The Marvels Review: 5 Ups & 5 Downs

4. The Body-Swapping Gimmick Is A Huge Letdown

In an era where it's so tough for superhero movies to stand apart, The Marvels' body-swapping gimmick - whereby Carol, Monica (Teyonah Parris), and Kamala (Iman Vellani) switch places whenever they use their powers - was certainly an enticingly fun hook.

The MCU's version of Freaky Friday - well, sort of (they don't actually swap bodies).

Yet despite wasting no time at all in setting this up, it affords desperately few opportunities for uproarious character comedy or memorably creative action, and so ultimately ends up seeming like a bit of an afterthought.

Even if you can accept how laughably inconsistent the internal logic to the body-swapping mechanics are, conceptually it feels like a rough sketch of what was surely a killer idea on paper.

With this being the movie's most distinctive, standout feature, it's extremely disappointing how little of interest is done with it. What a waste.