Captain Marvel Reviews: 10 Early Reactions You Need To See

9. The First Act Feels Too Rushed

"There’s a lot to absorb — a few pauses in the first act might have been welcome — and the film is so anxious to emphasise Danvers’ toughness that it sometimes forgets to allow us to glimpse her inner life and (presumable) insecurities; it’s a good thing that Larson is both gifted and charismatic, or she’d be a little dull. It also feels like it’s been chopped down a lot: some glimpses of Mckenna Grace as the young Carol, showing her troubled relationship with her dad, feel surprisingly thin. You also sense that there might have been more for Bening to do, given how good she is in the little time she’s on screen." - Empire

"The exposition, especially in the first act, feels a bit breakneck at times as it rushes to try and get out of its own way. This leads to a couple of moments of, 'Wait, what just happened?' or, 'Why would they believe her?' that could have been avoided with a more carefully paced script, or, in a perfect world, a more thoroughly constructed preamble in another movie altogether...It can be a bit on-the-nose at times, and occasionally has to fast-track its exposition in ways that can feel slightly clunky, but what it lacks in grace it makes up for in charm." - IGN

Many critics noted how clumsy and rushed the first act feels, with information being vomited at the audience without a ton of context, and some suspecting that the film had been chopped down to a more manageable length in post-production.

It's a bit of an odd sentiment considering that this is one of the shortest MCU movies of recent times, clocking in at "only" 124 minutes.

Regardless, in a frantic rush to get the chess pieces where they need to go, the movie's first reel apparently feels a little too breathless for its own good.