It was a solid "alright"

Rating: 8/10 (19 March 2019)

It was a solid movie, but it had its problems. I was moderately excited for it because it's the first female led Marvel movie, it was set in the 90's, I like Brie Larson...It looked solid, but I was sure to not get my hopes too high.
So, now I've seen it, and there were definitely good parts. The whole dynamic between young Nick Fury and Carol was great and felt natural, as was the friendship between Carol and Maria, all the performances were good, the special effects were good, the smaller scale fights were refreshing from the faceless armies, I liked Carol and her finding herself storyline was pretty good, and the twist that the skrulls were actually refugees seeking their own home was a mature and subtle way to bring a topical issue into a mainstream movie.
However, there were five writers, and it was very, very evident. The majority of the movie felt like a car driving on ice and it would often skid and swerve to try to find its way back to a cohesive feeling story. The beginning feels like you were dropped into a movie that started ten minutes before you got there. With a story that relies on a lot of flashbacks, things need to be clear, and the movie felt very muddled with character motivations and who was involved in what, when. Also, Ronan was totally shoehorned and could've been used in a much more effective way. It could have been clear that Ronan had a hand in manipulating the Kree to wipe out the Skrulls because he knows they're a very serious threat to his plan of (whatever he wanted to do in Guardians of the Galaxy). He's just sort of there occasionally and talks to Jude Law about...what exactly? Everything happening on earth and everything happening in space seemed very separate and not in a good way.
Overall, 7/10. Could've been polished and trimmed, and they certainly could've lost a few of the screenwriters to streamline the story so it's easier to follow and get sucked into. It's not that everything should be spelled out for the audience like they're preschoolers, but make the story feel cohesive and polished.