Not a bad film at all

Rating: 8/10 (9 March 2019)

What's really good is that most of the spoilers that I saw on the internet before this was released were wrong about so much. A few good twists for the comic readers. The tribute to Stan Lee was very well done.
I have read people bashing it as some kind of feminist indoctrination movie. It's not. It also gets bashed for being formulaic. It is. Marvel knows the formula that works for their origin stories and sticks with it here. I don't see that as a bad thing. I enjoy seeing the 'before they were awesome' stories.
It's standard superhero fare. Better than most out there, but not top tier. It stands up well to Wonder Woman and Black Panther, better than the second and third Iron Mans, easily outclasses Age of Ultron, BvS and Justice League, not as good as Winter Soldier or Civil War in my opinion.
Brie Larson is a very good actress but at times she seems to still be figuring out how the Marvel Cinematic Universe runs. Overall she's very good in the part. The 'empowering' scenes that seem to cause so much grief actually make sense in the context of her character. It's not a 'girls rule' thing, it's a kid who won't give up thing, kind of the same kid with a heart build up that Steve Rogers got. Her gender is not played up much at all, which is actually pretty neat. She's presented without trying to make excuses for her being a woman, much the same way guy superheros don't need to make an excuse for being a guy.
Samuel L. Jackson does have a large role. I was expecting just a few shots of him here and there, but the movie also plays as a Nick Fury background-but-not-origin story. With a little Phil Coulson introduction to boot.
Overall, worth the 20 bucks for me an my son to go watch, but not a repeat viewing in the theater film.