Review: MARVEL RISING: SECRET WARRIORS – A Lazy and Uninspired Mess

The idea of an animated Secret Warriors film was promising. Young heroes like Ms. Marvel, Patriot, Squirrel Girl and Quake taking on an Inhuman war sounds excellent! The execution left a lot to be desired. Here’s our review of Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors.

The story is pretty bland. Ms. Marvel (Kathreen Khavari) aspires to be like Captain Marvel (Kim Raver). Her and Squirrel Girl (Milana Vayntrub) are up and coming superheroes. They meet two inhumans who are fighting each other. Dante (Tyler Posey), a young man who just got his powers, and Exile (Booboo Stewart), a Kree warrior who wants to “deliver” inhumans. Our to heroines get involved, as well as two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, Daisy Johnson (Chloe Bennet) and Patriot (Kamil McFadden).

The Kree created the inhuman gene, so they are returning to earth to claim their warriors. They are being led by Hela the accuser (Ming-Na Wen), and no that’s not a mix-up. The character’s name is Hela, the accuser. With Ms. Marvel being inhuman she feels the need to get involved. The friendship between Ms. Marvel and Squirrel Girl is adorable and is the only redeeming quality of this movie.

The film’s story is weak and had no sense of urgency. I was never concerned with Hela or the Kree. They felt like an afterthought. Which is fine, Marvel films often do this because they want to keep the focus on their heroes. Still, in this movie they didn’t establish their heroes particularly well, so it was a mess all the way around. Then we have the animation. It’s still and lifeless. It’s done in the same vein as the Spider-Man animated series, and it’s still an eyesore.

The film doesn’t care, and it shows. The film ends with Captain Marvel making the young heroes an extension of the Avengers (think Young Justice). Here it doesn’t feel earned. The story arcs don’t go anywhere. The film fails at the most basic levels of storytelling. I understand that this is an 80-minute special for kids, but they need good stories too.

When we have: Young Justice, Spectacular Spider-Man, Batman: Under the Hood, and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse – there is no reason for Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors to this lazily done.