After Making his debut in Captain America Civil War, Black Panther quickly rose to fame as yet another well developed Marvel superhero with so much potential to be explored from a character development point of view. In 2018, excitement was at an uproar when Black Panther himself would get his own separate adventure which would not only get critical acclaim but would also be pushed into being a superhero movie that would be nominated for best picture at the oscars. Years have passed and the question still remains if this is truly one of the best movies from the MCU or if it's overhyped by the public eye.
Taking place after the events of Captain America Civil War, T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman), the son of the recently deceased king T’Chaka, is getting ready to take his fathers place as the new king of Wakanda. Trouble arrives when Erik Killmonger (Michael B Jordan) shows his face after stealing an ancient wakandan artifact from a museum and T’Challa as the Black Panther gathers a team of recruits to find Killmongor and stop him from causing anymore harm. Little does T’Challa know that Killmongor may be related to a past dispute that he and his father had in the past that may put a damper on T’Challa’s position as the new king of Wakanda. T’Challa will need the help of his family and his allies to put a stop to Killmongor’s reign of terror.
I’ll come out and say it right now, this movie isn’t quite the groundbreaking superhero flick that everyone makes it out to be, but that doesn't mean it's anywhere near a bad movie cause that is far from the truth. I wouldn’t put this story up there with the Avengers or The Guardians of the Galaxy movies but at the same time I still appreciate how far the filmmakers pushed themselves to make a unique and engaging MCU film that still has a lot to offer. A black lead is nothing new, but a black superhero lead is less common and the film takes full advantage of that fact by making the characters as well as the environment they live in feel inspired by african customs while putting a technological advancement spin to make the world of Wakanda unique from many of the other worlds of the MCU.
Chadwick Boseman (RIP) is great at playing the almighty Black Panther himself and his decent character development of accepting his place as king keeps the story engaging enough for the audience to care. Funny enough I think the side characters may have more personality than the main character himself (or at least most of them are). Shuri is a fun character and it's great whenever we get to see her in action with her neat plasma shooters that pack a real punch. The real star of the characters though has to be the villain Erik Killmongor who has some of the best development out of all of the characters in the movie. His backstory is completely understandable and even when he takes things too far, you totally understand where he is coming from
Because the movie gives us time to take in Killmongors needs and desires. Because the movie is very african inspired it of course has a lot of fun incorporating real african traditions and beliefs with the modern and sleek machines and weaponry that you’d expect to see in a superhero film. Wakanda is familiar but also new at the same time and the environments are grand in scale with the visual effects backing up the film's environments. Some of the cultural customs the Wakandans have can make for some visually interesting scenes such as when they cover a person in sand to speak to the ancestors or having a traditional brawl on top of a waterfall canyon. I also like how they establish Wakanda as a very technologically advanced society, and the way the Wakandan get to show off how their technology is useful in battle is quite interesting indeed. The music score is done by Ludwig Goransson who has done a great job at creating african inspired tunes to accompany this african inspired movie. The score also is great at creating the sire action packed epicness that is common in most superhero soundtracks.
Black Panther is very good but I’ll admit I wouldn’t put it up there with my all-time favorite MCU films. Still the movie's action-packed and well developed story, likeable characters, creative african cinematography and a great movie score make this movie worth watching. Although it is unclear whether or not will get another Black Panther movie due to Chadwick Boseman's untimely death. I can assure that this movie has certainly opened the floodgates for many sequel possibilities, It's pretty clear that this won’t be the last time will get to experience the unique setting of Wakanda ever again.
(Final Grade B+)