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Movie Review: Black Panther (Spoilers)

Spoiler Warning: I am posting this review a couple of days after the movie is released in the U.K, so if you have not yet seen the movie don’t read on.

General Reaction:

Black Panther is such a fantastic representation not only of African culture but the black community as a whole, that I rate this movie at the same caliber as I did Wonder Woman last year which is pretty much epic. What both movies did to present their respective demographics, women and black people, in such a realistic and respectful way to all audiences not just their own is no easy feet and I'm sure Patti Jenkins and Ryan Coogler are feeling pretty darn proud of themselves that their visions have been so well received.

Now those of you who know me may be questioning how I can have that opinion being as I am not a woman or a member of the black community, but here is my defense; I may not be able to justify my opinion as a member of these communities but I can justify it as a comic-book movie fan. The fact that these levels of representation are depicted so well in the types of movie that mainstream audiences used to take for granted, I think not only speaks to how this comic-book renaissance of the last ten years has influenced the media but also people because fans have been crying out not only for a female lead superhero movie but also a black lead superhero movie and in the space of a year they have been given both.

Of course as well as being this politically-based movie which provokes discussions like this about the black community and wealth vs. slavery etc, it is also a comic-book movie and the eighteenth installment of the expansive Marvel Cinematic Universe. However unless you knew about the Black Panther mythology in the comics you would just think it’s a sci-fi political spy thriller because it doesn’t have the same level of action sequences or comic-book movie tropes that other MCU movies have had. Is that a bad thing? Well for me no because I do not need all-action in every movie; so long as there are enough action sequences in the team movies and solo movies around characters with VFX friendly powers then I am happy. Also this movie did have some rather impressive action sequences; from the low key like the jungle ambush at the start to the best action sequence in the movie at that casino in South Korea.

Also I mentioned the movie has a spy genre quality to it, this was quite a surprise for me. From Nakia being a Wakandan spy to Shuri essentially being a female Q with all her inventions for T’Challa who is essentially James Bond. It provided some great VFX as well as intrigue for fans who may not be interested in the political side of things.

Characters:

T’Challa:

It only dawned on me in this movie that while T’Challa and Thor have yet to meet, when they finally do come together in Infinity War they can share stories on their regal duties because they are the only two main characters in the MCU who are kings of their respective nations.

But while I do not know how Thor will be as a king, T’Challa is definitely kingly material. What T’Challa went through in this movie echoes what his father told him at the start of the movie about how a nice king will face problems. But I would like to put forward the fact that everyone faces problems and that shouldn’t just be because T’Challa is good-hearted because it falls back to the cliche of “nice guys finish last” which isn’t always true.

T’Challa is good-hearted but like everyone he has his fair share of baggage, he starts off this movie being the former boyfriend of Nakia, we don’t know why they broke up but they did. Having said that, they clearly remained friends and even got back together by the end of the movie. He does seem to value family above most things and even attempted to save his cousin Erik at the end of the movie despite a couple of attempts on his life by him. The only time he turned his back on family in this movie is after the revelation that his father killed his brother and left his son abandoned in California. I found it rather powerful that he essentially denounced his culture’s tradition of how he should use the countries resources to help the world and even in that U.N.. speech in the end-credits scene where he said “We should make bridges not barriers” was also very powerful and I am curious to see how outsourcing Wakanda’s resources will affect the MCU going forward.

In regards to Chadwick Boseman, I think unlike Chris Hemsworth he is definitely not a comedic actor. Not that I am saying he is bad as the Black Panther because I don’t think the character’s strength lies in his comedy and more in his regal actions. He had some comedic moments but they were either to set up or on the coattails of humor made by the likes of Letitia Wright and even Danai Gurira once or twice. But all-in-all I love Black Panther as a character as I did in Civil War and roll on Infinity War.

Erik Killmonger:

Michael B. Jordan is such a swing and a miss type of actor for me. This is his fourth superhero venture, which by the way is the only genre I’ve seen him in, and none of them have left a lasting impression.

Now that isn’t to say Killmonger was a bad character, I liked him. I loved the reveal of Erik being revealed as one of the boys playing basketball at the start of the movie simultaneously with being revealed T’Challa’s cousin who was abandoned by his uncle T’Chaka. I also really respected what the character stood for in terms of wanting to use Wakanda’s resources to help African people outside of Wakanda. However it is a classic case of great message but poor execution because had he gone to T’Challa with an open heart then T’Challa, nice guy that he is, would have possibly sympathized. However going in and demanding the throne, then going further and pretty much killing him only to be granted the throne shows terrible leadership. Also the fact that the other tribes just accepted him as their king is simply sheep following a shepherd.

Also I don’t get why his suit was a jaguar, obviously I get it was a cat much like the panther but jaguars aren’t native to Africa. The little that I know of Killmonger from the comics his animal affiliate was that of a leopard which is a native to Africa so why they just didn’t go with that for the suit design I don’t know. Particularly as Shuri seemed to be the one who created the suits, why she would design one in the form of a non-African animal seems slightly weird.

In regards to Michael B. Jordan’s humour, that actually was my favourite part of his character. Wakanda is a country that combines the old and the new and Killmonger was the living embodiment of that. His mind is set in Wakanda tradition but with an urban spin on it, reflected rather poetically in the score for the movie by the way.

My final comment is on Killmonger’s last line before his death. When T’Challa offers to take him to the hospital to save his life, Killmonger refuses and requests to be buried at sea like his ancestors who jumped off the slave ships to die rather than live in slavery. It was such a powerful moment but the more you think about it, the more annoying it becomes. This man was essentially a terrorist; he allied himself with an enemy of the country only to turn on him when his usefulness ran out all in order to gain his self-claimed rightful place on the throne where he joyfully murdered his so called followers and burned a sacred piece of Wakandan history. Yet that final line makes him seem like he wasn’t in the wrong. I did not appreciate that.

Shuri:

Moving on to my favourite character in the movie; I was not expecting to love this girl as much as I did. Shuri is the perfect younger sister archetype because yes she is someone who could rightfully challenge her brother to the throne but doesn’t because she is happy with her lot in life and to be fair it is a pretty good lot. Not only is she the standalone princess of Wakanda but also seems to be one of Wakanda’s chief scientists and all while still a young adult. It is somewhat slightly unbelievable that someone of her age would be able to be that technologically gifted and respected regardless of her royal status but I let that slide because I loved seeing her in her lab.

Also her humour was one of the best things about her character; the number of one-liners she had in this movie were hilarious. When she and Okuye were teasing T’Challa about Nakia at the start of the movie, when she was explaining the gadgets she created for T’Challa on his mission to South Korea before spotting his open-toed sandals, then getting angry when T’Challa kicked her suit across the room. Even during that ceremonial battle at the start of the movie when T’Challa was challenged in a fight to the death by M’Baku for the crown and all Shuri can say is “This corset is really tight so can we get this over with?!” So many to count and all were hilarious.

Letitia Wright has gone on record stating she thinks Shuri is a vibrant and refreshing character who is a good role model for young black girls and to be fair I can see her as a good role model for all young girls but I get why the significance in focusing on black girls comes from because Shuri is a great example of not boxing yourself in a category based on gender or station.

Okoye:

I do believe the MCU finally has someone who could beat Black Widow in combat, talk about these ceremonial battles that happen; even though Natasha has her Widow’s Bite and batons, what Okoye can do with a spear justifies how she can call machine guns primitive. It reminded me a little bit of Magneto in X-Men: The Last Stand and his dismissal of guns there because of course he sees Mutants as the future and he is the master of magnetism which most guns are made out of, although they turned out to be plastic but I digress.

I was really surprised to see Danal Gunra has some humour behind that stern expression and it was really good at the beginning when she was teasing T’Challa about seeing Nakia. Having said that the fact she is the general of the Dora Milaje seemed to define her more than everything else in this movie, she was very much the loyal soldier. I felt for her when she had that confrontation with Nakia and said that her duty is to serve whoever sits on the throne which is a classic case of blind loyalty because when T’Challa returned and was revealed to be alive she almost instantly turned on Killmonger.

Also I did not understand why it was stated that she and W’Kabi were lovers, there was no chemistry between the two and the only times their relationship was even focused on was when they were on opposing sides and they could not kill each other. Were I Okoye I would have just had him imprisoned rather than seemingly letting him off the hook but we’ll talk about W’Kabi further down.

Her fight choreography pretty much made that South Korea casino fight, the fact they utilized the continuous shot for the battle, anyone who has seen my Atomic Blonde review knows how much I love a single continuing shot, and while this wasn’t as good as that one Okoye really helped sell it.

Finally I am curious about her role in Infinity War because after seeing her here I do not want her just to be in the background again like she was in Civil War, I want her character to evolve and maybe team up with other members of the team besides Black Panther. Also if I could see a full-blown Black Widow/Okoye fight that would be amazing.

Nakia:

Lupita Nyong'o finally has been in a live-action movie I have seen, and she was great. She wasn’t just the typical love interest role and instead was somewhat her own person. Yes her actions in the movie were mainly all in service of T’Challa but her role as a spy to go and save other African people and the fact her views on how Wakanda should help the world was similar to that of Killmonger’s should have been a sign to T’Challa that it isn’t just terrorists that feel the same way.

I also loved her teaming up with Shuri in the final battle, the two as combatants are pretty much on the same level so the fact it was the women out in the field while the boring white guy is literally behind a computer was a very subtle but nice twist on the old trope.

Lupita’s humour was also there, the cast were surprisingly funny as a whole. My favourite bit of hers was during the car chase when Klaue blew up the Wakandan car and while Okoye goes flying and using her spear and the car debris as a sled, Nakia just comes sliding down the road still in the driving seat holding the wheel. It was quite a comic-booky moment because there is no way she would have still been sat there without being seriously injured but it was very funny.

My only negative about the character is I am not certain as to what her role is, yes she’s a war dog who are spies in other countries but after seemingly reconciling with T’Challa, is she now a princess or a queen? She seems to have a role in T’Challa’s refuge plan but her fate was left uncertain at the end of this movie.

Ulysses Klaue:

Ah, Andy Serkis. How can a man bring so much passion to the role of a CGI monkey and yet when it comes to a live-action role it is mainly portrayed as comic relief. Now I know in the comics Klaw is one of Black Panther’s major advosaries but other than a confrontation with him in South Korea there was no real evidence of that in the movie like there was with Captain America and Red Skull or Thor and Loki for example.

However, I don’t think that’s the type of villain Feige wanted this version of Klaue to be. He’s still an arms dealer as portrayed both here and previously in Age of Ultron, he definitely has a villainous streak to him but it’s overshadowed by his rather sadistic humour like when he carries out that heist at the London museum and kills all but one of the guards, tells the remaining one to go but then shoots him anyway with the excuse of wanting the bodies to be spread out a bit.

Also while mentioning Age of Ultron, I do think that was where he was utilized best because here he just seemed to be a plot device and a way to introduce Killmonger. On that note I did find it interesting that Killmonger’s father allied himself with Klaue which is what made his brother T’Chaka kill him in the end and then over two decades later Killmonger is also working with him. I am curious to know how both alliances came about, it’s pretty much established that Klaue was in Wakanda before stealing the Vibranium which is how he met N’Jobu but how did he find Erik or Erik find him?

I am surprised and slightly saddened to see Klaue die, not just because every villain in this movie did die but because both Klaue and Killmonger were the types of villains like Loki to have longevity. Particularly with a name like Andy Serkis to carry over through the MCU I just think it’s a slight waste to only bring him in for two movies.

W’Kabi:

Interestingly enough, the only character I did not really rate in importance was W’Kabi. I don’t know what it is; I felt his role in what seemed to be the royal council was very vague. I got he was head of one of the tribes but they did not do enough to establish the other tribes outside of the ceremonial battles. All I knew about this particular tribe was that their animal was the White Rhino but when they came in at the end armoured up it almost took me out the movie because I was laughing at how bad they were realized. I did like the fact W’Kabi rode one of them while fighting and that is the only point I saw him at least look like a leader.

Also like I mentioned before, I did not see the point in saying W’Kabi and Okoye were supposed lovers because his body language and dialogue did not suggest such a thing. I do think the only way to tell they were supposedly in love was because Okoye believed her trying to appeal to his better nature would actually work and I guess eventually it did but I do hope she has dumped him after this.

I think maybe it is because I recognize Daniel Kaluuya more for his character on Skins that I cannot take him seriously in a role like this or maybe because it is how he was styled both cosmetically and fashionably here he resembled Carlton Banks from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air but something just did not hit home for me about this character.

M’Baku:

I really enjoyed Winston Duke’s scenes in the latter half of this movie. Did not really like him in that opening battle but we weren’t supposed to like him whereas when he brought in the comedy he was quite funny. I loved his line after threatening to feed Everett Ross to his children with him saying “Only joking, we’re vegetarian”, it was a rather silly line but was sold very well.

I am quite happy he did not officially become Man-Ape as he is in the comics. I do think they would have taken away from the serious messages this movie was attempting to tell. Having said that, if he was to come back as a villain in the sequel maybe he will become an interpretation of the character.

Zuri:

Forest Whitaker is a very hammy actor when he wants to be, first in Rogue One and now here you can tell he is cranking his performance up to an 11 in terms of overacting. This was more subdued than his performance as Saw Gerrera because Zuri had a rather serious story arc as well as role in Wakanda but I found it curious how almost instantly when Killmonger killed him that he was immediately replaced, did they just have that woman on standby or something?

I did like that twist of him being N’Jobu’s friend in Oakland without realizing he too was undercover and I did feel for him when he tried saving T’Challa by admitting he was responsible for his death but if a hero was going to die in the movie I am not surprised it was him.

Other Characters:

A couple of minor roles I want to highlight are Martin Sheen’s return as Everett Ross and Angela Bassett as T’Challa’s mother. Firstly with Everett Ross, I did not see the point of him being in this movie other than to add some diversity to an all black cast, I mean yes you had Andy Serkis but I guess if you had just him he’d be the token white guy. His role of being Klaue’s buyer of the Vibranium and going on to discover the deceit T’Chaka had told him about Wakanda was not really needed in this movie and I believe the only reason it happened was to build up to that U.N. scene at the end but Martin Sheen didn’t even introduce T’Challa or stand by him and rather just sit in the audience admiring him. Also when he was remotely flying that jet at the end and realised there was a chance he could die before blowing up that last drone, I am surprised he didn’t die in this movie by the way because there were at least three instances where he probably should have. Pointless role in this movie.

Now with Queen Ramonda, they did tweek her character slightly from the comics with making her T’Challa’s birth mother rather than stepmother but to be fair it’s not exactly a major plotpoint for either character in the grand scheme so I let it slide. I love Angela Bassett as an actress; I loved her in American Horror Story: Coven, I think she is a stunning woman and she fits the description to play a Queen Mother with such regal elegance. I did find it slightly peculiar how the character resembles Storm so much especially because if after this merger they bring the X-Men in and have Black Panther marry Storm it will be a case of T’Challa marrying a woman resembling his mother. All-in-all she was a great character for the role she was given.

After-Credits Scene:

So I’ve mentioned the mid-credits scene as being the U.N. Meeting where T’Challa pretty much opens the borders of Wakanda to the world but the one scene I haven’t mentioned is the scene that happens when you eventually sit through all the credits, and be patient because there are a lot of them. This scene simply is to show you where Bucky is leading up to Infinity War as he has been taken out of cryostasis and is in the care of Shuri, however I was speaking with my friend about this scene and the timeline of the movie in regards to the MCU as it’s established at the start of the movie these events take place a week after those of Civil War, but my friend did raise a valid point...where the heck is Steve Rogers? From what we know of the Infinity War movie Steve is still in Wakanda so where the hell was he was everything was going to pot? Whatever the answer I cannot wait to find out.

Overall I rate the movie a strong 8.5/10, as I said in my general reaction I think the movie’s representation of it’s targeted demographic was spot on however I do feel as a comic book movie it did lack the oomph that Thor: Ragnarok had for example. Still a solid movie but it depends what you go in wanting to see as to your overall enjoyment of the movie.

So that’s my review of Black Panther, what did you guys think? Post your comments and check out more Marvel Movies as well as other Movie Reviews and posts.