Black Panther is out! Ever since the debut of the title character, Black Panther, in Captain America: Civil War we have been desperately wanting to see this movie. It has set really high expectations and Marvel has gone all out trying to make sure that this movie does not leave us disappointed. Not only that this will be Marvel's first superhero movie with a predominately black cast, with legendary black actors like Forest Whitaker and Angela Basset, as well as soon to be legends like Lupita Nyong'o, Winston Duke, and Chadwick Boseman so the stakes are even higher. Now that we can finally see it, have they? Does Black Panther suck?
Black Panther takes place sometime after Civil War and brings T'Challa to the forefront being the new king of Wakanda, a black utopia hidden away, in Africa after his father's death. As the newly crowned king, T'Challa is not only met with how he should govern Wakanda, but how and whether he should help other people in the world with Wakanda's vast resource of Vibranium, one of the hardest metals in the Marvel Universe which is responsible for Wakanda's technology which is vast beyond outside world. With Vibranium being a million times more than its weight in gold, you also have people that try to steal it which T'Challa and the previous king of Wakanda, T'Chaka has to put a stop to as well as keep Wakanda a secret from the outside world which is a big obstacle in the movie and crucial to the plot.
This is more of an introduction to Wakanda where the movie mostly takes place. The movie's director Ryan Coogler, put in a ton of visuals in this movie. You had a ton of beautiful scenes from the astral plane scenes, to the scene of M'Baku, played by Winston Duke, in his throne room, to the costumes of the characters which were inspired by the beauty of Africa. Black Panther has all of the good qualities of a Marvel film: great fighting scenes and action with a little bit of funny all throughout the film to keep us entertained.
It had all of that and more. Black Panther was a movie with purpose but it had a ton of political aspects to it as well. It dealt with a lot of topics ranging from colonialism to afrofuturism, to name a few. The film also invokes a familiar history with MLK's pacifism with Malcolm X's black activism with the two protagonist and antagonist characters, T'Challa, played by Chadwich Boseman, and Killmonger, played by Michael B. Jordan. The protagonist and antagonist also draw inspiration to X-Men characters Charles Xavier and Magneto which too were based off of King and X. Jordan has even said that the interaction between his character and T'Challa's is reminiscent of not only King's and X's but Charles and Magneto as well while explaining his version of Killmonger for the film. Coogler has woven these topics into the plot so beautifully without it becoming too preachy and a much better job than Anthony and Joe Russo tried in Civil War. Another thing that was done beautifully was the acting.
The acting was superb. The whole cast brought their A game. Of course you never get a dull moment with veterans like Bassett and Whitaker, but everyone else was what made Black Panther extraordinary. Bosewick was amazing playing T'Challa who was coming to terms with his father's death and into his own as the new king of Wakanda figuring out how he should rule the country. T'Challa while being the main character did take the back seat compared to other characters but that has more to do with how well the other cast did than Bosework's performance. If you can say who was the MVP of the movie, it would be a three-way tie between Michael B. Jordan, Florence Kumba, and Letitia Wright. Florence Kumba was magnificent playing badass woman warrior and T'Challa's right hand man, I mean woman, Okoye who ripped apart in every scene, as well as the bad guys, she was in. Wright was amazing playing the sassy, witty, and intelligent sister to T'Challa and head scientist, Shuri. Jordan did a great job playing ruthless villain Killmonger, who while motivated by hate, militarism, and good old fashion vengeance did have a tragic villain story which made him the monster he was.
Final Verdict
So, how did Black Panther faired? It was amazing! Not bad for Marvel's first black movie in the MCU. It brought us everything we needed. A great story. Amazing and beautifully written characters and it was more daring dealing with political issues more than Civil War attempted to do, and did it so while being two hours of fun! Black Panther has raised the bar on how every Marvel movie should be. It gets four out of five. Wakanda Forever!
