This is a spoiler free article review of Black Panther
Disclaimer: this is only my opinion of this movie. We can all have different opinions, and it’s okay!
Okay, so I have to begin by saying that like any other Marvel fan, I was very anxious for this movie to come out (not as anxious as I am about Infinity War, but that is a whole other monster of feels). Once people started watching this movie and started expressing how amazing it is and all this hype started to build up I got a little worried. Weird, right? It should’ve had the opposite effect, but I’ll tell you why I was worried: was the hype going to deliver? I didn’t want to get my hopes up too much and then have the movie not live up to it. I was sure I was going to like this movie, because, well, Black Panther kicks butt in Captain America: Civil War, but I didn’t want to leave the theater feeling underwhelmed.
So, I did some prepping for this movie. I decided to watch other movies by director Ryan Coogler. I watched all the Rocky movies just so I could watch Creed, and then I watched Fruitvale Station. Only after watching Coogler’s previous works did I let myself feel the hype for the highly anticipated Black Panther. Let me tell you….the hype DELIVERED.
Five minutes into this movie, and I was already feeling like this movie was going to be different (in a good way).
I’ll start off by saying that Black Panther has quickly turned out to be my second favorite Avenger (bumping Iron Man to the third place slot) with Black Widow still reigning as number one. I mean who doesn’t like a badass woman kicking butt in a male-oriented ensemble? Speaking of women, let me tell you: Black Panther has MANY badass women. I was so blown away with how amazingly they handled women’s roles in this movie. It shows that filmmakers were so respectful and really took the time to build important, empowering, likeable roles for the women of this film.
Now, one of the reasons this movie has been getting so much attention is because of it’s mainly black cast (and therefore, characters). And, you might think: there are plenty of black character driven movies out there like Straight Outta Compton and all the Tyler Perry movies. There are even black superhero movies already out there (all three Blade movies, Hancock, Steel, Spawn, Blankman, the Meteor Man and even though we hate to admit it, Catwoman). There are only nine black superhero movies before Black Panther with its earlier one coming out in 1993, and in comparison to the amount of white superhero films, nine is a very small amount. I was very aware of how important this movie is for the black community, but it wasn’t until the movie was over and my best friend, who is black, turned to me and said “this is the first time that I actually feel like I can identify physically with so many of the characters in a movie” with a smile on her face that it really hit me how big that is. I honestly felt a lump in my throat with so many feelings; I felt happy, inspired and sad all at the same time.
There was also a big amount of African culture present in this movie, which was to be expected since Wakanda is located in Africa. However, I was pleased to see that it did not feel stereotypical or just brushed off and overlooked. We see rituals, clothing and artifacts that, although I myself don’t know how much of it was made up or how much was real as I am not in any way an expert in the topic, it’s obvious it was at least very much inspired in real life culture. We even see this in the action sequences. Filmmakers took the time to incorporate African martial arts into the fighting sequences as well as inspiration from the Kingsman movies fighting style. All that put together makes for some AMAZING action sequences. I was worried when the action started off strong because it would’ve been so easy for later sequences to not be able to one-up previous ones, but I believe they were successful in doing so.
Another thing I was super impressed by was the cinematography in this film. Yes, it’s a Marvel movie, so it has a lot of budget, a slew of special effects teams and the money to hire an experienced, amazing director of photography. It shows. In Avengers: Age of Ultron, we have a first glimpse of Wakanda, and it kind of surprised me to see mostly a city setting and not any of the “jungle” feel that we see in the comics (I haven’t read many, so I could be wrong about this). However, this movie gave me what I was expecting. The first time we see Wakanda in this film is magical. There is so much depth of field in its shots and scenery; it’s just beautifully filmed.
Now, let’s talk about the acting in this movie. WOW. Michael B. Jordan seems to be director Ryan Coogler’s go-to actor since he plays the protagonist in both Creed and Fruitvale Station. He plays it well but I was not ready for him stepping into the role of a villain. Marvel movies are often criticized for not having strong villains, and it’s true (with the exception of Loki. Loki’s the best), but Black Panther cannot fall into this same category because the villains rock. Martin Freeman was also amazing in this movie, for those of you that know him best as Bilbo Baggins or Watson and were wondering. Not to mention the man of the hour Chadwick Boseman. He brings the true presence of a king with just enough subtlety to be the normal guy even royals are and the swagger needed to be a kickass superhero. Yes, you read right: SWAG. He even beat Robert Downey Jr. in the swag department (in my opinion).
Finally, I want to address how incredibly deep the moral message of this movie is. There is constant moral debate being thrown back and forth the whole time, from different angles and with different characters. I don’t want to give too much of this away, but just know that you’re in for a treat in this movie element.
So, it’s safe to say that I absolutely LOVED this movie. I hope that for any of you reading this, it lives up to the hype as well!
“Only YOU can decide what kind of king you want to be.”
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