Serves its purpose within the grand MCU tapestry

Rating: 8/10 (10 March 2019)

> De-aging: agree with most comments - seamless during the movie; jaw-dropping in retrospect.
> Goose: serves as the movie's Groot. They could have easily overplayed Goose combat scenes but showed restraint. Nicely done.
> Ben Mendelsohn: I'm sure he's a great actor, but the recent roles he's had in high profile franchises have been very one dimensional. This one has a little more nuance for him to shine. New perspective on his range.
> Music: I get that we're going for the 90s nostalgia factor + a skew towards the social highlights, but the music felt a little forced. In contrast to GoG, where the music blended effortlessly; here it was noticed ... and when it's noticed, it's a low grade distraction.
> Coulson's instincts: sure we can peer into the future, but for the purposes of this film, there should have been an establishing scene between Coulson and Fury to justify the stairwell scene. Otherwise, the retro-justification just felt fuzzy.
> Yon-Rogg's last stand: played for a laugh, but this bit could have been more impactful/less predictable if there was more upfront establishing the prove-yourself-to-me theme AND Jude Law didn't play it so exaggerated, which was basically shouting "blast me"
Overall, enjoyable. Necessary connecting film. But now that we've got "First Avenger" out of the way, the true test is with the "Winter Solder" chapter.