It had potential

Rating: 6/10 (15 February 2018)

The latest installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is "Black Panther", the first Marvel film featuring a predominantly black cast. Black Panther first appeared in "Captain America: Civil War", with Chadwick Boseman donning the suit of Black Panther, and alter-ego T'Challa, King of Wakanda, a technologically advanced nation hidden in the African continent. After the death of his father, T'Challa, son of T'Chaka, the King, takes the place of the throne, faced with obstacles as soon as he is initiated.
Andy Serkis plays Ulysses Klaue, a mercenary stealing technology from Wakanda and selling it, is one of the main antagonists of the picture, giving a fantastic performance as a nonchalant, cockney thief, escaping the claws of the previous king, and now hunted by Boseman. In fact, what makes this film stand-out, is the back-up cast. The sister of T'Challa, played by Letitia Wright, and a clan leader, played by Winston Duke, are two characters who particularly stand-out, and serve as comic-relief for parts of the film. Whereas on the other side of the film, with Chadwick Boseman, are phenomenal pieces of lightning and choreography in a lot of his early battle sequences, paired with a purple-glowing suit (possibly the best suit produced by the MCU for any hero), any action sequence featuring him is exciting and awesome, especially the early battles, where the audience is introduced to the power of the Black Panther, discovering just why this guy is a hero.
Speaking of costumes, the costumes of the citizens of Wakanda all vary in colour, being interesting and obviously well made. Despite this, it seems as if the costumes are trying to "spread the colour" with some, obviously blatant scenes of (costume) colour segregation. This is not helped by CGI which is successful for the majority, but falls short at the scenes of actual animal life, i.e. rhinos. Even though "Black Panther" is home to some of the best choreography for a Marvel film, the script lets itself down, with a dragged out plot and unnecessary sequences of "falling only to rise once more" (both literally and metaphorically).
From the get go, one thinks, this is close to being one of the best Marvel films of all time, but, short of falling flat on its face, it stumbles over its own plot annoyances, making it equal to "Doctor Strange" and "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2" when it had the capability to surpass "Captain America: Civil War" and "Guardians of the Galaxy" (although it would have had to be extremely good for that to happen).