Great balance of action, drama and visuals

Rating: 8/10 (15 February 2018)

'Black Panther' is another solid Marvel film, but thankfully works as a standalone action film and family drama. T'Challa (Boseman) - first introduced in 'Captain America: Civil War' - becomes King of Wakanda (a fictional African country) and has to deal with the dual responsibilities of following traditions, keeping his family and country safe and being the Black Panther (basically Batman - rich guy who can fight good and has a good suit and gadgets).
There's a really great support cast - Killmonger (Jordon) as the long-lost cousin, Nakia (Nyong'o) as the ex-girlfriend/conscience, Okoye (Gurira) as his General, Ross (Freeman) as the CIA agent, Klaue (Serkis) as the mercenary, Zuri (Whitaker) as the shaman, Shuri (Wright) as his sister, Ramonda (Bassett) as his mum and W'Kabi (Kaluuya) as his best friend. However, Boseman really carries the film, with a lot of poise and calmness, but then extreme passion when needed. The plot's not too complicated and has an obvious ending, but the 2 & a quarter hours are well worth it.
There's plenty of stunning CGI (probably too much, since none of the film was actually shot in Africa, a big shame - feels like if they filmed in South Korea, they could go to Kenya or Zimbabwe for a few real-life shots), a good tribal-drum score, some great action scenes and plenty of hand-to-hand combat scenes too. However, at it's heart is a good story of responsibility and doing what's right over what's easy or the usual way.