52 Films by Women Vol 8. 6. The Marvels (Director: Nia Da Costa)

Still courtesy of Marvel Studios / Disney

It is very hard to pinpoint exactly why The Marvels, the latest multi-million-dollar CGI superhero movie from Marvel Studios, has underperformed so spectacularly at the US box office. In its fourth weekend of release, its cumulative gross is $80 million dollars. Worse Marvel superhero movies have performed better. However, there are some underlying factors that may provide some insight, none of which is related to the fact that it is only the third Marvel film (after Black Widow and Eternals) to be directed by a woman (Nia DaCosta), or the fourth if you count Captain Marvel, co-directed by Anna Boden.

First, the Disney Plus effect. The subscription service has succeeded in drawing audiences with new and exclusive Marvel content, including the series WandaVision, Loki, Ms. Marvel, Hawkeye, Secret Invasion and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. So why would audiences pony up to watch Marvel movies in cinemas? These series have single-handedly changed the way in which Marvel content is consumed, discussed and dissected. Brands are interconnected and for new viewers you can feel a little lost.

Secondly, the Marvel formula is a little too predictable. There is a powerful device that is attained by a villain – in this case a bracelet acquired by Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton) – which requires augmenting by a device that could make it even more powerful, in this case a bracelet worn by Kamela Khan (Iman Vellani), a pre-pubescent with a fangirl crush on Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel (Brie Larson). ‘Don’t let Dar-Benn get your bracelet,’ Kamela is warned. What do you think happens?

Still courtesy of Marvel Studios / Disney

Thirdly, there is no emotional depth. The gimmick is that Captain Marvel teams up with both Kamela and Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris), the grown-up daughter of Carol’s friend, Maria (Lashana Lynch). All three have superpowers, but when they use them they switch places. This makes for some fast-paced action, completely dispensing with a credit sequence. The problem is, there is little space for an emotional core. In the best Marvel films, the heroes struggle with loss. Their superpowers or powerful companions compensate for their inability to thrive as human beings. They struggle to reconcile their special abilities with daily living. This struggle makes them flawed and relatable. DaCosta and her co-writers Megan McDonnell and Elisa Karasik focus mainly on Carol’s guilt about being referred to as the Annihilator, inadvertently bringing certain death on a race of people, and her guilt about not coming back to see Monica grow up. This is offset by Kamela’s effusive gushing as she lives the superhero dream without much thought to what she’s actually doing.

Vellani channels the youthful enthusiasm of Tom Holland, the British actor who excelled in the Spiderman ‘Home’ trilogy – Homecoming, Far from Home and No Way Home. DaCosta’s film takes its cue from the latter, fizzing with energy. However, it has a hole in the middle. Larson’s Captain Marvel isn’t that interesting a superhero. She is the foil of a comedy act. When she commits to an act of self-sacrifice, it has little emotional weight. Rather you think: ‘what took her so long?’  

There is the suggestion that comic book fanboys don’t like films featuring female superheroes and deride them online. This does not account for the success of the 2019 film, Captain Marvel, which grossed over 1.13 billion dollars worldwide. However, unlike other superhero movies, Captain Marvel didn’t lend itself to a sequel. Without Kamela or Monica, the film has no reason to exist.

Monica gives Carol some real competition in the race to be the film’s least interesting character. Sure, she can zap villains, but she lacks distinguishing features. She grew up missing her superhero surrogate aunt but wasn’t half the population killed in the interim owing to Thanos, if I remember my Marvel superhero lore correctly.

In Marvel movies, there is frequently a mid-movie excursion to a foreign clime where the hero has to either appeal for help, collect an item or warn an old friend. Here, the Marvels visit a planet where everyone communicates in song, one of the most tedious conceits one can think of, but then I tend to avoid dinner theatre. We discover that Carol is married and that her husband can speak – he is bi-lingual. These are the jokes.

Still courtesy of Marvel Studios / Disney 

Perhaps the actual reason for the film’s failure is the curse of Cats. The film’s second most amusing sequence has Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) co-ordinate the evacuation of a space station by having alien cats swallow his crew whole, downsizing them in their digestive system, so that they can fit into the station’s inadequate supply of escape pods. This sequence is set to the song ‘Memory’ from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Cats. This reminder of Tom Hooper’s risible film is enough to make the audience cough up hairballs.  

Kamela’s family constantly brings the film down to a human level. Whether it is Mrs Khan (Zenobia Shroff) watching her house being destroyed or her brother Aamir (Saagar Shaikh) telling Kamela that he doesn’t want to be an only child – ‘not in this family’ – the Khan family provides comic relief, tourists visiting the Marvel superhero universe. In another scene, Kamela’s father (Mohan Kapoor) advises a crew member, Dag (Abraham Popoola) to plan for his retirement and then asks how old the man is. ‘304,’ Dag replies.

The Marvels is notable for featuring a villain who elicits some degree of sympathy. Dar-Benn’s sense of grievance is real. However, her response is disproportionate. The film hinges on time jumps and holes created like ladders in tights that threaten to weaken the fabric of the universe. In the end, Dar-Benn leaves a hole that Monica is compelled to repair, being the first member to quit the titular superhero team. The sense of a disproportionate response being acted out may strike some viewers as not the stuff of entertainment. We have seen enough of Israel’s response to the attack of 7 October 2023 to know what a disproportionate response looks like.

As with any number of Marvel movies, there are the surprise cameos, one featuring a character from a discontinued franchise, the other featuring a young character wearing inappropriate indoor attire being approached to join a team. Sanctuary is offered by a character from another corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe who featured in another sequel.

With the world-building having taken place in other films and television shows, The Marvels offers limited entertainment and no sense of a vision behind it. High benchmarks have been set by director Taika Waititi in Thor: Ragnarok, with the Hulk memorably described as a ‘friend from work’ and Ryan Coogler with Black Panther’s celebration of afro futurism. DaCosta isn’t given the space to impose anything other than pace and a lack of self-importance on the film. It is hard to imagine anyone wanting to watch The Marvels more than once.

 

Reviewed at Cineworld Ashford, Screen Seven, Sunday 3^rd December 2023, 18:10 screening.