Hey now everybody, hope you're all having a great day, and welcome to my review of Black Panther. It's been awhile since I've had a chance to talk about the recent films I've seen, so I figured it's about time to delve back into the world of movies. Marvel is still releasing titles on a consistent basis and this is one that I have been looking forward to ever since his brief cameo in Civil War. I went into this not knowing all that much about Black Panther. I think the character is very interesting, but I have never read any of his comics before which is why I was excited to finally see his stand alone movie. Now that I have, let's get into it.
Black Panther is the latest Marvel movie, directed by Ryan Coogler, and starring Chadwick Boseman as the title character. There's a pretty awesome well rounded cast in addition to Boseman such as, Michael B. Jordan as the antagonist Killmonger, Lupita Nyong'o, Daniel Kaluuya, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker, Andy Serkis, and Martin Freeman. Not all of these great actors get equal amounts of screen time, and there are definitely some that I would of liked to have seen a lot more of, but it certainly helped give the film a lot of flavor by including all these amazing people and at least giving them something to do.
This is a story about T'Challa, or Black Panther as he's better known, played by Chadwick Boseman, who's about to become King of Wakanda, a secret city in Africa hidden from the rest of the world by powerful advanced technology. Wakanda is a thriving city built around a huge deposit of Vibranium that was left there by a meteor long ago. Vibranium is an alien metal with properties unlike anything found on Earth, and it's what Captain America's shield is made from. The Wakanden's pose as a third world country to keep the general public from finding out about their futuristic technology, all the while making huge advancements in medicine and weaponry without anyone knowing about it thanks to this rare metal.
Whoever becomes King of Wakanda gets to wear the necklace that grants them the power to become the Black Panther, and gains the responsibility of defending the nation as well as helping others like the Avengers when needed. T'Challa is now ready to become king, but first he must go through a ritual where he battles a challenger in hand to hand combat to see if he deserves the title. Not only does T'Challa get to become king, but he already has experience being the Black Panther so of course everyone is happy about the outcome. That is, until a long forgotten member of the tribe returns to take the throne for himself. Erik Killmonger, played by Michael B. Jordan, comes back to Wakanda to kill T'Challa and become the Black Panther himself.
Ryan Coogler does a fantastic job of directing this film, and his track record of great movies remains in tact. Yes this is a Marvel movie that has all the usual tropes you would expect to find, over the top action, beautiful locations, and a lot of humor mixed into the whole thing. But it also does more than that and makes this one of the better, more memorable Marvel movies I've seen in a long time. It takes you on a wild ride where you get to see Black Panther using all his crazy gadgets and kicking butt in these amazing action scenes, but it's not an easy road for him. Because of the great villain Killmonger, he must face the mistakes of the past and admit wrongdoing on his part in order to become a true leader.
Not only is this film visually stunning with all the exotic locations and the vibrant color pallet it uses, but it also has one of the most compelling villains of any Marvel movie. Michael B. Jordan does an incredible job of playing Erik Killmonger, a member of Wakanda who challenges T'Challa for the crown by exposing corruption of the previous King who was T'Challa's Father. After hearing Killmonger's side of things and realizing that he's right, you really start to question if Wakanda has made the right choice in choosing their king. But of course the dangerous and radical methods used by Killmonger make him an unfit candidate, as well as an intimidating villain. Now T'Challa must face facts and try to come to grips with the information of the mistakes his Father made.
At the start of the film Black Panther carries himself with a kingly presence, but after this new threat surfaces he begins to realize that maybe things aren't quite the way they seem. He goes on a journey where he must look inside himself and make the tough decision to change the ways of the past and right the wrongs of his predecessor to turn Wakanda into the country it should be. Most Marvel films don't tackle such deep subjects and that's where Black Panther really stands out. Especially in today's political climate these are things that are more relevant then ever, breaking away from business as usual to help the greater good and make the world a better place.
The film does have a few problems that hold it back from being the best movie it could be unfortunately. There are issues with the pacing, especially in the beginning, where it takes awhile for things to really kick into gear. Some of the choices that certain characters make feel out of place and make you wonder why they would do that. T'Challa isn't exactly the most charismatic person and can be a little ridged at times, and there are some scenes where the CGI and visual effects are a little cartoonish, taking me out of an otherwise incredible moment. Most of these problems will not take away from your overall enjoyment of the film though, and I have to say this is one of the better Marvel movies I've seen in recent memory. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who's a fan of comic book movies, and I give Black Panther a grade of.......................................
B+
Thank you for reading my review of Black Panther, I hope you enjoyed it!