THE SERIES
TITLE: Ms. Marvel
RELEASE DATE: 08 Jun 2022
WATCH DATE: 20 Mar 2024 (finished series)
TYPE: live-action miniseries
ACCESS: streaming on Disney+
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
THE PEOPLE
DIRECTOR: Adil El Arbi, Bilall Fallah, Meera Menon, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
PRODUCER: Fatimah Asghar
WRITER: G. Willow Wilson, Adrian Alphona
ACTORS: Iman Vellani, Matt Lintz, Zenobia Shroff, Yasmeen Fletcher
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
THE STORY
RUNTIME: 6 episodes, 48min
STORYLINE: when a Pakistani girl discovers a family heirloom that gives her powers like her favorite superhero, Captain Marvel, she is faced with family mysteries, learning her new abilities, and people who all want something from her
GENRE/THEMES: action, superhero, coming-of-age, family, youth
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
THE CRITIQUE
THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS
One of Marvel Studios’ recent Disney+ projects, this series has good production quality and exciting visual graphics. Ms. Marvel follows a rising trend in film using on-screen motion graphics and illustrations. For example, text messages pop up on the screen. The style is fun, but very ‘middle-school’, doodle style, and therefore caters to that younger audience. Some of the more subtle motion graphics are actually well placed - the neon signs and lights in the window of Bruno’s shop move and reflect Kamala's inner thoughts as she walks in. These details bring the classic comic look to life.
The youthful audience focus might have been a mistake. Marvel Studios has a marvelous track record of producing superhero films and series for the larger fan base as their audience, not just one particular age group. The motion graphic style is deterring to older fans and causes them to not take the character or the story seriously. On the other hand, it is a fantastic representation of Kamala’s character and a great way for us to step into the world through her eyes.
Kamala’s character is lovable and entertaining, she has plenty of cute mannerisms as a 14-15-year-old and brings a lot of energy to the story. But the story itself isn’t very deep and her relational conflicts with the other characters are cliche. We care particularly about Bruno, but his character seems incomplete, and his living/family situation isn’t realistic. The rest of the characters seem a bit cliche or underdeveloped, especially the new characters introduced in Pakistan. The red daggers jump into the story without any context and so we care even less about them. There seems to be too much going on… but also, not enough? The 6-part miniseries could have been much more impactful as 3 or 4 parts, which then makes it basically an extra-long movie… so that’s a dilemma. Perhaps the entertainment industry should develop or embrace a medium between a feature-length film and a miniseries…
Ms. Marvel suffers from what most of Marvel Studios' Multiverse Saga projects also suffer from - over-storytelling. Ms. Marvel establishes itself solidly in the MCU with lots of references to other Marvel characters. However, it also introduces too many new concepts and a whole new dimension of characters that is simply overwhelming. So while Ms. Marvel is part of the same world, the story feels too separated and distant from the rest of the overarching story.
The storyline is quite fascinating. This is the first South Asian, Pakistani superhero - and perhaps even character in general - to see such a huge platform on screen. Kamala’s family history is interwoven with the history of India, Pakistan, and the Partition that occurred just after the British Empire withdrew from India. Rooting the story in solid history made the fictional story believable and original.
Overall, Ms. Marvel is not a bad series, just very middle-ground. It could easily stand on its own without being part of the Marvel Universe. I had a hard time getting excited about it, but my commitment to Marvel and the MCU drove me to watch it.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
THE RECEPTION
TOMATOMETER: 98% - no way I believe this rating…
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
THE IMPRESSION
IN A SINGLE WORD: youthful
MOST STRIKING ELEMENT: historical references
REWATCH: no
RATING: 2.5 // 5 stars ⭐⭐
Follow me on LETTERBOXD for film reviews, movie lists, and more!
Comments