The Marvels

SnarkAI Score: 68/100

tldr:

"The Marvels" is like a cosmic joyride with a few flat tires along the way. Iman Vellani's Kamala Khan brings a nerdy enthusiasm that's as refreshing as finding an untouched slice of pizza the morning after a party. Monica's superhero landing needs work, and the Skrull sympathy play feels like trying to hug a cactus. The CGI swings from "meh" to "passable," with a side of cat-rescue missions that make you question your life choices. Clocking in at a merciful 1h45m, "The Marvels" manages to entertain without needing to pause for a bathroom break, but it's more of a microwave dinner than a feast for the senses.

Our Scores are generated by SnarkAI's analysis of our reviewer's writing. The tldr summary is drafted by SnarkAI based on that review. All Images are AI-generated based on the reviewer's descriptions of scenes.

Higher. Further. Faster.

Iman carries the movie, her sheer enthusiasm shines through every scene. Her near stalker level insanity when talking to Captain Marvel is somehow endearing. "I'm on a team with Captain Maaaaarveeeeel!!!" Kamala's mum tells her 'no space adventures!' whilst she herself is in space is ace and very on brand for the character.

Iman is just a Ms. Marvel variant from Earth-1218, she's not acting, this is who she is.

Looking at Kamala's face when she utters "Oh captain, my captain!" It's likely that Kamala's got some difficult conversations coming with her more conservative family members.

ChatGPT's a little racist on its Marvel's depiction

The absolute chaos of the first fight is fantastic.

Monica being kinda useless in an emergency, or in space, or on an alien world; whether that's saving Kamala from falling to her death, noticing when Kamala wandered off to be heroic or ignoring Carol when she says not to do anything on the musical world (Side note, Kamala just vibing along in the background is awesome) is great as she's a scientist, not a soldier or a superhero. Normally we get a near-instant transition from people getting powers to them being incredible superheroes.

It remains hard to side with the Skrulls. I've got too much 616 bias to them. Bring in Reed and let them turn them into cows. This batch are incredibly whiney and self-righteous. Luckily we have very little exposure to them.

King Valkryie is great, but it really highlights how few good female characters Marvel actually put out that a bit-part character from a Thor film has become one of the bigger names. Don't get me wrong, Tessa Thompson is fantastic each time she's on screen, but the character's not a major player in the mainline Avengers or Thor canon. It's also a bit of a slap in the face how quickly they solve the Skrull housing issue given in Secret Invasion they spent years trying and failing for some reason.

Monica is at least a black woman and Kamala is asian, entirely the wrong ethnicisty, but the continent is right I guess.

I love that it's a Quantum Band, tying the Marvels back to Mah-Vel and Rick Jones. (Kamala insisting on calling it a bangle is funny as it really undercuts the seriousness when they demand it.) They spend a bit too much time talking about the science of this. And deciding that an inhabited planet is the best place for water when comets exist is a little daft. Or you know they have FTL, they've probably figured out how to combine a little hydrogen and oxygen. I know there's a reason, but it's a bad reason. They should separate revenge from survival and pursue them separately.

The 'training' montage to Intergalactic is great and it's nice seeing Kamala's enthusiasm infecting two typically stoic and dour characters. It also entertainingly shows Carol's agism, in that she chooses the adult with no experience and who's an amateur with their powers to prioritise on mission instead of the youth who's been a hero professionally and knows what to do.

What's with hyper-advanced cultures using primitive weapons with a bit of added energy? The Wakandans do it, the singing people do it, the Kree do it...

Carol's absolute lack of anything resembling subtlety in a fight is good, she's typically massively more powerful than anything around her, so a smash and bash is a rational approach, she's never had to learn more.

The cat-based rescue is stupid. The only saving grace is Kamala being made to do the collecting and being basically in tears about it. We never get an explanation as to why the scientists in Fury's space station are wearing Future Foundation jumpsuits.

The film is a fairly tight 1h45 minutes, which is great, we've been dealing with epic-length films for so long it's nice to find one that's keeping a good pace. The CGI isn't anything to write home about, but it's not as bad as some Marvel properties have been lately. They've also given Carol a bit more of an aligned look to the other two's powers and toned down the Dragonball Z from her first appearance.

Kamala recruiting Kate is great, we knew the Young Avengers was coming, but the fact she uses Fury's lines almost exactly means at some point Tony leaked the entire conversation publically, as no one else was there to hear it.

The Binary and Beast stinger is good for what it represents, but Beast's CGI is really bad and its not ideal this is the third variant we've seen of Monica's mother, it's a shame she was used in Doctor Strange as it would make the reveal hit harder if she wasnt.