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Is Marvel retro yet? Four years after the epic inflection point of Avengers: Endgame, the once all-conquering studio has been subject of Hollywood debate as to just how far from the glory days it might have drifted. Too many spin-offs, too few good ideas; so runs the charge sheet. Sceptics may not be silenced by The Marvels: the company’s newest project embodies just that sense of a business madly whirring and clanking. “We’re literally herding cats?” a character exclaims, and it is hard not to hear the inner voice of director Nia DaCosta.
The movie is a sequel to 2019’s Captain Marvel, as much as any Marvel movie now has so simple a link to any other. Brie Larson returns as onetime fighter pilot Carol Danvers, also known by that professional title. The other Marvels (plural) now include the super-powered but plainly-named Monica Rambeau, played by Teyonah Parris; and teenage Desi-American fangirl Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani), a live-wire audience proxy. Thematic musings on the families we’re born into and the families we make are given pretext by interplanetary sci-fi. “Once again, the Skrull have betrayed the Kree,” snarls the villainous Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton) towards actors made-up as sentient globe artichokes.
There is sugar-rush charm to at least some of the movie. DaCosta, who previously directed smart horror remake Candyman, is a genuine talent, giving vibrancy to the sitcommy Khans and a sturdy whump to fight scenes. A running gag centred on those footloose cats (actually Lovecraftian aliens) stays funnier than you might expect. Parris, meanwhile, is excellent, her star power outshining Larson, who can seem in need of coffee and purpose.
But caffeine is the last thing the film requires. If the archetypal Marvel hit came fused into a three-tonne lump of multiplex entertainment, DaCosta lets the new film be tonal spaghetti: a chaos of group hugs, antic montages and earnest self-reflection, with odd musical interludes and still-iffier effects. (A noted recent weak spot for the studio.) The running time sails by. But as a future model for Marvel’s corporate captain, company president Kevin Feige, you sense the cats remain un-herded.
★★★☆☆
In cinemas from November 10
Sophie Anderson, a UK-based writer, is your guide to the latest trends, viral sensations, and internet phenomena. With a finger on the pulse of digital culture, she explores what’s trending across social media and pop culture, keeping readers in the know about the latest online sensations.
