It pains me to write this...
But what should have been the ingredients to one of it favourite marvel films, was all bad stock.
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This was a film that I was psyched to see, however due to being a new dad, I had to wait until it was on Disney Plus. No taking newborns into the cinema, I'm not that guy. Besides, this was a film I was planning to give my undivided attention to, so ignoring my baby in the cinema to achieve this wasn't an option.
Bit of background on me; I love both Ms Marvel and Captain Marvel. I read all the comics, I actually enjoyed the first Captain Marvel film, contrary to many others, I always look forward to seeing her crossover in Marvel projects and I HIGHLY enjoyed the Ms Marvel TV show and was excited for how it left things. When the trailers and all the cool movie posters started coming out, I was hyped for sure. Which made the wait for Disney Plus to start streaming it even harder. But whilst I waited there was an ongoing narrative online that this film was bad. At first I didn't listen because a) online doesn't mean true b) I enjoyed the previous Marvels projects and saw they both got some bad ratings at the time of their release and c) I don't care. |
However, the voices got louder, the reviews kept coming in and so did the box office figures too and it was impossible to ignore. People did not like this film, but why? Annoyingly I was going to have to wait until the new year to discover this for myself...
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I can tell you after watching it that I walked away from this film knowing EXACTLY what the main issue was. The characters in this film are either forgettable or just simply NOT their comic/previous MCU counterparts. Let's run through:
Photon. Before watching the film: I was highly looking forward to see how this character grows and interacts with Carol after seeing Captain Marvel and Wandavision. Instead: She decides not to speak to her for most of the film, and as for being an important cog in the story, she's mostly a third wheel. Other than at the end when the whole film decides to THEN make her relevant. Feeling like she was needed for the ending and then they had to work backwards Carol Danvers Before watching the film: She is one of my favourite comic heroes and I especially love her interactions with Kamala Khan so seeing this on the big screen should have been right up my street. This should have been a joy for me to watch. |
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Instead: She is completely careless and very un-Captain Marvel-like.
Walking away from a genocide because she can't help anymore people, may sound on paper like a terrible choice to have to make, but I firmly believe it is not a choice Carol would make. She would stick around until the very end, until death, if she could just save 1 more person.
Also when she figures out that her powers kicking in can cause her and Kamala to swap places, where does she decide to try this? 200 foot in the air. That's not just naive, that's stupid. The Carol I've been reading all these years is sharp as a tack. Who was I watching?
Kamala Khan
Before the film: Again, probably one of my favourite heroes AND her TV adaptation is literally perfect. Even though they changed how her powers worked for the sake of Mr Fantastic showing up at some point, I couldn't really fault it and that says a lot when you can change a character that much and still have someone like me onside for it. They can't mess her up can they?
Instead: Well, they don't. However, the fact she forgives Carol for all these stupid, heartless decisions I have previously mentioned is really annoying, and whilst I would say Kamala is forgiving she isn't fickle.
The bad guy was...who? I can't remember their name. I actually liked them as a concept and their story but whomever played her was just so flat I can't remember a line of her dialogue and I am not even going to entertain their concept any further. Want me to write about your antagonist? Then write a better antagonist. Also, what was their plan? Destroy several other planets to save their own because they had a chip on their shoulder from Captain Marvel's actions in the last film? It seemed like a stretch...but that shows how badly they were written. A more developed character would have been able to make those motivations and jumps in logic, logical.
Nick Fury
Before the film: We've just seen Fury go through one of his darkest stories and arcs on SECRET INVASION, how will he act now towards Carol? Will the events of that crossover into this? All these thoughts were racing through my mind.
Instead: Fury silly. Fury make jokes.
The sad thing is that when this film had fun, it was great. But at so many points this film lost me due to the characters onscreen being far removed from the ones that had drawn me to this film. Kamala REALLY carries the film, but she is just not enough to do that. Yes we had a cool after credits scene but considering Captain Marvel was in the end credits scene of Shang Chi, and we haven't seen anything develop from that, I would have liked the story of that one to have either linked or progressed again through Carol here (remember when End Credits scenes did that?).
This felt like it was written and directed by people who did not know these characters...and what's the point of Marvel Studios if that's the kind of quality we're going to get from Superhero films? If the only character you get right is Goose, then somebody should be pushing back on that script. This may as well have been SONY's version of the characters and it's annoying that that is where we are in 2024. Literally going backwards with our character development and faith to the source material. I don't even Kamala Khan would think this is a good Captain Marvel movie.
Let us know what you think.
Email [email protected] or tweet at us @talknerdyuk
By Jay Burdett @ProJub on Twitter
Walking away from a genocide because she can't help anymore people, may sound on paper like a terrible choice to have to make, but I firmly believe it is not a choice Carol would make. She would stick around until the very end, until death, if she could just save 1 more person.
Also when she figures out that her powers kicking in can cause her and Kamala to swap places, where does she decide to try this? 200 foot in the air. That's not just naive, that's stupid. The Carol I've been reading all these years is sharp as a tack. Who was I watching?
Kamala Khan
Before the film: Again, probably one of my favourite heroes AND her TV adaptation is literally perfect. Even though they changed how her powers worked for the sake of Mr Fantastic showing up at some point, I couldn't really fault it and that says a lot when you can change a character that much and still have someone like me onside for it. They can't mess her up can they?
Instead: Well, they don't. However, the fact she forgives Carol for all these stupid, heartless decisions I have previously mentioned is really annoying, and whilst I would say Kamala is forgiving she isn't fickle.
The bad guy was...who? I can't remember their name. I actually liked them as a concept and their story but whomever played her was just so flat I can't remember a line of her dialogue and I am not even going to entertain their concept any further. Want me to write about your antagonist? Then write a better antagonist. Also, what was their plan? Destroy several other planets to save their own because they had a chip on their shoulder from Captain Marvel's actions in the last film? It seemed like a stretch...but that shows how badly they were written. A more developed character would have been able to make those motivations and jumps in logic, logical.
Nick Fury
Before the film: We've just seen Fury go through one of his darkest stories and arcs on SECRET INVASION, how will he act now towards Carol? Will the events of that crossover into this? All these thoughts were racing through my mind.
Instead: Fury silly. Fury make jokes.
The sad thing is that when this film had fun, it was great. But at so many points this film lost me due to the characters onscreen being far removed from the ones that had drawn me to this film. Kamala REALLY carries the film, but she is just not enough to do that. Yes we had a cool after credits scene but considering Captain Marvel was in the end credits scene of Shang Chi, and we haven't seen anything develop from that, I would have liked the story of that one to have either linked or progressed again through Carol here (remember when End Credits scenes did that?).
This felt like it was written and directed by people who did not know these characters...and what's the point of Marvel Studios if that's the kind of quality we're going to get from Superhero films? If the only character you get right is Goose, then somebody should be pushing back on that script. This may as well have been SONY's version of the characters and it's annoying that that is where we are in 2024. Literally going backwards with our character development and faith to the source material. I don't even Kamala Khan would think this is a good Captain Marvel movie.
Let us know what you think.
Email [email protected] or tweet at us @talknerdyuk
By Jay Burdett @ProJub on Twitter