Slow Build to a Really Strong Addition to the MCU

Rating: 8/10 (11 March 2019)

The initial plot is ok and fun at times, but it's not the most inspired beginning despite some good early action scenes. But the slow buildup makes sense based upon the storyline, so it ok that it took me a little while to get fully involved. But once the characters reach the farmhouse, and the direction of the story becomes clear the movie really takes off. The result is a really good movie with some really good characters, great action scenes and strong emotional moments both humorous and otherwise.
We have a compelling heroine in Captain Marvel/Vers/Carol Danvers, delivered by a great actress Brie Larson (much deserved Oscar for Room). But she's hampered somewhat in her ability to connect with the audience early on, because the characters motivations and true origin don't become realized until 2/3 of the way into the film. Still the character is heroic and humorous throughout.
I agree with others that the Ben Mendelsohn character (Keller/Talos) is a standout, but I think it's not only because of his acting abilities but because he is recognized for his big bad genre characters like he played in both Rogue One and Ready Player One. And this makes his characters revelation/development all the more powerful.
The de-aging process used on both Samuel L Jackson (Nick Fury) and Clark Gregg (Agent Coulson) is for the most part quite effective, though in a few cases the close-ups lasted a little too long and it didn't stand up as well as it might have.
After the recent influx of 80's nostalgia in movies and TV it was nice to see some 90's nostalgia.
I would definitely rank this is the top 1/3 of the MCU movies released thus far.