amazing first two thirds. I loved the martial arts stuff, Trevor etc. All good fun.
Eternals: Beautiful but Christ it was dull and felt like everyone was on valium. It wasted some great actors on really uninspiring stuff. Though I'd argue that in a positive, at least it calmed down the rampant 'Jack Kirby was a genius who did no wrong in his career" narrative that's popped up in recent years.
No Way Home: Loved it. Absolute blast from start to finish.
Multiverse of Madness: I enjoyed this one far more apparently that most people. I remember coming away from the cinema smiling if nothing else.
Love and Thunder: Not my favourite Marvel film but again, totally fine and one that I apparently liked far more than many other people.
Wakanda Forever: Mostly enjoyed it though it felt overstuffed and with a whole bunch of stuff that was tacked on (The Ironheart stuff particularly). Losing Boseman hurt it deeply but the rest of the cast were absolutely brilliant. But it did feel underwhelming comparative to the first film.
Quantumania: I mostly enjoyed it at the time and thought Kang came across as an interesting villain. It felt like this just didn't belong in an Ant-Man movie and was all over the place. The special effects were awful too for reasons which have been made clear.
Guardians Vol.3: Really good film but one I struggled with, specifically the animal cruelty scenes. But it wasn't a film I forgot in a hurry, the soundtrack was good and it felt like a fitting end.
I’m so irritated by the discourse around this movie. It is so much better than the articles would have you believe. And I worry that we won’t get female-led Marvel movies in the future because of how this one was covered.
I'm not sure if I'll see this one in theatres, but then, barring a few exceptions mostly named Spider-Man and Black Panther, I'm still somewhere in 2021 in terms of MCU continuity. I've seen none of Ms. Marvel (though it's at the top of my MCU list), so the release of a new MCU film usually just means I try to catch up on older content. A release for a release, let's say lol.
I think this is one of the big issues - there's so MUCH content right now that it feels daunting to catch up. In theory, you'd need to watch Captain Marvel, Infinity War/Endgame, WandaVision, Ms. Marvel, and Secret Invasion to be fully ready for this. In reality, I don't think it's spoiling anything to say that if you've only seen the movies you'll be just fine. WandaVision and Ms. Marvel are explained in a couple lines of dialogue, and Secret Invasion has already been memory-holed along with the giant hand presumably still sticking out of the Pacific Ocean somewhere. It seems pretty clear that Marvel has realized this is a problem and is trying to correct it.
Doesn't help that I'm a churn customer for Disney+. I subscribe when I'd otherwise spend like 5$ on YouTube or Prime for a movie rental, and then fit whatever I can into that month. Ultimately, I've seen all of those movies, as well as WandaVision, so maybe this one will be fine - but then, I have an even more MCU-disengaged partner, and I don't know if I'd have folks to go watch it with as everyone slowly checks out.
I had basement-level expectations for this (didn't love the first movie and had grown very sick of the trailer) and had a really good time!
What was particularly striking about my own reaction was that I came out wanting another movie with these characters, not whatever the next chapter of the MCU is. It's a movie that ends with two different sequel/spinoff teases, but at its best it felt like the Phase 1/2 movies: a standalone adventure by a character with their own stories who might occasionally team up with someone else as a special thing.
Yeah, I’d rather see the captain marvel 2 we didn’t get that this movie communicate via flashbacks, or an actual sequel with these characters, rather than the stuff they teased. Ugh.
I've basically tapped out of Marvel and have taken a more of ala carte version of it; I really don't care about the interconnected story between the movies anymore and am happy to read about them instead of spend the two hours, $20 and necessary brainspace for all of the character's connections. With that said, there are still some projects that are interesting to me, like season 2 of What If and the new upcoming Echo show (which is really only looking so good because it's trying to be like season 1 of Daredevil). Had a great time with Loki, but am happy that's it's over and didn't try to shoehorn other Marvel characters in it just because.
If I catch The Marvels on TV sometime or come across it on a rainy Sunday afternoon, I'll bet I'll have a good time. But the need to understand the plots and character motivations for all of these movies just isn't there anymore.
I will readily admit that I watched this film through a queer lens, so the fact that there is ample possibility to read Carol and Maria's relationship as more than platonic gave me great joy, what with all the emphasis on Carol, Maria, and Monica being a family and being Carol's home. That alone made the movie stand out for me among the recent releases. But then it was also just fun, like you said, and Kamala and her family were so wonderful, and omg, the cats (bless the person who cleared the rights to that particular song!). This is the first Marvel movie since Endgame that I immediately wanted to watch again as I walked out of the theater.
OMG, yes. I'm annoyed that the Captain Marvel movies haven't allowed Carol and Maria to be overtly gay (because they're sure as hell implicitly gay). It's super shitty, and only hurts the emotional core of the movie, especially regarding the dynamic with Monica. "Where were you Mom?" hits a hell of a lot harder than "Where were you Aunt?" You know?
So anyways, I totally watched it through that lens and it made the movie better.
For a Marvel movie, I feel it was as overt as it could be! I handwaved the whole "aunt" thing (you can totally see it as a family nickname they stuck with), but the way that Carol was framed as an integral part of the family, and that flashback scene with Maria...yeah, no doubts in my mind!
Totally agreed with your take, and fair point about Disney. I wish they'd take it a step further. It's there in the text; I mean, Carol literally was in her will and inherited her estate. Like, all the things!
It was too short. I know a lot of people complain about the Marvel films being too bloated, and I admit that part of me was pleasantly surprised to see the False Victory beat turn out be the real victory, but there's a structure and pacing we've come to expect from these movies and The Marvels just felt slight in light of that. I kind of wish I had waited for it to come to Disney+ because it felt more like a chill on the couch movie than a tent pole blockbuster.
But beyond that it was fine. Kamala was a delight, it was good to see Carol and Monica again, the use of show tunes was on point, and the breadcrumbs for future projects were tasty. It was a fun movie. I just wish it had been a little more ambitious.
Me really only tuned into Ms. Marvel to see how many Jersey City locations they used (me moved out here when Sesame Street got to gentrified), and me was won over by Iman Vellani and watched whole thing. (Fun JC location fact: while Kamala's' high school is based on real JC high school, they used elementary school for establishing shots because it have parking lot across street where it presumably easier to set up cameras)
And me went into Marvels with low expectations, even knowing so much of anti-hype was just angry nerdbros, and me thought it was very fun night out at movies. But me agree it felt like lot of flashbacks were to Captain Marvel 2 movie that we not get to see.
Me would argue that problem with Captain Marvel as character is that she both overpowered, and not have demonstrable character flaw like Tony Stark's arrogance or Thor's insecurity or Banner's unease with being Hulk. Carol determined and kind of closed off. Which make sense for Air Force pilot who had memory erased, but it not that much fun to watch. So pairing her with someone incredibly fun to watch make perfect sense.
And that kind of sum up whole movie. On one hand, you have genocidal world-ending plot. On other hand, you have tentacle cat and planet where everyone sings. And me have seen reviewers complain about those wild shifts in tone, but me thought DaCosta handled those well — it stopped movie from being either too leaden or too frivolous. Best Marvel movies (and maybe just best movies full stop) manage to be very dark and very funny, sometimes at same time.
I will never not upvote this account
I clearly need to spend more time in the comment section if there's accounts like this
I had a blast with The Marvels and have been so disheartened by the discourse, which talks *around* the movie a lot, but not *about* the movie. And the movie was incredibly fun! Yes, there was some wacky stuff in there, and not all of it worked, but the humor was great, the relationships between the three were great, the action was great, and Iman Vellani (and Kamala's family) stole the whole thing. Ms. Marvel is one of my favorites of the Disney+ shows precisely because it feels like a breath of fresh air and I felt that here, too. It's such a shame more people won't see it because of the dreaded Discourse.
I do think both The Marvels and Captain Marvel were hamstrung by a bad story choice: wiping Carol's memory. In the first movie it left her blank, giving little for the audience to hook into in the character, which is a real problem when we should love our lead. It's mystifying that they continued with that here, not restoring her full memories. Yes, part of this is Brie Larson, sorry to say, but they could easily have fixed this problem and just...didn't. And her lack of memories wasn't even relevant to this story! Bizarre.
Still, I think The Marvels will be one of the movies that will be an enjoyable rewatch on its own (a la CA: TWS) unlike a lot of these. I'll see it again!
It's such a bummer that The Marvels is going to have the recent MCU issues nailed to it in this fashion, because the movie is such a delight. Particularly given how dark and dour the franchise has been lately (looking at you, Eternals, Quantummania, basically every D+ series), this was such a breath of fresh air. Iman Vellani gave one of the most fun performances in any Marvel property for a while now, and the movie has the single most demented musical cue in MCU history to boot.
This was what I liked about (the also-underrated IMO) Hawkeye. It was just a goofy show for the most part: the universe wasn’t at stake, the bad guys were called the tracksuit mafia. I for one am looking forward to one of those things that was teased at the end of The Marvels, in hopes it will continue this more upbeat attitude.
I'm much more looking forward to that thing happening than Thunderbolts, to the point where if I were Feige I'd fast track it (as a movie!) to get it on the schedule soon. There are enough charismatic stars involved that I think it'd really help get the MCU back on track. (Also, related to Hawkeye, when are we getting that Steinfeld-Pugh "Hawkeye and the Black Widow" movie?)
Loved Hawkeye.
It's funny you mention how dour it's become. One of my younger colleagues who is 24 and grew up with the MCU movies summed it up as "enough with the trauma". Her argument was that all the films post-Infinity War have largely been bogged down in the trauma of the blip.
Which is understandable but after years of movies about that, plus having gone through Covid and everything, she's been reticent to check out some of the MCU stuff as a result.
Joanna Robinson's talked a lot recently about how the MCU has just been hit with so much bad luck lately; that's a great example. The properties coming after Endgame HAD to deal with the fallout from the blip, and were always going to have that tone. What they never could have expected was that it would come at a time when the world would also be going through mass, collective trauma that would make audiences less receptive to those storylines when they just wanted a brief escape from the real world.
Falcon and the Winter Soldier was another good example of that bad luck - if they'd been able to use the rumored original storyline of a pandemic-like weapon, the show may not have been so choppy and confusing. But given real world events, they didn't have a choice.
FWIW, I'm with your coworker. Time for the MCU to get back to that levity that lifted it up in the first place.
Yes very much so. There's been an astonishing amount of bad luck.
Plus, having had to skip 2020 and cramming so many films into 2021-23 meant that it all felt like they were coming at once and dwelling on it, something which would have been less pronounced had it been more spread out.
I really enjoyed it! I've realized that what I really want from these projects (Disney+ stuff or the actual movies) is to hang out with cool characters. I have no real expectations regarding plot, because ultimately none of it matters with this type of storytelling. So, give me good times with cool characters, please!
The Marvels really nailed a who slew of things, and the fun characters and great character moments top the list for me. It was a solid B of a movie for me, and that's pretty much what I want. In contrast, I agree that the most recent Ant-Man was a total slog and felt like the opposite of what I wanted (it went heavily into world-building and plot and lore and the characters just had zero time to exist and have fun).
If I could tweak anything about The Marvels, it would be giving the characters more time with each other, and doing less to either bridge the gap to past/future projects. I truly think that this movie was fantastic (a... marvel?) at juggling waaaay too many components. I think pretty much any film would've buckled under the pressure of doing everything this movie was asked to do, and I think that's the MCU issue in a nutshell. Things are either too connected, or not connected enough, they're ether too insubstantial, or too world-changing, and they just can't win. What they need to do is just tell good stories with the characters, and they're actively sacrificing that to give us easter eggs and past/future references. Love the characters and the cast, and I think I'm just tired of not allowing stuff to be its own thing, and instead feeling like it's all a middle chapter.
It feels like Disney wants to have their cake and eat it to, in so many ways, including Disney+ itself. They want me to pay for this service, and also shell out 15$ for the theater experience, you know? Loki S2 really worked for me, so it isn't like I'm against MCU stuff, but maybe what I want is changing (or becoming clear to me).
ALSO, I'm super bummed this didn't do well, and I'm worried that all the wrong lessons will be learned.
I largely agree with all of this, but just want to add that I actually think Monica is supposed to be Carol's "Bucky" here — an emotional link between the two films despite their decades-apart settings. In fact, I actually wish the movie had been longer to give the Carol/Monica dynamic a little more time to breathe, which I really think could've elevated this from a fun romp to something more genuinely impactful.
Yeah, there's not nearly enough time to establish that link. I'd argue that as much as I fundamentally appreciate the desire to be under two hours, the film both rushes its way into its central conflict and cuts off its climax prematurely.
Thank god for the cast because the boring plotting, pointless villain, and over editing did this movie no favours.
Ms. Marvel was one of my favourites of the shows, my biggest worries were that they’d tone her down for a film and/or get rid of the family. The fact that neither of those things happened, and that the four leads mostly worked together well (as you say, Monica was given the boring role here) saved the movie for me.
I would rather have seen a movie about Carol fixing the problems she caused with the help of the other two, instead of watching more Skrull misery porn and engaging in punchups with gender-swapped Ronan.
Oh yeah and: I'm surprised that very little of the discourse around the "failure" of The Marvels at the box office mentions that because of the strike the stars weren't able to do press to promote it. That seems relevant.
The Marvels is OK but nothing much more than that. Very mid if enjoyable. I'm more sad that Eternals is not getting more respect and there might never be a followup to its space-adventure setup.
Regarding continuity: according to the new MCU book, apparently the initial idea was for Wanda to become slowly corrupted and then do a heel turn at the end of 'Multiverse of Madness,' so a future movie would have her as a full-blown villain. It was writer Mike Waldron's to have Wanda be the villain upfront rather than build to it.
Oh wow interesting. That would have been cool to see in a way we didn't get to see in the comics either (see her sudden heel-turn in Avengers Disassembled back in 2004)
Lol they haven’t even got a follow up mention of the giant hand sticking out of the Pacific Ocean that should be wreaking havoc on global sea levels and shipping routes, if not the rotational stability of the planet itself.
(And which I now see has already been mentioned elsewhere in the comments.)
Pretty sure the hand thing is relatively minor following the blip. I mean, there have been something like 5 events that should've upended the foundations of civilization already. Though I would like to indeed see Eternals having some acknowledgment.
I really enjoyed The Marvels as well. The light tone, the cast, the special effects and the short run time hit just the right way for me. I absolutely adore Kamala Khan and her family and really hope we get to see more of them in the future.
Guardians Vol.3 is probably the better movie but I had a lot more fun with this one though it's trying to do a lot less weighty stuff.
I've been a lot less down on the recent years of Marvel than many others but my observations would be this.
There's been a lot of content. I've struggled to keep up with it and some of it hasn't been as good for sure. Secret Invasion particularly.
Of the post-2019 films:
Black Widow: Totally fine with some good moments but it felt very lacking in urgency and a step backwards given it was set years earlier after Civil War. I haven't rewatched it since the cinema but I remember finding it to be totally while a bit underwhelming.
Shang-Chi: I really like about two things of this film - the last third with the giant dragons and everything was a bit of a come down after the amazing first two thirds. I loved the martial arts stuff, Trevor etc. All good fun.
Eternals: Beautiful but Christ it was dull and felt like everyone was on valium. It wasted some great actors on really uninspiring stuff. Though I'd argue that in a positive, at least it calmed down the rampant 'Jack Kirby was a genius who did no wrong in his career" narrative that's popped up in recent years.
No Way Home: Loved it. Absolute blast from start to finish.
Multiverse of Madness: I enjoyed this one far more apparently that most people. I remember coming away from the cinema smiling if nothing else.
Love and Thunder: Not my favourite Marvel film but again, totally fine and one that I apparently liked far more than many other people.
Wakanda Forever: Mostly enjoyed it though it felt overstuffed and with a whole bunch of stuff that was tacked on (The Ironheart stuff particularly). Losing Boseman hurt it deeply but the rest of the cast were absolutely brilliant. But it did feel underwhelming comparative to the first film.
Quantumania: I mostly enjoyed it at the time and thought Kang came across as an interesting villain. It felt like this just didn't belong in an Ant-Man movie and was all over the place. The special effects were awful too for reasons which have been made clear.
Guardians Vol.3: Really good film but one I struggled with, specifically the animal cruelty scenes. But it wasn't a film I forgot in a hurry, the soundtrack was good and it felt like a fitting end.
I’m so irritated by the discourse around this movie. It is so much better than the articles would have you believe. And I worry that we won’t get female-led Marvel movies in the future because of how this one was covered.
I hope it has some legs the Thanksgiving weekend may be the decider of its ultimate exhibition fate.
I'm not sure if I'll see this one in theatres, but then, barring a few exceptions mostly named Spider-Man and Black Panther, I'm still somewhere in 2021 in terms of MCU continuity. I've seen none of Ms. Marvel (though it's at the top of my MCU list), so the release of a new MCU film usually just means I try to catch up on older content. A release for a release, let's say lol.
I think this is one of the big issues - there's so MUCH content right now that it feels daunting to catch up. In theory, you'd need to watch Captain Marvel, Infinity War/Endgame, WandaVision, Ms. Marvel, and Secret Invasion to be fully ready for this. In reality, I don't think it's spoiling anything to say that if you've only seen the movies you'll be just fine. WandaVision and Ms. Marvel are explained in a couple lines of dialogue, and Secret Invasion has already been memory-holed along with the giant hand presumably still sticking out of the Pacific Ocean somewhere. It seems pretty clear that Marvel has realized this is a problem and is trying to correct it.
Doesn't help that I'm a churn customer for Disney+. I subscribe when I'd otherwise spend like 5$ on YouTube or Prime for a movie rental, and then fit whatever I can into that month. Ultimately, I've seen all of those movies, as well as WandaVision, so maybe this one will be fine - but then, I have an even more MCU-disengaged partner, and I don't know if I'd have folks to go watch it with as everyone slowly checks out.
I had basement-level expectations for this (didn't love the first movie and had grown very sick of the trailer) and had a really good time!
What was particularly striking about my own reaction was that I came out wanting another movie with these characters, not whatever the next chapter of the MCU is. It's a movie that ends with two different sequel/spinoff teases, but at its best it felt like the Phase 1/2 movies: a standalone adventure by a character with their own stories who might occasionally team up with someone else as a special thing.
Yeah, I’d rather see the captain marvel 2 we didn’t get that this movie communicate via flashbacks, or an actual sequel with these characters, rather than the stuff they teased. Ugh.
I've basically tapped out of Marvel and have taken a more of ala carte version of it; I really don't care about the interconnected story between the movies anymore and am happy to read about them instead of spend the two hours, $20 and necessary brainspace for all of the character's connections. With that said, there are still some projects that are interesting to me, like season 2 of What If and the new upcoming Echo show (which is really only looking so good because it's trying to be like season 1 of Daredevil). Had a great time with Loki, but am happy that's it's over and didn't try to shoehorn other Marvel characters in it just because.
If I catch The Marvels on TV sometime or come across it on a rainy Sunday afternoon, I'll bet I'll have a good time. But the need to understand the plots and character motivations for all of these movies just isn't there anymore.
I will readily admit that I watched this film through a queer lens, so the fact that there is ample possibility to read Carol and Maria's relationship as more than platonic gave me great joy, what with all the emphasis on Carol, Maria, and Monica being a family and being Carol's home. That alone made the movie stand out for me among the recent releases. But then it was also just fun, like you said, and Kamala and her family were so wonderful, and omg, the cats (bless the person who cleared the rights to that particular song!). This is the first Marvel movie since Endgame that I immediately wanted to watch again as I walked out of the theater.
see also: Carol and Valkyrie! imo they are girlfriends and nothing will disuade me of that :p
Oh, a thousand percent! That cheek kiss? The hand-holding? I mean, c'mon.
OMG, yes. I'm annoyed that the Captain Marvel movies haven't allowed Carol and Maria to be overtly gay (because they're sure as hell implicitly gay). It's super shitty, and only hurts the emotional core of the movie, especially regarding the dynamic with Monica. "Where were you Mom?" hits a hell of a lot harder than "Where were you Aunt?" You know?
So anyways, I totally watched it through that lens and it made the movie better.
For a Marvel movie, I feel it was as overt as it could be! I handwaved the whole "aunt" thing (you can totally see it as a family nickname they stuck with), but the way that Carol was framed as an integral part of the family, and that flashback scene with Maria...yeah, no doubts in my mind!
Totally agreed with your take, and fair point about Disney. I wish they'd take it a step further. It's there in the text; I mean, Carol literally was in her will and inherited her estate. Like, all the things!
It was too short. I know a lot of people complain about the Marvel films being too bloated, and I admit that part of me was pleasantly surprised to see the False Victory beat turn out be the real victory, but there's a structure and pacing we've come to expect from these movies and The Marvels just felt slight in light of that. I kind of wish I had waited for it to come to Disney+ because it felt more like a chill on the couch movie than a tent pole blockbuster.
But beyond that it was fine. Kamala was a delight, it was good to see Carol and Monica again, the use of show tunes was on point, and the breadcrumbs for future projects were tasty. It was a fun movie. I just wish it had been a little more ambitious.