Easily the best MCU since the original Iron Man and the first Avengers film!

Rating: 9/10 (17 February 2018)

For anyone wondering about the disparity between the 100% positive critics reviews on RottenTomatoes and the not quite as universally high ratings here do yourself and Google "Anti Black Panther Campaign".
Putting aside all that nonsense Black Panther is simply a FANTASTIC piece of entertainment from start to finish.
I've seen every single MCU film to date and this one stands with the very very best of them. For a while now the MCU films have been starting to get into a bit of a formulaic rut. At worst they're always at least entertaining but Black Panther is a true return to form with exactly the right mix of humor, action, drama, style and sheer wow factor.
Do not let anyone convince you that the film is preachy or over the top with political soapboxing. That's simply not the case. The themes explored here are UNIVERSAL and could have been applied to virtually any culture, while at the same time the incredible costuming, soundtrack, and art direction tapped deeply into dozens of African cultures to create a visual and stylistic tapestry that was simply breathtaking.
Even if that holds no appeal whatsoever, taken simply as a work of pure action entertainment the movie delivers by every measure. Action was fantastic, fight choreography the best since Netflix's Daredevil, and a stronger narrative arc than any MCU movie to date. The storytelling was simply superb with a clear beginning, middle, and end and rock solid character development. The writer did not fall into the recent pitfall of other MCU films of spinning out too many sub-plots or characters and instead masterfully focused on the core story at hand.
As such this may well be the best stand alone MCU film since we were first introduced to Tony Stark in Iron Man, while still fitting perfectly into the larger MCU pantheon.
Believe the hype.