One thing I can agree with is I wish the run time was longer. It does feel like Valkyrie's and Korg's side stories were cut short in the editing stage, would have been nice to their stories expanded. But who knows what an extended version would be like, it might mess with the pacing.
And when it comes to MCU threads, you can basically play bingo these days. Some of the entries being "woke" and "doesn't push the MCU narrative forward".
I don't get the phase 4 has gone down hill comments. Remove the top tier entries of Civil War, Infinity War and Endgame from phase 3 and I don't think there is much quality difference between phase 3 and 4.
Phase 3:
Doctor Strange
Spider-Man: Homecoming
Guardians of the Galaxy 2
Thor: Ragnarok
Black Panter
Ant-Man and the Wasp
Captain Marvel
Spider-Man: Far From Home
Phase 4:
Black Widow
Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Eternals
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness
Thor: Love and Thunder
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
Guardians of the Galaxy 3
The Marvels
Apart from Eternals, everything else has been well received in general. No Way Home is the one top tier movie so far. Who knows what the next 4 films will bring.
I'm excited.