Avengers were named for Captain America, the First Avenger

Rating: 3/10 (26 June 2019)

Finally; this movie was available for the low, low price of 5$ on iTunes, and I and a group of friends took an opportunity to watch what is sure to go down in history as the most controversial Marvel Movie in the MCU. The group consisted of 5 women, and 5 men, mostly of comic book fandom persuasions and we were all unanimously both confused, frustrated and left with a feeling of "what did I just watch"?
The plot (such as it was) really makes no sense. There is no real rhyme or reason for anything to happen, and it mostly just happens without cause. Other than the mention of the tesseract, there is no real tie-in to the greater MCU / Infinity Wars Arch.
While Brie Larson did do some exercise training to "toughen up" for the role, she is clearly out of her element. The most distracting thing about the movie is how you can clearly tell she is on a wire doing certain stunts, trying to convincingly tell us that she is no quitter. This is a theme of her life of constantly being told by men to just give up and quit, and that because she is a girl / woman, she'll never *fill in blank*. More often than not it just comes off as her being wreckless, and incapable, and never once (including the end) does she actually accomplish and overcome, she just stands up and grimaces.
This re-occuring theme of "not having to prove anything" comes in the end, which she had a really great opportunity to actually claim victory over her stronger opponent, is instead watered down to her just blasting Jude Law and saying "I don't need to prove anything". This is unfortunate because it sends a message that once again, you just need to show up to the race and win. This Carol Danvers never proves herself (unlike say Captain America who proved himself time and time again).
Her powers are probably the most confounding of the story. She doesn't actually acquire them in a way that classic Carol Danvers did, but instead obtains them and basically becomes a living, walking battery. In comic books, there are places you can go in the realm of reason that make the character the character without breaking the world boundaries. Unfortunately in this, her powers just grow and grow, and keep growing with no real reason. First she can shoot proton energy out of her hands, next she can recharge battery cells and fix technology, and fly head on into warheads. How? Why? Who knows, that's just what happens when you get blown up by a light speed reactor, I guess...
One of the more frustrating elemets is that of Nick Fury. Fury is a battle hardened veteran... This Fury is a Kawaii, Anime Character who goes soft over cats (Think like a Hughs from Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood). SO much in fact that he doesn't lose his eye in battle, but because the stupid cat scratched his eye. This again goes along the subtle repeating trope of emasculating men throughout the narrative (also blasting off Arnolds head in the True Lies cutout when she crashed landed in the Blockbuster... but made sure Jamie Lee Curtis' head was still intact).
It was a unanimous conclusion amongst both men and women in the group that this is not the heroin they would want their daughters to emulate (which by the way, 4 of the 5 in the room had a daughter). She never shows that she can overcome obstacles or defeat -- she just stands and clenches her fist. If it wasn't that she was given immense power, she would just be eternally standing and clenching her fist, which is entirely what heros like Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Thor, Black Panther all warn against that it's not the suit that makes the hero, but the person inside the suit. In the end, Captain Marvel is just a suit.