’The Marvels’

Short, playful but ultimately turgid MCU superhero feature as Captain Marvel finds her powers entangled with two others. Together they must work together to save the universe.

In an average teenage girl’s bedroom in Jersey City, super-fan Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) is surrounded by Captain Marvel paraphernalia. But she also has a heavily-carved amulet. It’s the twin to the one recovered by Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton), leader of the tyrannical Kree. To have both would provide her the power to rebuild their planet, the very planet unintentionally destroyed by Captain Marvel (Brie Larson). Dispatched by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) to deal with the threat, Marvel finds herself entangled with Kamala and the amulet as well as her estranged niece, Captain Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris). Together they must destroy the Kree threat to the stability of the universe.

With zippy dialogue, the three gel well together on screen as directed by Nia DaCosta. But even the short 105 minute running time feels too long as the narrative unconvincingly regurgitates seen-it-all-before scenarios with its ‘B-Team’ feel.

Rating: 35%

Director: Nia DaCosta (Candyman, Little Woods)

Writer: Nia DaCosta (Candyman, Little Woods), Megan McDonnell (TV’s WandaVision), Elissa Karasik (TV’s Loki, Lessons in Chemistry)

Main cast: Brie Larson (Room, Captain Marvel), Teyonah Parris (If Beale St Could Talk, Candyman), Iman Vellani (TV’s Ms. Marvel)

‘The Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’

A dark, intense narrative that jettisons the irreverent humour of previous Guardian films in favour of a disturbing genesis tale of Rocket whilst the team save the galaxy.

Attacked in their new home of Nowhere, the team must come together to help save Rocket (Bradley Cooper), injured in the attack. With Gamora (Zoe Saldana) remaining lost to him, Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) et al needs to confront the threat posed by The High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), the man responsible years earlier for inhumane animal anthropomorphist experiments and is now a threat to the stability of the universe.

Much darker than earlier material from director James Gunn, volume 3 loses its sense of fun, a unique ingredient to other Marvel films. With its stop-start action narrative, The Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is sadly indistinguishable from the other less interesting fodder of the Marvel Comic Universe.

Rating: 40%

Director: James Gunn (The Guardians of the Galaxy, 1-3, The Suicide Squad)

Writer: James Gunn (The Guardians of the Galaxy 1-3, The Belko Experiment)

Main cast: Chris Pratt (The Guardians of the Galaxy 1-3, Jurassic World), Chukwudi Iwuji (John Wick 2, TV’s The Split), Zoe Saldana (The Guardians of the Galaxy 1-3, Avatar), Bradley Cooper (The Guardians of the Galaxy 1-3, A Star is Born), Dave Bautista (The Guardians of the Galaxy 1-3, Riddick), Karen Gillian (The Guardians of the Galaxy 1-3, The Circle), Vin Diesel (The Guardians of the Galaxy 1-3, The Fast & the Furious),

‘Stan Lee’

Shockingly partisan documentary from Marvel Studios and director David Gelb (Jiro Dreams of Sushi, The Lazarus Effect) as the contributions of others beyond Stan Lee to the phenomenon that was Marvel Comics are somewhat diminished.

Falling into the writing of comics rather than planned, Brooklyn-raised Stanley Lieber quickly rose through the ranks of what was Timely Comics, partly due to wartime labour shortage. Changing his name to Stan Lee, he a knack for the writing of quick fire dialogue – the perfect fit with, in particular, illustrator Jack Kirby and later Steve Ditko – as Lee became creative director of the newly named Marvel. Characters such as Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, X-Men, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange all appeared in the 1960s and ’70s with the creative team working together. Although Stan Lee suggests otherwise, with little creedance given to the collaborative aspect – and no mention of the court cases against him.

At the end of the day, Stan Lee is a deeply disappointing hagiographic info-mercial rather than a documentary celebrating the (unquestionably) profound impact he and Marvel Comics in general had on popular culture that continues to this day 60 plus years later.

Rating: 20%

‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’

Number three in the Ant-Man stand alone features – and sadly much of the irreverence and humour is lost in a dull, unengaging adventure narrative.

Turns out Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer – Hairspray, Dangerous Liaisons) wasn’t completely forthcoming in her time in the Quantum Realm. A whole convoluted universe (think Star Wars) exists where power struggles are fought – and Janet was a key member of the rebel forces against Kang (Jonathan Majors – Da 5 Bloods, Creed III). Dragged back into the realm, Scott (Paul Rudd – Ghostbusters: Afterlife, The Fundamentals of Caring)and now-teenage daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton – Ben Is Back, TV’s Big Little Lies) find themselves separated from the Van Dynes. They need to find a way to come together and prevent Kang escaping the Quantum Realm into their real world.

Derivative storytelling and visuals, the third Ant-Man from director Peyton Reed is sadly lacking in any sense of excitement or urgency. Moving from scenario to scenario, there’s little in the way of connection between the combined saviours of the world. Dull.

Rating: 35%

‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’

The passing of Chadwick Boseman as King T’Challa/Black Panther respectfully and movingly prequels Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, his absence constantly felt.

And sadly, as grief pervades, so the narrative and focus of the feature struggles in Boseman’s absence. With the throne passing to his mother, Ramonda (Angela Bassett – What’s Love Got To Do With It, Black Panther), the world looks to unsettling the power base and gain access to vibranium. As T’Challa’s sister Suria (Letitia Wright – Black Panther, Ready Player One) attempts to create a new Black Panther to protect Wakanda, so an underwater empire led by Namor (Tenoch Huerta – Sin Nombre, Bel Canto) threatens both the African state and global stability.

Director Ryan Coogler (Black Panther, Fruitvale Station) returns but brings with him something of a plodding approach lacking in any real thrills.The power base certainly shifts as Wakandan women rise even more to the fore but the lack of focus as to the direction of the storyline undermines and confuses.

Nominated for 5 Oscars in 2023.

Rating: 53%

‘Thor: Love and Thunder’

When Gorr looks to make the gods extinct, Thor enlists the help of Valkyrie, Korg and ex-lover, the dying Jane Foster (Natalie Portman – Black Swan, Thor) with her newly found superpowers.

After the irreverant humour of director Taika Waititi’s first foray into the world of Thor (Thor: Ragnarok), this latest episode somewhat overeggs the pudding with many of the jokes falling flat. As Hemsworth and Portman rekindle their love, so a splenetic Gorr (Christian Bale – The Dark Knight, Exodus) looks to total annhilation.

It’s a Marvel Cinematic Universe outing, so it’s inevitably all things visual with plenty of destructive battles. But Waikiki teeters on adventure versus comedy with a smattering of romance resulting in a somewhat juvenile hotchpotch (what’s with the two goats?).

Rating: 44%

‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’

Considering his seeming omnipotence over several of the recent Marvel films, its surprising this is only number two in the Steven Strange solo sagas. Far more visually impressive than the first, as a narrative it’s considerably more perplexing.

Teenager America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez – Shadow Wolves, Roped) appears in Strange’s dreams. She is being pursued by Wanda/Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen – Wind River, Avengers Infinity War) for her power of travelling across multiverses. Cue battles across those multiverses (including ones with himself) to prevent the Scarlet Witch obtaining the power.

Unquestionably a visual feast, director Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead, Spider-Man) fails to create a cohesive narrative of significant interest. It’s all so episodic as Strange, America and Wong (Benedict Wong – Doctor Strange, The Martian) confront different iterations of themselves and others across the multiverses.

Rating: 48%

‘The Falcon & the Winter Soldier’

Post Avengers/Endgame, Sam Wilson/The Falcon and Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier team up – with Marvel diehards hating the scaling down to a TV miniseries. Ironically, the medium works perfectly for character development as both leads receive substantial screentime.

Sam (Anthony Mackie) returns to Louisiana after five years having been one of the missing. His sister Sarah (Adepero Oduye) is struggling with the family fishing business. But any hope of a normal life is soon dashed as, for morale purposes, a new Captain America (Wyatt Russell) is announced – and he ain’t too bright. With the serum that helped create the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) suddenly found to be in circulation and in the hands of a militant global enviromentalist organisation, authorities need to act quickly.

As with all Marvel Comic storylines, reality is suspended as the Falcon finds himself back in service teaming up with Bucky – and clearing the mess created by the new Cap. The thrills and spills are somewhat predictable, but what distinguishes this particular entry into the Marvel canon is the social issues it addresses along with the sparring bromance between the two leads. Now further developments there would get those diehard fans crying out for a DC invasion….

Rating: 57%

‘Eternals’

It’s hard to fathom why Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao (Nomadland, The Rider) helmed what essentially follows the events of Avengers: Endgame in the Marvel Cinematic Universe canon. An indie film maker exploring slow, observational narratives, Zhao instead is visualising the story of the ancient aliens who have been living on Earth in secret for thousands of years as they reunite to fight the return of the Deviants.

Living separated for centuries, it’s the death of their leader, Ajak (Salma Hayek – Frida, Savages) that brings the group back together. It’s to Sersi (Gemma Chan – Crazy Rich Asians, Let Them All Talk) the leadership is unexpectedly passed on to rather than her former lover, Ikaris (Richard Madden – Rocketman, Cinderella). But there’s reasons…

Eternals is sporadically interesting – many of the heroes go against ‘type’ – but at 156 minutes, it settles into an overlong, derivative stereotype of battles, internal power struggles and, just for good measure, a few more battles.

Rating: 42%

‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’ (Marvel #19)

A sardonic Paul Rudd continues to charm, even if he is the bad books of Hope (Evangeline Lilly) and Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), having ‘borrowed’ the Ant-Man suit to head off to Germany to help the Avengers.

Continuing a plotline from the first installment of Ant-Man, the father-daughter team are now fugitives themselves. They need the help of Scott to travel in the quantum world to find Pym’s missing wife (Michelle Pfeiffer). But they need to get Rudd out of his house – and avoid Ava (Hannah John-Kamen), the somewhat physically unstable woman who needs Pym’s technology to stabilise.

Lots of shrinking and enlarging of people, vehicles and buildings (!) abound with that technology in high demand, mixed with Hope in a suit of her own, Scott avoiding being caught out of home and the wonderfully funny Luis (Michael Peña) returning to continue where he and his team left off in the first film.

Rating: 62%

Director: Peyton Reed (Ant-Man, Down With Love)

Writer: Chris McKenna (The Lego Batman Movie, Spider-Man: Homecoming), Erik Sommers (The Lego Batman Movie, Spider-Man: Homecoming), Paul Rudd (Ant-Man, Role Models), Andrew Barrer (Haunt, No Exit), Gabriel Ferrari (No Exit, Die in a Gunfight)

Main cast: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly (The Hobbit, Real Steel), Michael Douglas (Fatal Attraction, Behind the Candelabra)