Let's just be honest

Rating: 3/10 (12 March 2019)

I am a Marvel fan. I go see all the movies, then buy the blu-rays. I have character statues, posters and have read the comics including Captain Marvel. There is a reason people become fans of certain things, and those things done well over time generate more fans until it becomes a "Juggernaut" like the MCU has. I fear that it's not unstoppable however, as the sub-par Captain Marvel has painfully illustrated. The movie is a pastiche of poorly written scenes with a bit of uninspired action sprinkled here and there with barely any plot at all. Carol Danvers has no character development whatsoever, no adversity to overcome besides amnesia and no villain to fight. I know there are people saying they like this movie, but I feel like they either aren't being honest or they like it for personal reasons that are not present in the movie. Objectively speaking, in terms of the technical aspects of storytelling, Captain Marvel just isn't effective. Subjectively, I was bored the entire time and the nostalgia parts made me feel as though JJ Abrams was poking me in the ribs asking me if I 'member the 90's. Yes. Yes I do.
And for the record, people are criticizing this movie because it was bad, not because they "haaaate the wooomans!" Dismissing legitimate criticisms using this tactic will not produce better films, which is the only thing most people want. The problem is that they built the movie around the idea of "strong woman" and promoted it as an identity film, so when the movie ends up being bad some people rush to defend it because they don't want the IDEA to fail. The movie itself is secondary - just a vehicle to slap their bumper stickers on, which is a real shame because this could have been a great addition to the MCU. I hope they learn something from this, but from what I've heard it appears that Marvel actually plans to escalate the identity politics in the next phase which would be an absolute disaster for them. When pointing to the box office as a defense for how "good" Captain Marvel was, just remember that tons of paying customers didn't like it at all.