Saw the movie...I really liked it. Maybe not great, but still really good. But I admit that I'm biased because I'm a comic book nerd and I love origin stories, particularly ones that are set in a time period that I can relate to and are nostalgic with humorous nods. Ex: When they were loading the black box audio using Windows RealPlayer, and the hourglass icon was spinning, and there was several seconds of dead air...Carol looks puzzled and asks, "What's happening?". Fury replies nonchalantly while sipping his drink, "We're waiting for it to load...". More dead air...
LOL
I don't think the movie lived up to the hype, but that's because I think it was overhyped to begin with. And it was a victim of bad timing of the movie's release as well, with respect to the chronology of the other Marvel releases. This movie was burdened with being the precursor of the entire Avengers movement and predates everything in MCU (with the exception of the first Captain America movie), so it had a lot to live up to. Captain Marvel is arguably the most powerful Avenger, but that doesn't necessarily mean this was the best Avenger movie. It didn't help that this movie was released after Infinity War, which was the most epic Avenger movie, mostly because of its ensemble cast and multiple story lines, and before End Game, which is expected to be just as epic.
This movie needs to be watched with the proper perspective. It's more of a 'Guardians of the Galaxy' -type of movie with it's occasional silliness/goofiness, as opposed to the relatively more serious Avengers movies. Speaking of which, it's unfortunate that while this movie takes place before the events of 'Guardians of the Galaxy', it is released chronologically after 'GOTG', which spoils the major plot twist. Also, while it was great that Fury (and Coulson) were in this movie, it kind of set the expectation that this movie would be similar to the other movies Fury was in. It's not. This is partly Fury's origin story as well, and his character has a little different personality than we are accustomed to.
Samuel Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, and Goose the 'cat' each absolutely stole every scene they were in. Ben was great/funny as usual, Goose was hilarious (the final end credit scene was gold), and SJ was also great as usual ("Mother Flerken!..."). I thought Fury's personality was a little too goofy with his affection for Goose -- it made it too obvious what was going to happen. It was ad nauseam.
Some of the complaints I've read in reviews are valid. There are some plot holes and anachronisms (particularly in regards to technology), and some Macguffins, but almost every movie has their share of those, particularly prequels that are made as almost an afterthought after a dozen years worth of other MCU movies. Just need to take them in stride. The "grrrl power" and feminist overtones were pretty obvious, but that is not necessarily a terrible thing. This was a unique opportunity, so might as well take advantage of it. Maybe it was more subtle than obvious. They were there, but I don't think the political statements were overdone like in Jedi.
Charming, funny, and some good action. Maybe not as funny as GOTG, or as good action as some of the other Avengers movies, but does well on its own when it's not suffering from comparison.
