I'll agree with 6/10. It didn't inspire me at all really. I actually commented about Lupita's skin (I'm assuming she's the ex), particularly in that scene at the end, so it wasn't just you.
It is possible that I was way too hyped up about Infinity War and wanted there to be SOME connection to the rest of the heroes besides Bilbo, so maybe that influenced me some, but I still feel this is down there in the bottom third of the movies. Like, I really didn't like Thor: The Dark World when I saw it in theaters, but I still watched it again before the last Avengers movie and didn't mind it as much now that I saw how it fit into the bigger picture. This...it doesn't fit into the bigger picture at all except that it's Black Panther. Maybe in the future they'll use tech-girl or something, but they could just as easily leave all that to Stark and Banner. The first Captain America is a good comparison to this movie in that it didn't have much at all to do with the rest of the characters and was an origin story, but to me it was still a much more compelling movie because of the underdog, never quit attitude Cap had even as a wimp. Black Panther, even with the "trials and tribulations" he experiences in this movie, is never really an underdog to the viewers.
Mediocre is really the best way I can describe Black Panther. I don't care about the politics or "colonizer" comments (although I'd love to see the reaction if someone called a Wakandan a spear-chucker, for example), it just wasn't a very engaging movie at all. Oh, and some people said this was the best villain yet??? What. The. Fuck. He was terrible. Like, Mickey Rourke's Whiplash is maybe a better character. I'm not kidding. Whiplash shits on this guy and then goes and has breakfast.
Gah, as I talk more about it I start to think it is even worse than my initial reaction. I might revise my earlier ranking and say it is maybe in the bottom 3 with Dark World and Iron Man 3. Norton's Hulk was better.
Oh, and Jesus, one part where the Quinjet ripoff is landing on the water, the CGI was complete shit. Most of the rest of it was great, but it stood out terribly to me and I couldn't look away.
I better stop. I'm getting triggered now.