The ultimate team up of Carol Danvers, Kamala Khan, and Monica Rambeau is finally happening, and as the sequel arrives early in some countries, the first reviews are in but it is not looking promising as the movie scores a "Rotten" rating from Rotten Tomatoes. Critics have mixed reactions on The Marvels and while some enjoyed what the MCU offered in the film, others were disappointed with the most recent Marvel flick. Is it really that bad?
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is quite the spectacle with various well-received movies and series being fan-favorites but it is not without any low points, too. To name a few, there were MCU titles that just didn't make the cut in terms of the interest of the audience or even to the point of being forgettable like Thor: The Dark World, Eternals, and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Now, it seems like another film is joining the ranks with The Marvels recently getting a "Rotten" 55% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Check out what some critics have to say about The Marvels:
The Associated Press' Lindsey Bahr pointed out the attempt of the MCU which failed:
As is often the case with Marvel’s girl power attempts, it feels a little pandering in all the wrong places and doesn’t really engage with any specific or unique female point of view.
Irish Times' Donald Clarke said that The Marvels is among the worst MCU films:
A solid contender for the worst Marvel film yet ... To say The Marvels is hard to watch would be to risk understatement. It’s not just that it’s not very good. It is hard to watch in the sense that a tree is hard to defibrillate.
From New York Post, Johnny Oleksinski put The Marvels as among the low point movies of the MCU:
If you thought “Eternals” and “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” were low points for the limping Marvel Cinematic Universe, strap in for the ride to abject misery that is “The Marvels.”
Contrary to what others say, Valerie Complex of Deadline Hollywood Daily found some "breath of fresh air" in The Marvels:
In an era where the Marvel Cinematic Universe frequently shuttles between multiverse escapades and interplanetary conflicts, Nia DaCosta‘s "The Marvels" emerges as a breath of fresh air.
Clarisse Loughrey from Independent (UK) pointed out that it is the heroes that made The Marvels good:
While Marvel’s been busy flooding us with endless, exhaustive content, DaCosta’s movie offers us the one thing that made this franchise work in the first place – heroes we actually want to root for.
Brian Truitt of USA Today appreciates how The Marvels are for "cat lovers":
“The Marvels” is that rare superhero adventure seemingly tailor-made for cat lovers, people really into body-swapping shenanigans and those who live for jubilant song-and-dance numbers.
Fan service has been a consistent point for The Marvels as observed by Michael O'Sullivan from the Washington Post:
“The Marvels” is so fueled by fan service and formula, like pretty much everything in the MCU these days, that it gives short shrift to such basics as narrative comprehension.
Richard Roeper from the Chicago Sun-Times acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the project but that wasn't enough to keep it away from being "rotten":
Neither as funny nor as engaging and warm as it tries to be, despite the best efforts of the talented director Nia DaCosta and a trio of gifted and enormously likable leads in Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris and Iman Vellani.
The Marvels currently stands somewhere in between as critics gave a mixed review on the movie. While some positives emerged, the negative reviews still sting on the movie and it might affect the overall performance of the movie. The Marvels may be formulaic but what works is that its eccentricities weaved it together into one promising team up but Iman Vellani definitely amped the fun with her personality which fits perfectly into the millennial/ Gen Z vibes of the movie. Unfortunately, it was poorly marketed and comparing it to other MCU movies, it still falls under the "Marvel fatigue."
Is The Marvels the latest manifestation of the "Marvel fatigue"?
Since the end of the Infinity Saga, then pandemic started, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe entered into TV shows on Disney+, there has been a significant decline in the viewership of Marvel which is commonly called as the "Marvel fatigue." Over the years, the MCU produced, more or less, 40 movies, making it one of the biggest franchises in existence, and when the Infinity Saga ended, the momentum of the MCU seemed to fall and lose its charm to the audience.
On top of that, the over-saturation of the MCU in the market proves to be one of the reasons for the Marvel fatigue. With the total number of projects in the franchise and everything being connected to each other, missing out on one could mean missing out the whole point. With 40 movies, more or less, and a couple of series on Disney+, the fans and their interest on the MCU may have already reached an impasse that viewers are just not as excited as before.
Losing its momentum isn't helping either. Since the end of the Infinity Saga, the gap between Endgame and the next Marvel project took years before happening due to the global pandemic and since then, the MCU was still not able to pick its momentum like the one it had before. Unfortunately, the latest victim is The Marvels and while the people who worked tirelessly behind the lens of the movie would disagree, the viewership of the movie speaks otherwise.
What do you think of The Marvels and what would you rate it?
