It suddenly occurred to me that I hadn't written a movie review. It ran too long to fit in the author's notes, so I gave it a chapter of its own...
As an art student, I could give this movie's visuals a 9 out of 10. Scores above 9 are generally reserved for art films in my book. For a commercial film, its visuals were comfortably above a passing grade, firmly in the excellent category. The visual storytelling was quite good.
As a novelist, I could give the movie's plot pacing an 8. The finale could have really exploded, but because it needed to highlight Phoenix and build an arc around her growth, it ended up a little too subdued. Points off there.
The pacing of the opening deserved to be singled out. Giving it an 11 wouldn't be excessive. As I watched, I broke down the visuals and plot beats in my head, and beyond "fucking awesome," I had no other assessment to offer.
The characterization was probably an 8 as well. The major characters were actually all very well fleshed out. Even MJ, who had still been getting a lot of hate lately-I thought her motivations made sense and she was a fully realized character. (Marvel, you really are way too fond of NTR. Something like "Even though I've lost my memories, I still can't help falling in love with you"-you just can't write that sort of thing...)
The only character I found relatively flat was actually Phoenix. Her overall shift in motivation from beginning to end wasn't all that smooth. You could understand why she changed, but it wasn't smooth enough. It felt abrupt.
Above average, good for an 8.5.
Some rambling thoughts below, with minor spoilers.
Given the decisiveness Phoenix displayed early on-jumping off a building