Felt more like an obligation than a story that needed to be told

Rating: 5/10 (17 March 2019)

I'd put CAPTAIN MARVEL down there with THOR: THE DARK WORLD as a poorly paced, dull entry in the MCU, which has been for the most part solid and fun. I don't even care that much about the alleged controversy regarding feminism or whatever-- the movie is just boring, slapping on lackluster Joss Wheddonisms, the expected 1990s pop culture references, and stock character beats, and hoping we'll eat up this warmed-over blockbuster material with no complaints.
I don't know if Brie Larson was miscast or not (her main mode of acting is to alternate between stone-faced sense of purpose and condescending smirks), but I can't see any actress doing very well as Carol, as her characterization is quite uneven throughout the movie. Is she a stoic warrior or a quippy mischief-maker? The movie hammers home at the end that her persistence is her defining trait, but by then, I felt she was a bit of an overpowered, Superman-like bore who doesn't really have to do much soul-searching.
Now you might argue since this movie is about a woman trying to remember who she was and trying to fight against the roles others try to mold her into, this inconsistency is a stylistic choice, but that's a stretch considering she remains this same mish-mash of personality from the first frame to the last.
I also rather disliked how Nick Fury was treated. I could get him being a little bumbling if we were seeing a 20-something Nick Fury just learning the ropes, but considering he is already a seasoned agent of SHIELD at this point, his stumbling around just to make Carol look better was rather irritating.
The fight scenes are competent, like you'd expect from Marvel after a decade-plus of making movies, but it is a shame this competence did not extend to the screenplay, which lacks any real meat or originality. To be honest, I was relieved when it was over, not my typical reaction to most MCU movies.