A major failure for the MCU

Rating: 5/10 (15 March 2019)

I put aside misgivings about the way this movie was marketed and went to see it since I am a big fan of the MCU. I wanted this to be another smash but in the back of my mind I was worried this would be a Last Jedi scenario for the MCU that would split fans.
There are a few things I thought were quite interesting or well done. The de-aging CGI is pretty impressive. Samuel L Jackson looks like he did years ago and it doesn't distract from the experience much at all although there are some parts where it does seem a bit digital in the way the actors move. Likewise all the special effects for the powers and the Kree home-world and Skrull shapeshifting are great to look at as always in these films.
Ben Mendolson, Jude Law, and Annette Benning are all fantastic in their roles and even the cat was fun.
What was awful was Brie Larsons performance and a terrible third act that has 0 tension.
I have no idea what Larson was trying to do here. You could literally replace her with a cardboard cut-out of her as Captain Marvel smirking in the majority of the scenes. It's bizarre. There are one or two scenes where we see some humanity in the character when she is discovering her past/ getting over her amnesia but outside that it is just an odd performance.
In the third act when she is suited up and full powered, nothing can stop her. She has no vulnerabilities. She just wins, the end. As a result, theres very little tension in the final act which is completely unsatisfying. Normally you expect a film like this for things to get harder and harder as the hero progresses towards their goal. In Captain Marvel, as the protagonist gets stronger everything just gets easier and easier.
The core message of the film is very progressive which is fine if its done well, but it's not. It's quite one sided and leaves you feeling like it hasn't gotten to any deeper truths. The villains are just pure evil because political reason x and the victims are just pure good because political reason y. It comes off feeling as though complex scenarios have been massively oversimplified, then the solution to these over simplified problems is presented and celebrated with a smug smirk.
Overall this left me feeling really sad that this is an entry to the MCU. Even previous films I am not a big fan of , Ant-man, Thor TDW, are more competent than this.
5/10, seriously below average for MCU.