A worthy addition to Marvel's epic front row of movies (NO SPOILERS)

Rating: 10/10 (16 February 2018)

Well, I loved it and fully believe it walks with Marvel's best (which I feel are Captain America 2; Iron Man; Avengers; Thor Ragnarok; Guardians 2 and Doctor Strange).
Not because of the incredible visuals - wow. just extraordinary and rich and very, very well thought through as they were.
But because of the way the story meshes with the Characters/ performances (one needs the other and here you get both). It wasn't a wholly unique plot: Boy loses country, boy finds country/ a journey of self discovery in which the hero uncovers not all is what he thought it was.
But... the story was given a hero with conscience and a villain who didn't just want to take over the world because he wanted a gold toilet. My only concerns here were that I feel Whittaker was under- used/developed and Kaluuya's character arc unresolved (although perhaps that is a future focus). Boseman was magnificent. At turns both tortured and elated. Nyongo; Bassett and Freeman were all on their A Game.
Standouts for me personally though were Guirai; Jordan; Serkis and Wright. Both they and their characters worked excellently. In particular, I could watch these guys all day. I believe Wright could carry her own Black Panther sequel one day. Serkis was his powerhouse best and Jordan... well... his characterisation lifted it again for me. I could feel his anger and his 'cause'. The Director wisely left us to our own reflections on whether one of the two 'masked' the other or if they 'walked in parallel'. The 'cause' part was interesting as there was a real philosophical weight to that as in the best of Marvel.
The Winter Soldier asks if we have the balance right between freedom and protection and the Panther asks if are right to isolate ourselves - should we act or wait? Wakanda's isolationism may be illusory: is non-intervention really just a sin of omission? Heavy stuff, but Coogler proves up to the lifting for me.
Black Panther was everything I hoped it would be and I want to return to Wakanda now every bit as much as to the stories of my favourites, Captain America and Doctor Strange.