“Captain Marvel” hits all the marks it needs to for a Phase Three, origin story Marvel movie. Action-packed? Check. One-off bad guy? Most likely. Isolated, contained story with forced-in references to the larger universe? Of course.

But meeting Kevin Feige's qualifications for an entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe does not guarantee a quality end product.

Case-in-point: “Captain Marvel.”

Set in 1995, the movie stars Brie Larson as Carol Danvers, a human who has spent the last six years as a secret-ops warrior among an alien race called the Kree. When she crashlands on Earth, she pairs up with a young Nick Fury, reprised by Samuel L. Jackson under some impressive digital de-aging, to rediscover her past life and stop an invasion of a shapeshifting alien race called the Skrulls.

While certainly not the worst Marvel movie to hit the big screen, the 21st and latest film in the series is perhaps the weakest since “Thor: The Dark World,” not in small part because it borrows some of the worst parts of that film, including an overuse of alien characters and less humor than we've come to expect with these movies.

Marvel movies have divided themselves into two camps: fun, standalone movies with relatively low stakes, such as the Ant-Man movies, or high-stakes, more serious conflicts, often reserved for the ensemble movies. Both are perfectly adequate. The problem is, “Captain Marvel” tries to be both, and ultimately fails to be either.

The one exception to that rule might be “Black Panther.” Compared to other entries in the series, Black Panther was far more serious, but the stakes were relatively low compared to planet- or universe-ending destruction in the Avengers films. But, “Black Panther”'s substory and commentary on race relations justified the more serious tone. “Captain Marvel” lacks that reasoning.

Yes, it's the first solo female superhero movie from Marvel (if you don't count “Elektra,” which you and I both forgot existed until I just mentioned it). But while “Black Panther” wouldn't let you forget that it was the first(-ish) black superhero film, “Captain Marvel” does little to hype up the girl power. A moment here or there is meant to portray the resiliency of women, the imagery of a woman fighting back again oppression, standing up again when she's pushed to the ground, never giving up, but for the most part, the fact she's female is simply irrelevant. That's perhaps the best way to handle it; rather than presenting Captain Marvel as a female superhero that is ungodly powerful, present it as an ungodly-powerful superhero who happens to be a woman.

Unfortunately, Brie Larson's portrayal of the character is hit or miss. In her more human moments she's likable, but a large part of the movie, she's stiff, emotionless and dull. Ironically, she's trained as a Kree to not let her emotions get in the way of combat, and is characterized as failing to do so. Her acting would suggest otherwise.

Painfully awkward line delivery and sloppy pacing make the movie feel lesser than it should be, as if there was the potential for something great, but that potential was, for one reason or another, just not achieved in the final cut. Even the Stan Lee cameo, his final one ever, is notably low-effort.

Samuel L. Jackson is perhaps the saving grace of the movie, playing the unlikely comic relief to Larson's no-nonsense straight man. It's refreshing to see anyone having fun in this movie, particularly a character who we've come to know as a serious leader. Jackson could have easily phoned in his performance, so it's appreciated that he did his due diligence to make his character enjoyable.

The movie also does not go all out with the 1990s theme as we had hoped. Granted, it's approach is more realistic, with clothing and background signage only an occasional reminder of the era rather than screaming 90s at every turn, but in a world where shows like Strangers Things take your nostalgia for all its worth, “Captain Marvel”'s subdued approach is disappointing. I mean, the promotional team went out of their way to make a retro-themed website to advertise the movie, but the film can't do anything more than a Blockbuster reference and a Nine Inch Nails T-shirt?

Plot-wise, the movie specifically withholds information from the viewers, only some of which is ever explained later. Obvious plot holes pop up while others are quickly, but ineffectively glossed over. There's an apparent disconnect between the events the movie is trying to mash together, one that should have been caught before the screenplay was approved for production.

And the future of the MCU is still a toss-up. In the lead-up to this movie, fans speculated over how the Captain Marvel character would help defeat Thanos and rescuing those that were snapped at the end of “Avengers: Infinity War.” Fans speculated time travel abilities, or control over space. Instead, we effectively have a Super Saiyan. She's powerful, of course, but how she's the supposed missing piece to saving the universe is unclear.

“Captain Marvel” perhaps had some unrealistic expectations behind it. Not only is it the first female superhero movie from Marvel (again, not counting Jennifer Gardner throwing sais to Evanescence songs), not only is it an origin story, not only is it a period piece cashing in on your nostalgia, but it's also about one of the most powerful characters who's the apparent keystone to the climax of over a decade of buildup. Unfortunately, the movie crumbles under the weight of all that expectation, as Phase Three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe ends on a low note.