We live in a time when everyone knows how everyone else should think, behave, converse, think, raise their children, think, vote, think, and think about thinking. So when Brie Larson dared make her movie and the adjoining press junket tour a feminist statement, angry men tried to tank her movie on rotten tomatoes, before they’d even seen it. Some folks on both sides of the political spectrum just can’t live and let live. They have a harder time taking insults, perceived or real, in stride than the Red Hot Chili Peppers of the mid 90’s had hanging on to a lead guitarist. I’d like to see myself as an anomaly of the times, and so I live in my own little world of being able to compartmentalize the opposing ideas of others from my respect and love for them as human beings, and possible appreciation of their art. That, combined with a healthy single dose of Getoveryourselfalin, prescribed so many years ago by Dr. Reality, allowed me to go and enjoy this movie free of any outside triggering factors.

That being said, there are some obvious feminist undertones in the movie. A female character says in response to a male character’s goading and taunting “I don’t have to prove anything to you.”. We don’t feel badly for a catcalling motorcyclist who asks Carol Danvers for a smile. All but one of the nostalgic 90’s songs used are from female-led bands (someone needs to tell the Supreme Intelligence that record players were out of style in 1995 and CD’s were in). All that is perfectly fine. I can separate a film’s agenda from its ability to entertain. I even agree with some of the complaints/tenants of feminism. The Star Wars trilogy wanted me to accept a Buddhist’s way of viewing the universe and I escaped that encounter with my Christian beliefs unscathed. I write movie reviews not based on any preconceived biases but on whether or not it entertained me. This latest entry into the MCU was not the high point of the first Avengers, but also not the low point of the second Thor movie. That’s all it needed to be in order to get my recommendation. A squadron being 12 planes, I’ll give this one 9 out of 12 fighter jets. I don’t like to summarize plots in my reviews. If you intend to see it, you know something of the plot already. I want my dear reader to know why I like or disliked a movie.

High Points

• Ben Mendelsohn’s cotton-mouthed charm has always been too strong for only the villainous roles he’s typecast into. He plays a green, pointy-eared, shape-shifting alien as straight as one can, and finds plenty of humor bouncing off the smart alecks around him.

• The majestic, off-the-wall, incredibly zany, almost frightening return of Nibbler from Futurama. Even the slightest of hints would give it away. Trust me, you’ll know it when you see it.

• Larson’s restrained, confident performance. Despite the spectacle of modern blockbusters, minimalist performances tend to be the norm, but many of them are dull and tiresome (I blame postmodernism). Brie Larson smirks a lot, shows what she’s thinking without voicing it, and doesn’t overdo anything. She’ll be a good future leader for the MCU Avengers; a group full of colorful personalities. She’s perfect to fill the hole left by Chris Evan’s quiet and heroically stoic Steve Rogers after Endgame simultaneously mends and breaks our hearts. For instance, when Fury first meets a lovable cat, he’s distracted from the mission at hand. A bigger personality would say something snappy and sassy. Danvers smiles and gestures her head in the direction they need to be going. No silly admonishing or over-the-top scenery chewing. It’s a nice moment and exemplary of Larson’s overall performance.

• Samuel L. Jackson’s de-aged physicality and boisterous performance makes him an imposing presence. But…he’s still 70 years old and his running scenes are close to laughable.

• The upgrade level-up moment could have utilized more suffering on the hero’s part, more villainy on the villain’s part, a few more dramatic beats, and more epic music, but it was satisfying and tonally consistent nonetheless.

• The theme of warfare not being so cut and dry, but forever bloodying the hands and souls of both sides

• Djimon Hondsu’s pre-cyborg MCU variation. He’s not in the movie much, but long enough to satisfy any fan of his guttural growling delivery.

• The violent restraint of the hero. Utilizing her full complement of powers, she could easily have killed thrice as many people in this movie; people who would have deserved it. Femininity has traditionally been associated with preserving and healing life that’s been wounded. Danvers is clearly a feminine hero, in every possible positive sense of the word.

• Annette Benning, seemingly pulled out of retirement since the mid-90’s setting of the movie, pulls a dual role and is like watching your cookie-baking, toy lavishing aunt act in a movie. Just pleasantness embodied.

• Stan Lee’s rehearsing his lines from a cult classic of the mid-90’s in which he played himself, and CM’s purposeful smile toward his character, now revealed to be a Watcher. It works on the level of the audience’s loving goodbye to an old friend, and CM possibly knowing he’s a Watcher just doing his job.

  Low Points

• Lee Pace’s return as Ronan the Accuser. It was dull and awkward. He was never the MCU’s strongest villain, but he was menacing enough in GOTG. His squad of Accusers are an imposing force in the comics, but are an afterthought in a movie that really isn’t all that crowded.

• Phil Coulson. Underused. Sadly underused. Clark Gregg has a quiet magnetism but has a basically extended cameo here.

• Akira Akbar as adopted niece of Carol Danvers and daughter of Lashana Lynch’s Maria Rambeau. Much like the Harry Potter movies that had recruited half of the U.K. the MCU likes to put actors under contract whenever they receive an award. One would think a logical part of that is recruiting better child actors. But this kid just has no place next to the adults she’s working with.

• Clearly the Skrull’s makeup done practically is going to limit the range and expression of the actors behind the prosthetics (except if they had hired Ron Perlman), but it even affects their voices and delivery in this movie. I guess it was unavoidable.

• A USAF personnel carrier being turned into a space-worthy vehicle (without cosmetic changes) in no more than a matter of hours and the singular efforts of a blowtorch wielding alien science officer. The MCU has a lot of suspend-your-belief technology, but come on.

• Some of the unnecessary dialogue. Things real people wouldn’t say in the moment they are saying it. You’ll know what I’m talking about when you hear it.

• A vulgar joke over a dead alien body that has the chance to take away some of the innocence from the hordes of children sure to see this movie.

  This movie, like all MCU movies, has more good going for it than bad, along with a hopeful setup for the Avengers sequel to arrive later this spring.