Mourning the unexplained death of King "T'Challa", the tech-rich African nation of "Wakanda" returns Queen "Ramonda" (Angela Bassett) to the throne and she must stabilise the kingdom and try to help her daughter "Shuri" (Letitia Wright) deal with the loss of her much-loved brother. A fireside chat late one night doesn't quite go to plan though, when they are introduced to an interloper. "Namor" (Tenoch Huerta) arrives to ask their help to thwart the Americans who nave managed to design a machine that can trace vibranium, and this has put his hitherto unknown population of underwater, Mesoamerican, people at risk. Either they help him to track down the scientist who created this or there could be war. The Princess and her general head to Massachusetts where they track down a college student who is almost as much of a whizz-kid as "Shuri". The FBI are on soon their trail and skedaddle they must, straight into the arms of the waiting "Talokan" who take them to their beautiful watery homeland where we learn just how they evolved. Somewhat narked, the Queen wants her daughter back and that action sows the seeds for a conflict between the two nations that, well, you can guess the rest. Sadly, that's the problem here. Despite a really strong and vibrant performance from Wright and some very fine production values, there is precious little story here. It is far, far, too long to sustain the thin plot and the conflict engineered between the two races is flawed in more ways than an US Congressional election. The pace is really slow, the combat scenes could have been choreographed by Sir Matthew Bourne - or by a Wakandan cheerleader at their equivalent of the "Superbowl" - and the supporting characters aren't on screen long enough to give Miss Wright enough help to wade through the frequent tedium. I wasn't helped by Huerta's very thick accent which made his dialogue nigh-on impossible to comprehend at times and the denouement screamed sequel so loudly that I forgot that I'd long given up on any jeopardy at the end two hours ago. There is a bit of character tragedy, character loyalty and thankfully Martin Freeman's ("Ross" - why does he need an American accent?) appears but sparingly as we go along but Marvel must stop taking the audience for granted. They have to realise that their gorgeous Avatar-esque visual effects and technical wizardry are not going to entertain us indefinitely if the stories continue to deliver so weakly. Great to look at, a few power-ballads from the soundtrack and Wright is certainly a stylish and classy star - otherwise, this is a film nobody will remember in two years time, I'll bet!
