Great acting. Great sfx. Not a great script.

Rating: 5/10 (12 March 2019)

Sadly, the fact that this had eight writers really shows. It's script is dull and predictable in places and just messy in others - feeling very much cobbled together. You can almost hear the producers bickering over what gets included. Way too many cooks in the kitchen here.
Worst of all it's missing a good character arc for the hero. One of my favorite elements in superhero movies is that spine tingling moment of self-belief or insight that enables them to finally reach their full powers and start kicking ass. These pinnacle moments really work when the character has believable self-doubt and the plot takes them logically to their full potential - think Neo in the first Matrix suddenly being able to 'see', or the moment in Thor Ragnarok where he realizes he doesn't need his hammer ("what were you the god of again?"), or Wonder Woman realizing she is the "God Killer", not the sword. Captain Marvel attempts to do something like this with the "always getting up" thing, but it just doesn't work. She's a badass from the opening moment and there's not really any believable or satisfying moment of insight for her that lets her overcome whatever was holding her back because, well, nothing was holding her back. Nothing satisfying at least. Her revelation just seems to happen randomly.
I was super hyped up for the first Marvel female-led superhero movie (though I still kind of think it should have gone to Black Widow in fairness). Especially after DC rocked it with Wonder Woman, my line of thinking was "if DC can do it that well after muffing up everything else, then maybe Marvel will totally blow us away". Not the case unfortunately.
On the positive side. Larson was great. The CGI de-aging of Fury and Coulson wasn't too distracting. And it had some funny moments. Also a touching Stan Lee opening animation and an after credits scene worth waiting around for.
Oh and it passed the Bechdel test too.. so at least that's progress.
I think the Russo brothers will really do great things with Captain Marvel in Endgame. Sadly, the smorgasbord of writers and directors here didn't.