So...

Rating: 5/10 (10 March 2019)

... I wanted to like this but it's such a step back for the MCU that I have to rate it 5/10. Over the years I've loved the MCU's characters and the build up towards something that felt like a unity, like a team of flawed, hard working heroes who overcame themselves for something greater, for something good. I can't find that insight, that spirit of humbling shared experience, in this movie, no matter how hard the movie aims to that, and no matter how hard I really tried to give it a pass. Obviously there are some highlights (Ben Mendelsohn, Samuel L. Jackson, the 90s setting) but the elephant in the room is triple headed: uninteresting combo of script and direction, Brie Larson is awfully miscast here (she's been insanely good in other movies, but she really gets on everyone's nerves with that squeaky voice and blank look in her face), and a general landscape of been here, seen this, done that.
Over the years the quality and consistency of the MCU has built a huge amount of goodwill among the general audiences. I really hope that this one sadly mediocre and pivotal movie doesn't make people start forgetting about that.