By Keelen Landrum
Photo by Keelen Landrum
The third and final film of 2023 from Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) broke the record for fastest MCU movie to leave the box office’s top five, but why? Statistically, this movie has been considered a flop, but is it?
This movie was packed with much desired character development, but there has been viewer debate that the 105 minutes provided weren’t enough for the plot to thoroughly develop.
Captain Marvel, also known as Carol Danvers, took revenge on the Supreme Intelligence after restoring her identity from the oppressive Kree. But because of unforeseen events, she is left to bear the weight of an unstable universe. She is sent on assignment to an unusual wormhole connected to a Kree revolutionary, where her abilities combine with those of two other superheroes to become the Marvels.
With a plot summary as such, you may be surprised to discover that this film differs from most MCU films due to its overall unserious nature. This movie has been compared to MCU’s 2022 release, Thor: Love and Thunder, because of the constant slips of humor. However, Marvel directors’ new idea to make everything funny and trendy is undoubtedly where these films fall.
The MCU is known for having plot-heavy movies with serious and emotional acting, but this movie completely defies that norm. Brie Larson is known to be a good actor, but the script did not show off those skills at all, which made her performance as Captain Marvel relatively disappointing in her own sequel.
Teyonah Parris has been seen recently in very impactful movies and, though there were many script issues, she had the stronger leading part with her role as Captain Rambeau, which enjoyably mixed comedic with serious aspects.
Though 2 out of 3 of the film’s main characters are credible and played by award-winning actors, rising star Iman Vellani made her debut as Ms. Marvel in her 2022 released show. We have only seen her portray a ‘cringy’ Pakistani teenage teenager who fully embraces her culture even in little aspects like her suit.
Despite the obvious flaws, this movie was successful at allowing women to take the lead, which contributes to the larger movement of actors’ equity. This is notable for Marvel due to the now-growing female-dominated projects in the MCU, which entirely differs from the domination in earlier years. Both gender and racial diversity in this movie help contribute to its overall impact.
If we thought three female superheroes were exciting, imagine the mark having a female villain left. There were four female central characters in a singular MCU movie–something we have not seen before from Marvel.
The only unfortunate part about Zawe Ashton’s role as the villain known as Darr-Benn was the screen time, or lack thereof. She had the potential to be far more impactful, but the movie revolved around intertwining three different character storylines dealing with a central problem, but their problem wasn’t even defeating a villain.
So, is this movie worth the watch? If you’re a Marvel fan and would like to be caught up with the franchise, then, yes. But if you’re just looking for a movie to watch over the holiday break, maybe you can decide if it’s worth the 3/5 stars I give it.
