Captain Marvel is arriving this Friday, just in time for International Women's Day. The long-awaited movie marks Marvel's first-ever female-led superhero movie, so obviously expectations are very high.

Starring Brie Larson as the titular superhero (also known as Carol Danvers), the movie promises to reveal her origin story and also follows Captain Marvel as she is caught between two alien races during an intergalactic war.

However, despite early social media reactions promising a "totally" awesome '90s superhero film, other reviews from critics haven't been as kind. While some praise the movie, the overall reaction was lukewarm with one dissenter going as far as to say that "the first female-led movie of the MCU deserved more."

Now, in case you missed it, watch the trailer for Captain Marvel below.

The good

[Boden and Fleck] have brought off something exciting, embracing the Marvel house style and, within that, crafting a tale with enough tricks and moods and sleight-of-hand layers to keep us honestly absorbed.

Owen Gleiberman, Variety

In any case, Captain Marvel is an entertaining new part of the saga.

Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

Like its tough, smart heroine, "Captain Marvel" dances to its own beat; it's an origin story that isn't structured as an origin story but gets there all the same.

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times

Although Larson's heroine is still a work in progress, "Captain Marvel" lays a solid foundation to follow her wherever she flies next.

Brian Truitt, USA Today

It's not too long, not too self-important, and benefits from the craft and talent of a cast that includes Annette Bening, Jude Law and Ben Mendelsohn.

A.O. Scott, New York Times

Absolutely grounds itself in the '90s, even evoking a riot grrrl-adjacent feeling, buoyed by a soundtrack that features almost exclusively rock fronted by female voices - a reminder of an era that showed so much promise for brash, loud women.

April Wolfel, TheWrap

The meh

The raw material is all there, but filmmaking itself does not yield any truly thrilling, resonant moments. The action sequences are rote, at times almost muddled.

Esther Zuckerman, Thrillist

It succeeds more as an amusing fill-in-the-blanks Marvel backstory provider than a confident, stand-alone tale of a woman discovering her fierceness.

Mara Reinstein, Us Weekly

Larson does get a few opportunities in Captain Marvel to be that regular, flawed-but-strong human-there just aren't enough of them, and they're hardly the focus of the movie.

Stephanie Zacharek, TIME Magazine

And the bad

The first female-led movie of the MCU deserved more.

Lindsey Bahr, Associated Press

Neither a blast from the past, nor an inspiring glimpse into the future, at the end of the day it's just another Marvel movie. And not a particularly good one, at that.

David Ehrlich, indieWire

Captain Marvel effectively makes feminism a target, a goal to be achieved in ways that feel more self-congratulatory than progressive.

Radheyan Simonpillai, NOW Toronto

Good thing it's still March. "Captain Marvel" would have made a weak start to the summer blockbuster season.

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle