Good comic book movie, but professional critics overrated it

Rating: 7/10 (21 February 2018)

My spidey BS sensors went off on high alert during the days before this film was released to theaters. The news and entertainment media began praising the movie, over and over and over. A 97% Rotten Tomatoes score was quoted often before the film had been released to general audiences. A really good film doesn't need to be praised by the entertainment community when it really is good. Word of mouth among general audiences will ramp up interest in the film. So I went to the theater to see for myself. My spidey senses were right. The professional critics overhyped this film exactly like they did The Last Jedi. Very likely for political reasons which really damages the credibility of review sites everytime they overhype a movie they want to push on to the public.
The film isn't extraordinary, but it isn't bad either. It does have high production value, much like any blockbuster sci-fi movie. To me, the film has a little bit of "Revenge of the Sith" (2005), a bit of James Bond 007, some John Carter (2012) and some Deadpool (2016). The African tribal council of Wakanda with the futuristic cityscape in the background was very reminiscent of the Jedi council on Coruscant in the Revenge of the Sith. T'Challa's sister has a little bit of "Q" from the bond films. She's the one with the laboratory filled with gadgets and Panther supersuits. Angela Bassett is like the tribe's matriarch Bond's "M" character in this film. The futuristic city and many of the flying crafts have a lot of similarities to the John Carter film of a few years ago. And the CGI fighting acrobatics over a car chase resembled the ones in Deadpool. The great battle during the climax near the end of the film resembles a war scene between two armies in Game of Thrones.
There is no denying this film has great visuals. More importantly I really feel the costume designer for this film deserves an Oscar for best costume designer. I absolutely loved all of the costumes in this film. The costumes were both African tribal and futuristic. It reminded me of Stargate Sci Fi films with their Egyption but futuristic costumes.

Where I thought the film fell short was in character development and the screenplay. The actors weren't given a wide range of emotions to display. Most of the characters are either emotionally very stern and stoic, or angry. I felt the lack of variety in emotions got in the way of making the characters more human and approachable. Michael Jordan's American accent and demeanor sticks out like a sore thumb in a cast of well spoken and articulate african character. But physically, Jordan physique does look incredibly badass and tough in the film -- so that's a plus. I'm still wondering if the skin bumps on his torso were CGI or prosthetics.
What I didn't like was the infighting between the tribes and the blame game with western cultures. The film depicts a technically advanced society but with backward tribal strifes between each other. It just seem contradictory, but that's just my opinion. I do look forward to a sequel. But I hope the sequel has an external villain were the nation of Wakanda join together to fight a common enemy instead of more infighting between tribes. Next time, make a solid story first, then build the special effects around it instead of the other way around.