‘The Marvels’ movie review: Low on stakes, this modest addition hits a much-needed soft reboot button for the MCU

When Captain Marvel was released back in 2019, the origin story stuck to the basics and followed the franchise’s predominantly successful formula. While it didn’t have the gravitas that other origin stories like Black Panther,Iron Man and Doctor Strange possessed, but was packaged as the quintessential Marvel film with an equal dose of humour and heart that titles like The Incredible Hulk and Eternals lacked. If Jonathan Majors starring in the Loki series followed by Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumaniawas testing the waters for the MCU, it’s The Marvels where the franchise takes that one big step forward when it comes to integrating its small-screen characters and events into its film canon. Monica Rambeau who, as a kid, waved goodbye to her ‘aunt Carol’ in Captain Marvel, now has the ability to manipulate all wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum thanks to the events of WandaVision. The Marvels Director: Nia DaCosta Cast: Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris, Iman Vellani, Zawe Ashton, Samuel L. Jackson Runtime: 105 minutes Storyline: Captain Marvel’s grievous past comes back to haunt while her powers become entangled with two other superheroes The trio’s powers get entangled thanks to the actions of Dar-Benn, Danvers’ archenemy, who is hunting down prosperous planets after their Kree planet Hala goes barren.