Review: Black Panther
- Tom
- Feb 18, 2018
- 4 min read
Marvel's stand-alone "Black Panther" hit theaters this weekend boasting an all-star cast, super-heroic thrills and a decidedly grown up story that both long-time MCU fans and newbies are bound to enjoy.
The latest addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe had a lot of things going for it. Much like Tom Holland's new incarnation of Spider-Man, Chadwick Boseman's Black Panther was an instant hit with fans after debuting in 2016's "Captain America: Civil War." People have been eagerly awaiting the character's first solo-outing and the well-oiled machine that is Marvel has cranked out another gem that elevates itself from other entries in the genre in a number of entertaining ways.
"Black Panther" picks up roughly a week after "Civil War" with the title character T'Challa, still grieving his father's death, ascending the Wakandan throne and learning what it takes to be a world leader while encountering several unexpected obstacles.
I first wanted to emphasize how much of a stand-alone movie this was. Being in the MCU there are usually an abundance of references to the other Marvel movies. Of course there are a few here and there but for the most part, "Black Panther" is a very self-contained film which was quite refreshing. It also doesn't get too wrapped up in overly-explaining the origin of the character. Once this story get's going it doesn't stop. But more on that later.
Here's a little history for you, Black Panther is the first superhero of African descent to appear in mainstream American comics. He also has one of the richest and enthralling backgrounds and the movie captures the essence of the character's culture and history perfectly without being too over the top or cheesy. It helps that the all-star, almost completely African-American cast gives each of their characters fully-realized personalities and motivations. In addition to Boseman the cast includes big names like "Angela Basset, Lupita Nyong'o, Michael B. Jordan, Danai Gurira, Forrest Whitaker and many more. Much praise to the cast and the writers for giving each character a distinct persona and chance to be in the spotlight.
In addition to the mostly African-American cast, Andy Serkis returns to the MCU as one of the movies villains: the scene-stealing Ulysses Klaue complete with badass sonic arm cannon. Martin Freeman also reprises his roll as CIA agent Everett K. Ross from "Civil War." This actually leads me to one of my complaints about the film. As much as I love Freeman as an actor, I feel like he really wasn't essential to this movie at all. He mainly serves a reactionary role as most of the other characters make fun of him for being an outsider...and white. Great for comic relief but otherwise totally replaceable as I'm pretty sure he has the least amount of dialogue throughout most of the movie. All the other fully-developed characters help absorb the viewer into the story. I totally understood why each character was doing what they were doing.
Speaking of absorbing, now would be a good time to talk about the story. I mentioned earlier about how grown up it was. When I say that I mean that even though this is a comic book movie, it's also a great social commentary on a lot of current real-world issues and conveys mature themes about race, family, and responsibility. The film does this with subtlety and in a way that is actually important to the plot so the audience doesn't feel like they're being manipulated or hit in the face with political messages (I'm looking at you "Last Jedi"). This isn't the first so-called "grown up" MCU movie. It reminded me of the similarly "grown up" plots of the original 2008 "Iron Man" and my personal favorite, "Captain America: The Winter Soldier."
One of the film's main conflicts is the opposing ideologies of T'Challa and Michael B. Jordan's villain - Erick "Killmonger" Stevens - over the technologically advanced Wakanda's role in the world. Out of that arises all the complex themes and thought-provoking questions that audiences and critics are eating up. The film accomplishes all this while at the same time containing everything that fans of the Marvel movies love. There's plenty of slapstick comedy, crazy cool gadgets, snarky one-liners and the hilarious Stan Lee cameo that audiences come to expect. However, it doesn't drown out the bigger issues being tackled. I definitely have to give more praise to the writers for crafting such a complex story that still manages to be fun, engaging and entertaining.
My biggest complaint about this movie would have to be the fact that, for me, the final act got a tad predictable. There's definitely a lot of fun twists and turns but I felt the film's climax didn't have as big of stakes as there could've been. Looking back I guess things still served the plot perfectly and I know EVERY Marvel movie can't have a devastating, world-ending conflict but I was kind of hoping for something bigger. Don't get me wrong, nobody needs another huge beam of light being shot into the sky that needs to be shut down in some Deus Ex Machina way. But I definitely knew exactly what was going to happen in the end which I didn't like.
Michael B. Jordan's Killmonger is definitely one of the more compelling and complex Marvel villains portrayed on screen (I mean I guess that's not saying much am I right Whiplash? Ronan? Kaecilius? Mandarin? Malekith?) but some of the lines Jordan had definitely came out as "generic evil guy muhahaha" or "stereotypical a**hole." Thankfully there were only a few instances of that but honestly once is too much. With so many awesome, fleshed-out characters there were also a few times where T'challa gets overshadowed in his own movie. Again, this doesn't happen often but I did find myself asking "Hey shouldn't T'Challa be doing/saying something right now?" at least once. These things stuck out to me but I'm sure other viewers won't be bothered too much.
FINAL THOUGHTS: "Black Panther" is a fun, exciting, complex superhero movie with an absorbing, vibranium-solid plot, fleshed out characters and a killer soundtrack that instantly inserts itself as one of the best entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
OVERALL GRADE: B+
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