Control Review: The Marvels
I, Daniel Trump, aka Dalton Lewis, watched the Marvels. It’s the newest story in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is a flop: that’s one of the defining characteristics of it. It has failed to get as big an audience as any previous Marvel movie. Ant-Man has beaten it. A fifteen-year-old mediocre Hulk movie has beaten it. Captain America, Thor, Black Widow, Black Panther, Shang-Chi, the Avengers, Spider-Man, and the Guardians of the Galaxy have all beaten it financially. It’s the last-place Marvel movie.
And I thoroughly enjoyed it.
It starts Brie Larson as Captain Marvel, a superhero so powerful that someone has to do a lot of work to challenge her. That’s okay, too — I’m okay with powerful heroes. I’m on board with wonderful characters. They are fine by me — as long as they are complex and flawed. And this Captain Marvel is somewhat flawed and conflicted in this movie — she has decimated the Kree people and now they hate her. They want revenge for destroying their society in a war. That’s the plot. It’s a neat, effective, real plot because it feels genuine. People wrecked in a war do want revenge, and that does turn people into enemies.
Brie Larson is well hated on the internet with the men of the cyberspace. They don’t like her. I find this fascinating: she’s a polarizing figure who says that she doesn’t make movies for forty-year-old white dudes. Well, I am a forty-something-year-old white dude who enjoyed her movie. I’m sorry if it isn’t for me — but shouldn’t stories be for everyone? People always ask me what my audience is for my stories. Well, it’s everyone. Everyone. Everyone should be able to read my stories and my blog entries. I write for all of you. I don’t know why that is so different than the rest of the writers and artists out there, but apparently I am some kind of rebel in this.
I should mention Kamala Khan. She is much hated on certain segments of the internet, too, because she is a popular young character, but don’t fret: she is a wonderful young fangirl who wants to be a superhero and balances the life of a Muslim girl with the life of an American-budding vigilante. Her journey to become a friend of her hero — Captain Marvel — is a nice element of the film to watch and experience.
The third member of the trio doesn’t have a superhero name. Monica Rambeau, I believe, is her name. She knew Captain Marvel when Monica was a little girl and Captain Marvel was a friend of Monica’s mother. She resents Captain Marvel for leaving and not coming back. I suppose that is a fine character arc for her and Captain Marvel. She misses her mother more — her mother died of cancer. That’s a better story arc. I liked the story arc of her mother dying of cancer.
The film is a bit of a throwback in that it’s bright and well-colored and wacky and silly and a lot of fun. It has fun and neat moments and is quickly-paced and full of energy and interesting characters and moments. It isn’t anything particularly new or different — I know that Marvel needs to do something new and different. Well, this is not that. This is more of the same Marvel formula — comedy, wonderful characters, bright action. It is the formula well done.
The formula, well done.
The bad?
It isn’t landmark. It doesn’t break new ground or do anything revolutionary. It’s a good movie, well told, but it doesn’t develop the greatest story ever told. That’s fine — that’s not what this movie is.
Maybe, just maybe, being a fun movie about experiencing a story with wonderful people is enough.
Thanks, and take care, friends.
