Hey, I’m reviewing something again! Would you look at that?

I am trying a more in-depth review this time, so [MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD]

Honestly? Better than I expected. I admit, I went into it not expecting much and was pleasantly surprised. It isn’t the strongest entry in the MCU, but it is leagues above the DCEU (sorry, not sorry).
Overall, it had a fairly strong, if mostly predictable story. Some of it was a little clunky. It had a problem with exposition in the beginning, but the later info dumps actually felt reasonably natural and a part of the story.
There were a couple of places where it felt like there was no payoff to a seed that was planted. Specifically, I am thinking about during the escape, Talos told his wife to cover their kid’s eyes before shooting someone, but the kid sees. Then absolutely nothing came of it. Had they left it with him saying to cover the eyes, then it would have been a good moment of seeing his protectiveness of his child. But they showed us the kid seeing the bodies. Which should have meant it would affect the kid in some way. And it didn’t seem to, so it was superfluous.
There were a couple of other scenes that didn’t really make sense. Like in the montage of seeing her stand after falling all those times, one of the scenes we saw in its entirety before, and I don’t recall her doing any such standing that time, which leaves me confused about whether she is remembering or imagining these scenes.
The climax suffered from Superman syndrome, in that, especially one her full power was released, she was never in any danger. I never feared for her life. Never even feared she would fail. Even when the danger wasn’t to her directly, I wasn’t afraid, because I knew she would show up and save the day. Part of that is because they didn’t ramp up the tension at all. When the big danger showed up, I never wondered if she would succeed. Then it was over. The big danger was defeated so fast after it showed up and without any problems that it felt like a waste. No surprise there, as I knew going in that she was going to be way overpowered.
They did, however, subvert my expectations a couple of times, in a good way, namely with Fury’s eye. I expected it to be this big plot point. Then they went a completely unexpected route with it. I especially appreciate that because I think too many prequel-like stories try too hard to explain things that don’t really need explaining. In most cases I wish they woukd let mysteries be mysteries, but I think this one was superbly under-played, liie they were laughing at those other prequel-like stories. It also wasn’t as in-your-face pro-woman, anti-man as I honestly expected it to be. It didnt sacrifice story for moral, which I really appreciate. Nothing should take precedence over story in a story, in my opinion.
Characters. I liked Talos, I like Fury obviously. And Coulson. Maria and Monica were great, and the other supporting characters were nothing to complain about, but I personally did not really like Carol Danvers. Being unlikable doesn’t make a bad character, so I don’t dock any points for that (and I’m sure plenty of people really like her), but she did have a few problems with delivery of some lines that were not very well written and several of her lines felt forced. Her actions also sometimes came across a little flat to me. I don’t know how much of that was Brie Larson, how much was the writing, how much was the direction. It just didn’t work real well for me. When the main and title character is the worst part of the movie, I feel like that’s a problem.
The rest of the acting was good, however. I always love Samuel L. Jackson. I am a fan of Ben Mendelsohn as well. Clark Gregg doesn’t disappoint. Jude Law also deserves props. All around, I had no problems with any characters or acting besides Danvers/Larson.
In terms of being an addition to the MCU, I think it fits pretty well. There were a couple of continuity errors that I caught, and I’m sure more superfans will find. But that is to be expected in any addition to a large universe, particularly with a prequel-like story.
I would say this movie deserves a good 7/10. I would recommend it.