The Marvels Review: Only The Last 10 Minutes Matter In Choppy Superhero Sequel

The Marvels (PG13)

Starring Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris, Iman Vellani, Zawe Ashton, Samuel L Jackson

Directed by Nia Dacosta

Superhero fatigue reaches new heights (or lows?) with the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe entry from Candyman helmer Dacosta. If you sat out the Disney+ series WandaVision and Ms Marvel, good luck following the plot: Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel (Larson) teams up with Captain Monica Rambeau (Parris) and Kamala Khan (Vellani), characters from the aforementioned shows, to stop a Kree revolutionary (Ashton as a forgettable, featherweight Thanos-ish villain) — better brush up on your history of that alien race in Danvers’ first movie — from destroying their favourite planets (including a kooky one with a tragically underused Park Seo-Joon as its singing ruler). And even if you didn’t, it’s frustrating and exhausting to keep up with the hectic, choppy narrative. Even the usually indefatigable Nick Fury (Jackson) looks like he needs a pay raise and a vacation. It also doesn’t help that some of the SPFX is on the crummy side. But that’s the least of its problems: it’s hard to enjoy The Marvels as a standalone when it’s concerned with dropping breadcrumbs for future instalments. In fact, everything seems to exist only for the final 10 minutes (holy smoke, those cameos!). This is supposed to be a three-course meal but only the appetiser is served. Ugh. (2/5 stars) in cinemas now

Photo: Disney

The Killer (R21)

Starring Michael Fassbender, Tilda Swinton, Charles Parnell

Directed by David Fincher

Fincher returns to serial-killer territory with this slow-burn, elegantly simple thriller which re-teams him with Se7en scribe Andrew Kevin Walker. The story, based on a 1998 French graphic novel, follows Fassbender’s unnamed hitman as he tracks down his employers who want him dead after a botched assignment. Cold and disciplined, the Smiths-loving misanthrope is half-monk, half-Terminator (think David the android in Prometheus by way of No Country for Old Men’s Anton Chigur). Watching the assassin at work as he shares his business philosophy/rules of engagement is strangely mesmerising. “Anticipate, don’t improvise,” he intones. Can someone print that on a T-shirt? (3.5/5 stars) on Netflix