Another year, a brand spanking new MCU movie for us to salivate over. Though I'm still waiting for that one movie that topples this constantly growing tower of success. I mean it has to come at some point, the law of probability and what not. But it's clear as crystal that this isn't the one because by Bast's yarn ball is this a good movie! With that being said it's not perfect but nothing ever is.
Since this is still so new I'l try to keep spoilers to a minimum. After the events of Captain America Civil War where the King of the fictional African country Wakanda T'Chaka (played again by John Kani) was killed by Zemo disguised as Bucky during the signing of the Sokovia accords his son T'Challa (played again by Chadwick Boseman) dons the armor of Wakanda's warrior king; the Black Panther. Now that he's in charge he has to figure out what the future of his country is going to be, stay isolated from the world to protect their cultural identity and their massive stockpiles of Vibranium or expose Wakanda's super advanced technology so they can help the world with major relief efforts.
However there's a bit of old business to take care of as Ulyssees Klaue (reprised by Andy Serkis) has resurfaced after Age of Ultron and has become priority #1 for T'Challa. However one of Klaue's partners Erik Stevens (played by Michael B Jordon) may prove to be a danger to not just Wakanda but the entire world as well. The Black Panther may be able to stop Klaue and Erik but not before learning some dark truths about his father that could help shape the future of Wakanda. But with the help of his family and loyal subjects T'Challa will find a way to save his country, people and the world.
Let me get the positives out of the way and trust me there's a lot of them, the cast is fantastic, they really bring the characters to life and there's not a bad one in the bunch. Wakanda looks absolutely beautiful, I honestly haven't been this enraptured in the depiction of a fictional city since I first saw Rapture from BioShock. The story is competently written with various epic and emotional scenes that really make you feel for these characters and their world. The action sequences are fast, hard and awesome and any scene with Okoye (played by Danai Gurira) is a treat. Seriously she's on par Revy from Black Lagoon in terms of DON'T MESS WITH HER!!!
Also this has one of the best villains in the MCU with Erik AKA Killmonger, despite the fact that he calls himself Killmonger. But trust me he does earn that name and Michael B Jordon's performance knocks this character out of the park. Sure he's not as powerful as Loki or Ronan or as nuts as Ultron or Ego but trust me he has the most sympathetic and believable backstory for a villain in the MCU. (At least in the main movies I've heard that The Purple Man and Kingpin are not to be trifled with.) My absolute favorite scene in the movie is when he goes back to his childhood home. I won't give the context behind that scene but trust me he owns that scene.
This now makes the second botched Johnny Storm actor that the MCU has redeemed, congrats Michael, this combined with Creed means we can officially forget that Fant4stic ever happened. The action sequences were awesome and varied not only demonstrating T'Challa's capabilities as the Black Panther but also showing off the tech of his Wunderkind little sister Shuri (played by Letitia Wright) who not only makes Tony Stark look like a joke but is also just a precious little cinnamon bun. I honestly wish I could keep talking about what I think worked for this movie but then again as with most of these still in theater movie reviews I want you to be at least a little surprised. That being said this movie does have a few quirks that I couldn't really avoid. Mostly how this movie tends to borrow a few plots and backstory tropes from Thor Ragnarok.
Mostly the "Father/King wasn't as saintly as our hero was lead to believe by a being from their dark past coming to destroy their kingdom" trope. The "newly crowned king wonders what direction their new kingdom should go" trope. Last but not least the "hero loses source of their powers/symbol of their powers and gets their ass kicked by the monster of their father's unintended design" trope. Also there's M'Baku (played by Winston Duke) who does the whole "I won't help you initially but will totally save your ass at the last minute" routine. But just because they're similar doesn't mean that the execution is the same.
While the plot of Thor Ragnarok was more focused on action and comedy Black Panther is more going for emotional drama and playing these tropes more straight to the films advantage. But having seen these tropes several times before I can't really help but notice them and point them out. Also as noted before Killmonger kind of steals the movie for me because T'Challa while not a bad character is kind of overshadowed. Not only with Wakanda being a much more interesting character (again much like Rapture) and his awesome supporting cast leaves us with a hero that, while still interesting, likable and a good guy he just kind of pales compared to everything else. Again I want to state that I have nothing against the character or Chadwick Boseman but when you compare him to Michael B Jordon acting the ever loving hell out of his role you can't help but see who comes up short.
Another point in this films favor is that this is a pretty standalone movie, I mean aside from Everrett Ross (once again played by Martian Freeman) showing up and helping out there's not much to connect to the MCU aside from Klaue and the end credits stinger. Though since we see the Wakandan military showing up and kicking ass in the previews of Avengers Infinity War they might retcon in some connection. Like maybe the vibranium meteorite was sent down by Thanos or the heart shaped herb that the Black Panthers draw their powers from were mutated by an Infinity Stone or something silly like that. But yeah definitely go and see Black Panther you will not be disappointed.
Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support.
Black Panther is owned by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Marvel Studios and Ryan Coogler. Based off the character created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
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