As the title suggests, I watched on hbomax. I wonder if some of the flaws would have been smoothed over if I had seen it first on the big screen with a crowd of generally happy people as I traditionally watch "blockbuster" movies such as this. In any case, I more or less enjoyed it and don't regret seeing it. I suppose that sums up my overall reaction to the movie.
I liked the concept of the main villain. It was my first exposure to the Max Lord character. I don't know what he is like in other media. I liked that he didn't feel like a typical bad guy who just wants to blow everyone up for some reason. While greed isn't a novel motivation for a villain, he still felt refreshingly different to me. I liked his performance overall.
I like Gal Gadot's performance. I think she does well. Also, she is lovely.
I thought the score was pretty lame. Also, the opening is a waste of 10 minutes or so. I get what they were going for, but it felt totally unnecessary to the story.
I still don't understand what the point was of Steve coming back in a different looking body. The magic couldn't reproduce his body? It needed to steal someone else's body? It was just weird and felt pointless.
I thought it was a good decision by the director to not show them somehow refueling the stolen fighter jet 5 times on the way to Egypt. Or am I misremembering how they got to Egypt? Alright, now I am just nitpicking the standard types of plotholes that happen in a movie like this.