"Captain Marvel 2" collects all the flaws of the Marvel universe
Miscellaneous / / November 15, 2023
The comic book film lasts only an hour and a half, but it’s not easy to stand through.
Not long ago, the Marvel Cinematic Universe was not just a collection of films, but an important phenomenon. One can argue about the quality of individual works, but in 2019 everyone watched and discussed the conclusion of the “Infinity Saga” - the film “Avengers: Endgame” grossed two billion dollars at the box office. And it’s not just about the money: it was a pop culture event, summing up the ten-year history of the cinematic universe.
A month before Endgame, Captain Marvel was released. Some fans criticized this film, often because of statements taken out of context by Brie Larson, who played the main role. But in fact, “Captain Marvel” is a quite good origin (origin story) of the character, albeit a few years late; he belongs in the first phase of the cinematic universe.
Only four years have passed. And now Marvel films and TV series have become a kind of symbol of mediocre comics. Not all, of course: the third part of “Guardians of the Galaxy” turned out to be just as heartwarming and fun as the previous ones, and the second season too “
Loki"maintained a good level.But the fourth "Thor" ruined almost everything that was built in the third part, the second "Black Panther" fell apart from the number of storylines, “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantomania” came out as if unfinished.
And there is also the She-Hulk series with terrible graphics, flat humor and a ridiculous ending. And "Ms. Marvel" with "Secret Invasion", which simply no one noticed. In addition, the studio lost most of its most popular actors: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Pratt and, most likely, Chris Hemsworth.
On November 10, “Captain Marvel 2” (in the original simply “Marvels”), the next chapter of the cinematic universe, was released worldwide. And it seems that this is where all the problems of the current Marvel era come together. To understand this story, you need to remember several previous films and TV series. But even for experts it will be difficult to watch the film: the actors overact, the graphics are terrible, and it is simply impossible to understand what is happening.
The plot just makes no sense
In the first part, Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), destroyed the artificial intelligence that controlled the Kree race. But this only made it worse - their home planet is dying. Then the new Kree leader Dar-Benn (Zawi Ashton), having found a quantum bracer - the same as that of Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) from "Ms. Marvel", decides to disrupt peace negotiations with the Skrulls and simply take away resources from other planets.
The same Captain Marvel and an employee of the M.E.C. organization must stop her. Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris). True, the latter is also the daughter of Carol’s longtime friend, and she is offended by the superheroine. When touching the transition point, a strange thing happens: now, when using the power of light, Captain Marvel, Monica and Kamala instantly change places.
Any feature film, even a realistic drama, implies some degree of plot assumptions or coincidences. Especially if we are talking about genre films, such as science fiction. The attitude towards entertaining comics is even simpler. But everything has a limit!
The plot of Captain Marvel 2 can be summed up in the words: “It just happens because it happens.” Each component of the film comes from nowhere, and the audience is asked to believe in what is happening.
Why exactly did Captain Marvel's longtime enemies find a bracer similar to the one her fan uses? It happened. Why did all the heroines start changing powers? It just so happened. Why do the Kree attack planets that Carol is connected to? Just accept it. Not to mention that Carol herself turns out to be the cause of all the problems. But even this could have been forgiven if it had not later turned out that the entire conflict was resolved in just a couple of minutes.
But the main question is: why is there a storyline between Nick Fury and the breeding flerkens?
Of course, the answer is obvious: to somehow entertain the viewer with jokes Samuel L. Jackson and cute cats. But it’s as if they don’t even try to connect this part to the rest of the film.
It turns out that only the last minutes of Captain Marvel 2 and the scenes after the credits are important for the development of the cinematic universe. But as an independent picture, it’s just a meaningless collection of coincidences and incomprehensible showdowns.
The picture looks like a skit
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has long been criticized for being overloaded with overarching plots and crossovers. Once upon a time, it was possible to watch films about different superheroes separately. Then they were connected to each other, and the audience had to follow all the full-length parts. But now series have also been added. Second "Doctor Strange” is difficult to understand if you haven’t watched “WandaVision,” and the theme of the multiverse was introduced in “Loki.”
It's even worse with Captain Marvel 2. To understand it, you need to watch not only the first film, but also the series "Ms. Marvel" and "WandaVision", or better yet, "Secret Invasion", otherwise it is unclear where Monica Rambeau and Kamala Khan and their family came from. At the same time, it would be nice to remember the events of Infinity War, otherwise the tragedy of one of the heroines may be incomprehensible. And then Valkyrie from Thor and Kate Bishop from Hawkeye will appear in the film - briefly, but without knowing the characters, the meaning of their scenes is lost.
It turns out that “Captain Marvel 2” does not even resemble a mediocre crossover, but some kind of skit. Characters from different films and TV series gather here, but do not really contact each other. And those who meet - Carol, Monica and Kamala - are more often just fooling around than doing anything useful.
It seems like this is a film about saving worlds from destruction. But in order to learn how to change places more accurately, the heroines comically jump rope and juggle. One of the parts of the film takes place on a planet where everyone sings and dances, including Captain Marvel herself. This is apparently reference to the series about Kamala Khan. But the authors don’t seem to take into account that the projects have completely different atmospheres and scales. You don’t expect a Bollywood atmosphere at all from a theatrical blockbuster: our planet is about to be destroyed, so we’ll be rocking it on the dance floor.
Although, with the proper talent of the director, this could have worked: James Gunn in “Guardians of the Galaxy” entertained with songs and dance battles, and it looked great. But there is another problem.
Captain Marvel 2 is just really poorly made
It is already known that director Nia DaCosta didn't participate in large-scale reshoots of the film - after the main stage of work, she moved to London to take on the next project. The final editing, obviously, was also done without her.
In fact, work on the film was completed without its creator. During re-shooting, the producers allegedly wanted to better connect the different storylines. Which they obviously failed to do. But this is not the only problem with the new film - “Captain Marvel 2” looks more like a continuation of the “Ms. Marvel” series. And if, like the Guardians of the Galaxy Christmas special, it had been released on Disney+, there would have been fewer complaints.
But what can be forgiven for a teen streaming project is not appropriate for a $250 million blockbuster.
It has become good form to criticize Marvel's special effects in recent years: indeed, the graphics in the films "Thor: Love and Thunder"or "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantomania" looks worse than in projects 10-15 years ago. Alas, Captain Marvel 2 is no exception.
Part of the reason is that the plot brought together three heroines with not the most interesting superpowers: they all use light, just in different forms, so there are colored stripes or patterns on the screen all the time. But the problem is that the visuals of the film are simply not memorable.
If anything sticks in my memory, it’s only the shortcomings. For example, editing - one scene is replaced by another without any connection, as if there should be an advertising block between them. Or that the actors, as in the average series, often overact.
It is clear that Kamala Khan and Monica Rambeau came directly from the grotesque projects “Ms. Marvel” and “WandaVision”. But Brie Larson, even in the first “Captain Marvel,” did not widen her eyes at every difficult situation and did not freeze after that with a stone face.
In the few dramatic moments when the heroines are allowed to communicate normally with each other, it seems that the film is about to turn into a good buddy movie. Surely they will now show that women, working together, can correct both their past mistakes and the problems of all the worlds. But no, in the very next scene all hopes are dashed: again bad graphics, inappropriate jokes and chaotic action.
Captain Marvel 2 is a complete failure for the studio on all fronts. The film has already set an anti-record for the first weekend box office in the entire history of the cinematic universe: in the United States, the film earned only $47 million - less than The Incredible Hulk 15 years ago. And the new product is also criticized by critics: Rotten Tomatoes “Captain Marvel 2” is third from last in terms of the percentage of positive reviews among all films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
That is, the film has no chance of breaking even at the box office.
There is nothing surprising in what happened: the studio failed the entire advertising campaign, and not only because of the actors’ strike - in principle, very little was said about the new product. In an attempt to make up for lost time, a third of the final trailer consists of shots of popular characters who are not in the film.
Due to the negative reception of the latest works, which also criticized weak graphics and overloaded plots, interest in the next Marvel projects has decreased even among fans. Not to mention ordinary viewers who will not understand a dozen films and TV series in order to go to the cinema.
This is partly good. The studio has obviously reached a dead end, and it's time for the producers to re-invent the cinematic universe in order to regain the trust of fans. Work seems to be already underway: the finished scripts for the Daredevil series and the Blade film are being rewritten from scratch and they promise to focus on separate independent projects. Plus, a reboot of “X-Men” and “Fantastic Four” is expected.
“Captain Marvel 2” so far remains a vivid reflection of all the problems of the cinematic universe: when the studio releases a discordant and unfinished film, trying to attract viewers with a popular theme and familiar names. Alas, this no longer works.
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