Movie Review: Black Panther (2018)

The Mighty Marvel Cinematic Universe marches on! We travel to the Afrofuturistic African wonderland known as Wakanda as we focus on the man the comics have called the King of the Dead, the Black Panther! After the events of Captain America: Civil War, T'Challa has to deal with his formally taking the throne of Wakanda. However, there's a new threat coming in the form of Erik Killmonger, an American mercenary with a desire to burn the world. Can our hero stop this madman and save his home, and the world? And was it awesome in the process? Let's find out!

There was a desire to bring the character to film for a very long time, with Wesley Snipes desiring the title role back in 1992. However, in recent years, with the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Studios was able to bring Wakanda to life, under the director (and co-writer) Ryan Coogler, who had gotten praise for his work on the films Fruitvale Station and Creed. Man, I really want to see Creed.

I love the general look of Wakanda. I would be shocked if the crew, including production designer Hannah Beachler and costume designer Ruth E. Carter, don't get nominated for Oscars. The appearance of Wakanda pays homage to various African cultures. The costuming is beautiful.

I enjoyed watching Chadwick Boseman as the Panther himself, but to be honest...I do think his supporting cast did kind of outshine him a bit. Like Letitia Wright as Shuri. She provided some of the best laughs in the movie. Winston Duke's M'Baku was also a lot of fun. I liked how they handled some of his...more problematic aspects. Danai Gurira as Okoye was also fun to watch. Okoye was so awesome. I also liked Lupita Nyong'o as Nakia, as her character had a lot of heart. This was an amazing cast, especially the women. The women in Wakanda are given their due in this movie. The Dora Milaje are the coolest Secret Service on the planet.

One of the strongest parts of the film was...the villain. Yeah. Michael B. Jordan had been wanting to play one for a while, and you can tell he was just having fun playing Killmonger. His Killmonger is actually more similar to the comics than one would think, but this version is more of a tragic monster. His motivations are understandable, despite his heartlessness. The MCU movies have been criticized for having weak villains (in my opinion, I think it's because most villains don't get to stick around very long, hurting any ability they have to grow), but Killmonger seems to be the MCU being aware of that and trying to improve on this.

I can't really talk too much in depth about the story because I don't want to spoil anything. However, the film does deal with the issues of what Wakanda should do with the advanced technology in its hands, with both Panther and Killmonger having understandable points.

I have no real complaints about this film. It was fun from beginning to end. If you have not seen it, go and do so as soon as you can. It has earned every bit of praise it's got.