There are many points at which the MCU arguably jumped the shark, but just in case there was any doubt, The Marvels does a backflip over a line of sharks off the back of another shark.
I’ve possibly watched it in the wrong mindset, as I’ve had a couple of intensely stressful weeks at work and my patience and capacity for suppressing cynicism have temporarily vanished. It also quickly became clear that I was supposed to have watched Ms Marvel and Secret Invasion, which I have not, the result being that I had no sodding clue what was going on or why for the entire film.
It’s not just that, though. The whole film feels cheap and disposable, with quirky characters and situations that are just as misplaced as they were in Love and Thunder. One planet has a painfully convoluted situation so that they can have a musical scene, for no fucking reason. Brie Larson is doing her best to convince everyone she’s not as miserable as everyone thought she was in Captain Marvel, Maria Rambeau has powers now for reasons I forget and Kamala “look, I’m Gen Z!” Khan started to grate fairly quickly. The baddie is apparently a poundshop Ronan from Guardians with motives I didn’t really follow and a weapon that shouldn’t exist anymore but… does, I guess. Her character arc is “I’m angry, grrr”. There’s a whole thing going on with Nick Fury and some cats, which was the closest I’ve ever come to flat out abandoning an MCU film:
3/10