Good wishful thinking

Rating: 6/10 (14 September 2018)

Mythology is all about where you wish you had come from. This film certainly delivers on that wish.
I am not an automatic fan of Marvel Universe films, but this one was pretty good: not as lackluster and episodic as the first Guardians of the Galaxy (the 2nd was better), not as good as the original Ironman, from which it steals aplenty.
The greatest irony in this film is the idea that the achievements of Western-Asian technology, just upped a bit due to vibranium-better-than-steel, really should be what comes Out of Africa. Unfortunately the film forsakes the true beauty of Africa in favor of CGI skyscraper towns and dragonfly-styled aircraft. Except for one scene with ancestral panthers in a tree.
Still, as an action-driven superhero movie, it's pretty good. Some of the chase and war scenes are overly long. (The fight/car chase in the middle and final battle both start out promising, but just keep on giving and giving...) On the other hand there is reasonable character development, be it the villain cousin, the King, his warrior, priest, would be-wife, or sister. Poor Andy Serkis does not get much development though, so one can guess that he won't last all too long into this film. I know some people are not going to like the accents, but I've heard many native speakers from countries like Kenya or Zimbabwe, and the accent here is really a nice blend that evokes speakers of African languages speaking English. Probably a lot of US moviegoers have not heard many Africans, so this might seem a bit weird to them.
The film probably on the slow side for current superhero moviegoers, but for someone raised in the 70s, who thinks the original Star Wars is very fast-paced, it's just right. One thing the film does well, given the irony at its central core, is to walk the fine line between glorifying either technology or ghetto, and point to what all humans surely could do to make this a better world.
There are some plot holes, but even many of those serve the symbolism of the movie: Why leave the child behind in the ghetto without a father? Well, this is how it turns out for many young African-Americans, they don't go to Wakanda in reality. Others are just part of the comic book lore from which the film descends: such as how to keep an advanced civilization cloaked and completely unknown throughout history.
I was torn between 6 and 7, but looked at my ratings for a number of "6" and "7" films, and for now at least decided that it was closer to 6. But a strong 6.