The Marvels

Wow, that was fun! I'm not sure why this movie didn't do better, but I have some ideas. The Marvels is a great time, that doesn't take itself too seriously. No, it's not groundbreaking, but it doesn't need to be. It's just an enjoyable popcorn-muncher like Ant-Man.

One of the things it does right is the way it handles Monica's and Kamala's origin stories. Since both were already told in the TV shows, the movie doesn't have to be bogged down explaining it again. They do sum them up, but it's given about the same amount of screentime as Peter's origin in "Spider-Man Homecoming" - the spider's dead, let's move on.

Which got me thinking - in a lot of superhero franchises, the second movie is better than the first. Sometimes the reason for this is that the first movie focuses on the hero's origin story, and doesn't leave much time for a deeper plot. Maybe Disney+ should be "origin story central" going forward. A hero's true fans can learn their origins on TV, and later their movie can just sum it up and get to the real plot. And the beauty is, they could shoot both at the same time.

For those that complained that Carol didn't have much personality in the first film, well, you're idiots - they explained that in-universe by way of her amnesia. Anyway, she's a lot less wooden in the sequel, and it turns out she can actually be pretty funny. Of course, some sexist pricks still won't be satisfied.

The villain in The Marvels is... um... honestly I don't even remember her name. And you won't either. She's basically discount Ronan The Accuser, and she's even less interesting than the bad guy in Thor: The Dark World. But it doesn't matter, the action scenes are still great, and the body-switching thing gives the whole movie an almost Gilligan's Island vibe.

Important: It has a mid-credits scene that you won't want to miss. Even if you're such an insufferable incel that you'd rather die than watch a movie with a female lead, at least look up the mid-credits scene. You'll want to know.

The bottom line is that it's a fun, if forgettable movie. It has a lot of comedy, but not a lot of substance. Nobody is going to claim it's the best Marvel movie, but it's more fun than at least half of them.