The Marvels

The Marvels serves as not only a sequel to 2018s Captain Marvel, but also follows up on characters introduced in both WandaVision and Ms. Marvel. After an event causes Carol Danvers, Monica Rambeau, and Kamala Khan to switch places due to their light based powers, the three have to work together to take on Dar-Benn, leader of the Kree who seeks to restore her planet by destroying the ones Carol cares about as a form of revenge. Nia DaCosta, who directs and cowrites with Megan McDonnell and Elissa Karasik, has a great eye for character drama, action, and humor. In terms of story and writing, it isn't that extraordinary for the MCU but manages to tell its story and tropes really well. The only things that don't work is that there isn't more tension towards Carol's actions against the Kree, and when she does admit fault it comes a bit out of nowhere. While also there being not a lot of development for Dar-Benn as an antagonist but Zawe Ashton's performance does keep her from being uninteresting and manages to prove to be a threat. The biggest flaw this movie has is that it feels shorter than it really should and certain things in the S.A.B.E.R. station could have been expanded more. Regardless of those issues, the action and effects are incredibly fun, especially the scenes taking place in Aladna and the final fight against Dar-Benn. Having long distinguished actors like Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, and Teyonah Parris give strong performances isn't surprising, but this being Iman Vellani's feature film debut as Kamala is due to the fact that this and Ms. Marvel are her only acting performances. She absolutely steals the whole film and you can tell how much Vellani loves playing the character, which she grew up reading and now gets to write for, and making her love of Captain Marvel feel so genuine. It sucks that The Marvels underperformed and didn't fair well with most critics as, while it was far from perfect, it was an absolutely fun blast. Over all: 98%

2023 top list so far:

1. Oppenheimer

2. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

4. Asteroid City

5. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

6. Blue Beetle

7. Barbie

8. Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1

9. Elemental

10. Air

11. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

12. Creed III

13. John Wick: Chapter 4

14. Scream VI

15. Killers of the Flower Moon

16. M3GAN

17. Dumb Money

18. The Marvels

19. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

20. Cocaine Bear

21. Knock at the Cabin

22. The Flash

23. The Super Mario Bros. Movie

24. Renfield

25. Fast X

26. The Little Mermaid 2023

27. Shazam! Fury of the Gods

28. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

29. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania