Black Panther

With all the hype, build up, eventual backlash, fall out and ‘’controversy’’ that the film had garnered, the 2018 Marvel flick, Black Panther needs to be viewed without outside persuasions, and once you remove said intrusions, the film proves to be a perfectly passable Marvel film; not amazing, not terrible, just an average superhero movie. T’Challa (played by Chadwick Boseman) has recently become the king of Wakanda and fears connecting with the outside world and influencing wars with his country’s special mineral, Vibranium, which is where most of their wealth comes from. His title as king is suddenly threatened by someone who is related to the royal bloodline named Killmonger (played by Michael B Jordan), a young man stripped of his title when his father was killed by Black Panther’s father and was left to survive in the less fortunate parts of the world alone. After losing the battle and with Killmonger now in charge and planning to use Wakanda’s resources to exact revenge on a good chunk of the world’s population, T’Challa must reclaim the right to rule and his right to don the Black Panther mantle, along with his tech savvy sister Shuri (played by Letitia Wright), his mother, Queen Ramonda (played by Angela Bassett) his spy ex-girlfriend Nakia (played by Lupita Nyong’o), his head of the guard Okoye (played by Danai Gurira) and a police chief friend, Everett Ross (played by Martin Freeman) as well as trying to mend the errors his father created. A film so middle of the road in terms of quality is definitely polarizing for a wide majority, but the film does tap into both the good and bad of Marvel, while improving and digressing in other aspects.  Black Panther has as many things going for it as it does against it; it has a great villain, cool likeable side characters. an amazing world they inhabit, and some good heavy scenes that display a more dramatic side to Marvel that isn’t often shown, but it also has boring/ underwhelming action, awful effects, not enough humor and doesn’t have a strong main character.

The story feels more grounded than most Marvel films of recent memory, including ties to real life events of slavery, wars in the mining industries, terrorist attacks, and other example that give this story a hint more of an aggressive bite to it than other like it. The actual plot of the movie feels very reminiscent of something like The Lion King; with a young prince taking up the reigns from his recently deceased father and fighting against a troubled family member for the crown. This isn’t actually a bad thing as the framework for that story is actually pretty good and unlike something like The Lion King, this story is able to tap into some of the Shakespearean qualities and match it with a more pessimistic tone, but it doesn’t always match with the overall genre. The film is decently paced and director Ryan Coogler who previously worked on the 2015 film, Creed, knows how to construct this story in a way that makes it feel distinct to the culture and atmosphere of its own comic, while still feeling like it fits within the same universe , but with the amount that it throws at the audience, it’s not always easy to take it all in on the first viewing, especially for those that aren’t expecting the film to go in this direction and are instead just looking for another origin story for a big Marvel character. Because of the film’s lack of humor and more serious tone, it doesn’t offer much for the younger viewers, making it one of the few films in the MCU that feels tailored to a specific demographic rather than something that finds an appropriate middle ground for both (Guardians of the Galaxy feels like a teen film, but it still strangely does appeal to children). The film also doesn’t have much Black Panther in it as you’d expect, keeping him relegated to the action scenes and barely giving the mantle a chance to shine as a hero. For a film called BLACK PANTHER, you’d imagine they’d use him more, but the focus seems to be more on the struggle of the person in the suit and emotional beats of the story, which are well down, nicely written and acted very strongly, but there’s very little contrast in this film to balance this stuff out. It provides a nice sense of weight that the MCU hasn’t felt to this extent yet, but previous Marvel films have been able to inject emotionally engaging elements while still feeling like a superhero film, and this is just slightly off from that department. This film shouldn’t be forced to include humor when it doesn’t need to, but it has helped create a connection between character in this world, and you can feel something missing without a sense of levity between the main cast.

The characters are well acted and have great chemistry, but the way they are used is a bit awkward and even a little unbalanced. The biggest issue comes from the main character, who isn’t made interesting in his own film. Black Panther had a good set-up from his introduction in Captain America: Civil War, but in this film, he just kind of comes across like a generically nice guy, nothing really unique stands out about him within the gallery of heroes at this point. This does happen in the comic space a lot more than you’d expect and even within the MCU, but they are usually able to stand out thanks to the performances and their power set, but because T’Challa is barely Black Panther, that doesn’t leave much of an impression, and while Chadwick Boseman does a decent job, it’s not strong enough to help him form an identity and there are even times where it’s a little flat. He doesn’t really progress as a character, despite there being a pretty good set-up about coming to grips with the follies of his ancestors and trying to move his kingdom in a more fruitful direction without destroying what made it special, Despite this, this development is more talked about rather than truly felt, as his minimal screen time leaves a lot these moments out of the picture and it just results in an ending that, while fitting for the story, doesn’t really feel properly built-up. Ironically, the side characters and the villain are given more screen time than the titular hero and are therefore made to be much more likeable and interesting. They are all engaging, acted well, distinct and are a lot of fun to be around, giving much more for the audience to connect with and are great new additions to the MCU line up. Shuri has a lot of good lines, Okoye is just a naturally cool character, Nakia isn’t used enough to make her feel properly utilized, but Lupita Nyong’o is still a great actress and makes it work okay, Angela Bassett works in a similar fashion to Nyong’o, but her solid acting works in her favour as well, Martin Freeman has some decent moments, etc. Some don’t completely work like Andy Serkis is fun as the side villain but is given way too much screen time for a bit part that doesn’t have much of a purpose in the film, and Forrest Whitaker is just a placeholder for a character that everyone can guess what will happen to as the film goes on, but it is a very solid supporting cast all around held up by great actors. Killmonger is also very well done and makes for one of the MCU’s best villains; his writing is good and the setup is very well crafted to the point where you can actually totally believe and understand why he’s doing what he’s doing, but most of the strength to the character just comes through Michael B Jordan’s performance. He completely owns every word he says and delivers it in a grand bombastic tone like the other characters, but still delivers it within his own unique accent and attitude that helps him stand apart from the rest of the crowd, it’s a very strong villain.

The effects are very split in terms of quality; the locations, specifically Wakanda, look amazing. The entire city is easily one of the best parts of this film it looks incredibly gorgeous, it has a great design and is showcased very well throughout the whole film. It feels like an alien lost city with the technology and chrome-like plating, but it also shows in length the way the people live and breathe in it,  still featuring a lot of African culture that brings so much unique atmosphere to the film, adding in touches of culture while also creating a brand new iconic location for the world of Marvel, it’s very well done. But in comparison, the effects during the action scenes are not only garbage, but they are flat-out embarrassing for the time (PS1 games have better graphics than what they show off in this film). Since the fighting is so fast and the camera work usually pretty dynamic, it can be overlooked in the moment, but when its spotted, it doesn’t look appealing at all. The action in general is not very special either, the film only has four major fights scenes, one shot in the dark which makes it very hard to make out, one set against the backdrop of a waterfall which features some cool moves and has a grand feel to it,  a fun chase through Tokyo that’s pretty well handled with some inventive superhero stunts and even doses of comedy added in, and an underwhelming Lord of the Rings style climax along with a dark and dull final confrontation that is really where the awful effects show their wings. The effects aren’t good enough to make most of the action work. The costume design by Ruth E. Carter looks very colorful and are given plenty of effort in both the realm of superhero theatrics and every day attire to make the entire production look great with the superhero outfits for everybody standing out pretty nicely while the regular clothing is very creative and filled with African culture and designs. The music by Ludwig Göransson has some great atmospheric scores, but also has its fair share of typical generic rap as well which doesn’t fit the overall feel of the story, but it’s not too bad.

So much of the film is either overpraised as being perfect or proclaimed the worst comic book movie ever because of its over-exposure, and the film is neither. Black Panther has some likeable side characters, a great world it takes place in, some very intense and interesting emotional scenes, and a great villain, but that doesn’t excuse the lack of humor, the bad action effects, minimal fight scenes, the dividing tone, and a basic underdeveloped main character. Like any film, it has pros and cons in a lot of categories, so it deserves to at least be recognized as an average Marvel film, but not one that changed the genre as the world knows it and definitely not the best superhero movie by a long shot. One that will be remembered for better or worse, but has enough that at least warrants at least one viewing, see if Wakanda is truly as grand as it was perceived.