Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Iman Vellani, Matt Lintz, Zenobia Shroff, Yasmeen Fletcher, Rish Shah, Nimra Bucha, Samina Ahmed, Mohan Kapur, Aylsia Reiner, Anjali Bhimani, Saagar Shaikh, Adaku Ononogbo, Aramis Knight, Mehwish Hayat, Laural Marsden, Azhar Usman, Farhan Akhtar, Fawad Khan, Arian Moayed, Laith Nakli, Travina Springer, Vardah Aziz, Ali Alsaleh, Jordan Firstman, Asfandyer Khan, Dan Carter, Zion Usman, Connor Jones, Brie Larson.
Ms. Marvel will divide opinion, not because of the story the young Asian fantasy comic novel star sets out, but because for the first time it will be seen by many as exhibiting a path to which some fans of the MCU will feel either alienated by, or have those same fans be told they cannot watch it because it is a series made for younger viewers, rather than the complete whole of fandom.
Age is, and never should be, a restriction on what is deemed watchable, what is in effect entertaining art; and it works both ways after all, we should not be saying to a teenager that they cannot watch a political drama which has it heart revolutionary ideas in the fear that it may lead them to accept that anarchy is often a value held aloft, and so we must not deem a teenage drama unwatchable fare for the adult. For how else the adult in the room is meant to empathise with the issues that concern and worry those we hope to save the future from ourselves.
The same must for narrative, for whilst the production may suggest teen melodrama, at its heart the message is one of deeper understanding, and for many, if not all who feel the betrayal of partition, in any scope, generation, across ideal or religious boundary, Ms. Marvel’s understanding and willing to place emphasis on one of the most glaring and shameful aspects of the post Second World War division of India by the British Government is an explosion of information that resonates across other countries since, Ireland, Korea, the then East and West Germany…for we may believe we understand the complexity of the issue from the eyes of those who lived through it at the time, but what of those generations who have come after; the children and grandchildren of separation.
Ms. Marvel, at its most outward is one of discovery, a part of a continual shift away from the heroes that set the standard of the MCU’s first decade and laying the foundations for a new band of champions to further walk the warrior’s and their brave path. But it is underneath, away from the colour, the bright hues of blues, yellows and reds that the six part series comes alive; and in Iman Vellani as the eponymous hero of the tale, the sense of framing both the outer shell and the inner conflict and turmoil is palpable and mesmerising, a hero who transcends the norm and who quite rightly is guided by a narrative steeped in its own sadness and who exhibits the greatness of one who can reach out beyond the supposed confines of their age, gender, and race.
A terrifically and well examined tale, one that subverts slightly the idea of Spiderman’s Uncle Ben’s pearl of wisdom, and instead shows that with great responsibility, must come great truth. Ms. Marvel places the MCU on to its next leading path.
Ian D. Hall