I was pleasantly surprised at how good this was.
Florence Pugh is a treasure. She really grounded this movie and gave it some emotional weight to help elevate it to more than just a "comic book movie". Really good chemistry with "Bob".
I was worried about this movie because there wasn't a lot of set up for it, the "heroes" they chose weren't exciting, and Sentry is a really complex character that seemed impossible to introduce at this point...especially alongside this team.
But, they did it, and they did it well.
Something that isn't done enough is a reminder that these guys are still humans with the same normal problems and feelings as anyone else--they can have shitty pasts, get lonely and depressed, etc, and those things can make them not as invincible as they may seem on the outside. It would have been really easy for this storyline to turn out cheesy or preachy, but they did it in a way that felt relatable and real.
The chemistry between the characters was really good, and they did a good job of taking their time and letting things play out. As
@Dragonlordxxxxx mentioned, the pacing was great and deserves praise.
I thought Wyatt was annoying in the Falcon/Winter Soldier show, so I'm glad they had a chance to flesh him out more here and make him interesting.
They did drop the ball a bit on Ghost. All of the other characters got a proper amount of screen time, and/or have been around in the MCU in some form or fashion that they didn't really need a reminder of who they were.
But Ghost? We saw her once in like...Ant Man 2..and although she was pleasant in this movie, we didn't see much of what motivated her to be there.
They also really didn't do enough with Bucky. This whole "Representative Bucky" storyline was a giant waste, and it could have been so much more interesting. They should have had a show about him running for office or something, because he looked like he was doing the job at gun point.
They made one mention of this in the movie, but they should have went into more depth about how the government moves so slow that they can't address the problems in the same way heroes can.
That storyline was right there in the movie and they didn't touch it.
They also wasted too much time on Valentina's secretary. That character got entirely too much screentime and she wasn't even necessary. If Bucky wanted information, he should have been able to easily get it out of an intern or Valentina with tech, or old fashion spying.
Overall, great movie. I wish they had had time to make a Part 2 so that we could grow a bit more with these guys.
8.8/10
