Didnt see a review thread so im puttin it here
Some thoughts:
-The movie was very good overall. The highlights for me included the supporting cast, (especially Okoye, Mbaku, and Shuri obv), Boseman was very good and regal AF, but he was perhaps a bit too reactive and got a bit swallowed up by the other wonderful performances.
-The visual design was another obvious highlight; the costuming, the set design, even the makeup and hairstyling. The only visual hiccup to me was some subpar CGI for Marvel; the first shot of warrior falls looked super fake, and the final battle between Panther and Killmonger was practically a video game. Luckily they were brief moments and didnt really impact my feelings about the movie.
-Killmonger, imo, was good, not great. All the talk of him being the best marvel villain is overstated. His motivations were understandable, but I still didnt feel he pulled off sympathetic as well as a Loki or Zemo, and he wasnt as pragmatic and calculated as someone like Pierce. Tonally he also felt out of place to me. Idk, he was a good villain, Id put him in the same villain tier with Hela (whom I also liked a lot but thought needed something more to really elevate it to the next level.)
-The themes were relevant and poignant, but I also thought there was a bit too much telling rather than showing. Isolation vs Globalism is a complex and important conversation to have, but Id have liked to see more of the ramifications rather than hearing characters ruminate on the subject. It felt like lip service more than really diving into the subject... which I suppose is understandable, this IS an action flick, not a documentary.
-Serkis as Klaue was great
-Martin Freeman was also a very good outsider POV character
-The soundtrack felt more generic than I was expecting, thought it would have more flavor
-This film proves once and for all that Angela Basset was born to play Storm, Fox really f***ed that one up
So yeah overall, Id say it was a very good Marvel film, though not its best. Id put it in my Marvel Second Tier. But Ill also say seeing little black kids go running out of the theater super excited after the movie was great to see, its amazing that they have characters they can feel as connected to as us white folks have had for years, and I think thats part of why the reviews have been so resounding.
Therefore, Im currently rating it around 8.5/10