Great origin story, awesome effects, little too long maybe

Rating: 8/10 (16 February 2018)

This is a great origin story. I have no idea who The Black Panther is or where he came from but left the film knowing all I needed to know. I thought the acting was good - with guards and royalty rightly subdued. Some complaints have said they're acting "wooden" but - no - they're acting with decorum. You wouldn't have a King act like, for example, Deadpool. The characters were mostly well-thought out with the exception of Killmonger whom I found a little lacking. He was enjoyable enough but - one minute he isn't there, then he is and this is his story thrown in quick. Okay then... It didn't ruin my enjoyment of the film but given the length (over 2 hours), perhaps they could have trimmed elsewhere to show more of him too?
The start of the film was a little muddled with the directing of the action sequence, which was a little hard to tell what was going on but thankfully it became better with later action sequences. As for action, there isn't a lot due to the story being told but what there was, was exciting enough even though - certain scenes - you knew how they would play out. For example, you know this person won't win this particular showdown because of whom they're up against, kind of thing.
The humour in this film isn't as much as other films but, again, it fits the world the story is in. Stan Lee's cameo was nice ;) I do like the fact he pops up in all of the films!
The scenery in the film was glorious, the CGI done properly (not like a certain DC film that came out recently). What I will say though, I went in thinking I would hate this film because the trailer just looked dull. I'm glad I went regardless. I'm not sure how they would do a good trailer for this without giving all of the action sequences away but... Yep... As far as Marvel Origin stories go, I believe this is one of the stronger despite a few niggles. I look forward to seeing more of Black Panther.