Black Panther

I feel as though it has been a while since I've written a review for a film the same weekend it came out, much less the day it came out. 2017 was a busy year that didn't really allow me to get out to get out to see all the movies I wanted to see at the time I wanted to see them and maybe this might be the sign that things are about to change. That being said, would I really miss a Marvel movie?

Black Panther is a film that a lot of people have been looking forward to ever since Chadwick Boseman appeared as Prince T'Challa in Captain America Civil War. I have been excited about it, but for one reason or another, the hype for this movie has been huge for the past few months. I guess that's partly the reason I felt the need to get this review out so quickly.

Black Panther follows the story of Prince T'Challa, not long after the events of Captain America: Civil War where his father, T'Chaka (played by John Kani) was assassinated. T'Challa is returning home to his home country of Wakanda in the middle of Africa where he goes through the ritual to officially become king and officially become the Black Panther.

Something that is made clear in the opening montage of the film is that Wakanda is a country in Africa that centuries ago was hit by an asteroid of vibranium (the same material that Captain America's shield was made out of). Since then, the Wakandans have used their supply of vibranium to create a technologically advanced civilization well beyond the modern world with their king and Black Panther, as the protector and ruler of the realm. They have remained secret for centuries, living peacefully with 5 Wakandan tribes living within the country.

And that was the first thing that really hit my interest in this film. T'Challa comes home and Wakanda is divided into 5 tribes. The dynamic between those five tribes throughout the film is very much like Game of Thrones in a way except in a non-western kind of way. A big element of this film is just the politics of the King of Wakanda being a masked superhero. So while this is a superhero film technically, it doesn't feel that way and it's one of the ways Black Panther sets itself apart.

The main conflict of the film is that T'Challa becomes King and wants to find an adversary that had dodged his father for years, an arms dealer by the name of Uylsses Klaue (played by Andy Serkis).

If you remember, Klaue played a minor role in Avengers: Age of Ultron and returns for this movie in a role that Andy Serkis does a really good job on.

The last bit of plot that is important is that Klaue is also working with a mysterious man who goes by the name Killmonger (played by Michael B Jordan) who I will talk about more later.

One of the things really going for this movie is the cast. While this movie is not the first superhero movie to center on a black superhero, it is one of the film superhero movies with a large budget that centers on a predominantly black cast. Andy Serkis and Martin Freeman, reprising his role as Agent Everett Ross from Captain America Civil War are really the only two white characters in the movie, the rest of the movie centers on really talented people of color and they pull out all the stops.

Of course you have Chadwick Boseman and Michael B Jordan who are great in this film, but then you have Lupita Nyong'o as Nakia, a spy for Wakanda. Danai Gurria (Michonne from The Walking Dead) plays T'Challa's general and bodyguard Okoye. Daniel Kaluuya plays W'Kabi, a warrior from another tribe in Wakanda. Angela Bassett plays T'Challa's mother Ramonda. Letitia Wright plays T'Challa's sister Shuri in a very comedic role that I loved. And Forrest Whittaker played a tribal elder by the name of Zuri.

Like I said, lots of powerhouse actors and they're all used very well. Not all of them have the same amount of screen time but they don't steal the show regardless of how big name of an actor they are. Angela Bassett is really good but she plays her part very well and plays within the confines of the story. Everybody gets their time to shine and everybody plays to the larger purpose which is the story.

All of this is led by a director who has not had a bad movie yet, Ryan Coogler. This will only be his third movie he has directed but it continues a streak of just being quality work. I absolutely loved Ryan Coogler's work on Creed and Fruitvale Station and there's no denying that the guy is a very talented director. Honestly, I hope this movie does extremely well for the sole purpose of putting Coogler's name on every person's wish list, and that's if Creed didn't do that already.

The funny part was that in one of the first scenes, I felt the same adrenaline rush I did when I watched Creed and I was immediately reminded that this was Ryan Coogler directing. The action in this movie is solid and the performances are directed so well. I can't think of anybody that would have been a better choice to direct this film.

Coogler is also someone who I would expect to make his own film and not be easily forced into making Marvel's movie. And that is true, for the most part.

 One of these days I want to create a list of things that make a MCU movie feel like a "boring ass Marvel movies", you know, the formulaic choices that every Marvel movie does now that makes me all cynical. The big things I can think of at this moment is when they stop the movie midway to do a commercial or teaser for a future film. That didn't happen in this film. There is a teaser for a future film in the last end credits scene but that's where it should be.

This movie didn't feel formulaic at all, it didn't feel like you're run of the mill superhero film, it felt like an African political thriller in the same vein of Game of Thrones. The characters with big name actors attached to them, for the most part, didn't feel like they were just there to get Marvel off their back, or just to be throw away characters (again, for the most part, more in my spoilers review).

Now don't get me wrong, there are a couple of moments where you see the Marvel beast fighting its way out, but they were in small ways and more in ways that I already knew were going to happen. This isn't a spoiler, but Black Panther is in Infinity War. This kind of comes with the territory of having a multiple movie franchise with characters from one movie crossing over into another, things are going to be spoiled. So in that way, I wish this movie had just been a standalone film, or I hadn't seen anything about Black Panther in the Infinity War movie because unfortunately, I know who is safe in this movie.

And the oddest thing about the way this movie wasn't your run of the mill Marvel movie was the movies development of the main character.

Traditionally, Marvel movies have focused heavily on their main hero and kind of thrown the villains to the wayside. However, oddly enough the biggest issue I had with this movie was how T'Challa was not written that strongly and was often overshadowed by other characters in the film, especially the villains, and especially Michael B Jordan's character.

Now Chadwick Boseman is such a strong actor that he pulls through this movie with spades regardless, but I'm going to be honest, T'Challa is actually one of the most underdeveloped heroes I've seen in a Marvel movie for a while.

Maybe it's because he had a revenge storyline and a lot of his character development came from Captain America: Civil War, but it didn't really feel like T'Challa changed that much during this film, at least not on a personal level. He becomes King at the beginning of the film and people are generally cool with it throughout the film. There's not much of a development of his character which is unfortunate. Boseman is surrounded by really talented actors who keep up with him acting-wise, but are often written better than him.  The best analogy I can think of is Christian Bale's Batman in The Dark Knight. Throughout this film, T'Challa is very much like an African Batman who is also the King of this African country and the spotlight automatically goes to people around him, especially his villains.

And this is really unlike other Marvel movies, the villains are actually better written and more interesting than the main hero. Andy Serkis's character, Klaue is insane and I actually wish they would have utilized him more, but Michael B Jordan is where this movie gets really good because Killmonger is the very antithesis of all Marvel villains.

He's one of those villains where you understand where he's coming from and if the circumstances were different, you could almost see yourself rooting for him instead of the hero. In many ways, he's not wrong in his grievances and issues, but the way he goes about it is wrong. He definitely will go down as one of, if not the best Marvel villain from the movies.

I will talk A LOT more about Michael B Jordan's character in my spoilers review because there is a lot to talk about with him, but that is the main gripe I have with this movie, that the hero just wasn't developed enough and while the movie wraps up nice and neatly because it's a Marvel movie, had it not been one, I think this movie could have had a different ending and been a lot stronger of a film.

The only other "critique" I will say about this movie is that there are some politically charged messages in the subtext. It's not too overbearing and I don't think it'll take too much away from the film especially if you've got a least a little bit of thick skin, however, the problem I have with it is that it does date the film. There are a couple of moments in this movie that will remind me it came out in 2018 and making a statement on political issues of this day and age instead of a larger picture. It's not bad, just noticeable.

I think that's kind of where I'm going to close this review out. Overall, Black Panther stands out among the run of the mill Marvel movies. I don't remember having this strong of feelings about a Marvel film since Captain America: The Winter Soldier and that still stands out as probably the best Marvel movie in my opinion. One day I'll go back and re-watch all 16, 17, 29, however many Marvel movies there are and decide my top 5, but I do think Black Panther, with some time to let it settle, will probably end up being one of the best MCU movies out there. Give it time.

But those are my thoughts on Black Panther. What did you think? Where does it rank among your favorite Marvel movies? What did you think of that cast?  Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as send me your requests for films I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

I'll leave you with this. So a lot of people have been talking about the Kendrick Lamar album for this film. I still need to check that out, but I loved the soundtrack for this film and the end of the review always seems to be the right place to feature a soundtrack, especially when it is solid like this film. Enjoy!