The Marvels Clip Tries to Bring the House Down

Movies

With only a little over a week to go till The Marvels premieres, Marvel is desperately trying to get people to watch a movie that seems to be exciting exactly no one. In that spirit, they’ve released a clip from the film that shows two of the titular women, Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) and Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani), in action against a team of attacking Kree soldiers. Also around are Kamala’s parents and Nick Fury; absent are Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) and alien cat monsters. Directed by Nia DaCosta, The Marvels arrives in theaters on November 10, 2023. You can see the new clip below:

“I don’t like that name!” They really go out of their way to make Carol Danvers as grating as possible, don’t they? They could achieve what they’re probably going for in this moment and make Carol more likable with some better dialogue; “I prefer the term [insert euphemism here],” off the top of my head. This is what happens when you’re so single-minded in your determination to push a message, in this case, female empowerment; you do so at the expense of the story and characters when you could have accomplished both with some thought and care. But when the point is to make your fellow Berkeley graduates nod instead of appealing to the audience, this is what you produce. Aside from that… man, this is what they’re using to get people interested in the movie? What a boring scene; it’s like a goofy set piece in a sitcom, especially since the Kree look so silly. The out-of-nowhere rap song doesn’t help, distracting from the action instead of enhancing it. And, as Bounding Into Comics points out on Twitter, it appears the conceit of the three protagonists switching places when they use their powers only happens on occasion. Maybe there’s an explanation for that in the movie, but it would fit with Marvel’s current disinterest in narrative cohesion if it ends up just being a plot hole. Everything about The Marvels screams “meh.”