Average Marvel movie with some genuine moments of enjoyment

Rating: 5/10 (13 March 2019)

Captain Marvel, directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, is a new entry in the infamous and, to an extent, tiresome blockbuster franchise. Admittedly, they are, for the most part, very similar and the formula has gotten us here. Before I saw the film, I read many negative reviews for it and to be honest, the drama surrounding the film didn't bother me. I wasn't interested in judging the movie beyond what is on the screen because my opinion would then be biased.
For starters, the movie is clearly not as poor as people say it is, but not very good either. It is surface level Marvel entertainment in terms of action, humour, and characters. Nothing deep is to be found in this movie, except for Talos, a surprisingly fleshed out villain that took me completely off guard in a good way. The de-aging of Sam Jackson and Clark Gregg was amazing, Jackson especially. The entire supporting cast was great, especially Mendelsohn and Jackson.
As for the negatives, there wasn't much action. A couple of somewhat thrilling sequences and none stood out. Sometimes the pacing dragged through unengaging exposition and there was an overabundance of needless throwbacks to previous Marvel movies that came off as distractions. The ending clearly sets up a sequel, which is another negative. And the main downside of this movie is, unfortunately, Brie Larson. Her acting was very bland, the character was very underdeveloped. I wasn't invested in her story, rather the arcs of everyone else. It does seem like Larson was not the best choice for Captain Marvel and the MCU is famous for sticking the landings in terms of casting protagonists. Her character seemed way too cocky sometimes, I didn't feel much sympathy for her during the dramatic moments. Her friend in the movie, Lashana Lynch, was much better than her and had way more depth in my opinion.
Now that Avengers: Endgame came out, my opinion on this movie has changed quite a bit. There's little reason for this movie to exist, because Endgame doesn't utilize Captain Marvel at all, except for a couple of minutes. The set up was unnecessary and Larson just plainly sucks at portraying the character. Jackson and Mendelsohn carry the whole thing but it isn't enough to save this film from its awful protagonist.