BLACK PANTHER (2018)
Directed by Ryan Coogler
Written by Ryan Coogler, Joe Robert Cole
Starring Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman, Letitia Wright, Andy Serkis, Forest Whitaker, Angela Bassett, Winston Duke
Particularly since it just came out this weekend, I'm not going to spoil anything here, beyond what's been shown in previews.
The latest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has landed and it rocks. Black Panther, like most of the heroes getting their own MCU movies so far, was never one I read much of so I didn't have the burden of sitting there going "that's not like it is in the comics!" I mean, maybe it's exactly like it was in the comics - the point is I don't know either way.
What I do know is that I totally dug it. Much like GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY and especially THOR: RAGNAROK, Ryan Coogler has made a movie that is definitely a "Marvel Movie" but with a spin that makes it stand out as its own thing.
Chadwick Boseman is T'Challa, the Black Panther, continuing from his appearance in CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR. In that film, T'Challa's father, King T'Chaka is killed and as this one begins T'Challa officially takes up the mantle of King of Wakanda. Adding to his uncertainty that he's actually ready to lead Wakanda, he has to deal with the return of Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis totally digging not being hidden behind a layer of CGI like most of his bigger roles) who has been one of Wakanda's Most Wanted after stealing from them years ago. Klaue, in turn, brings Michael B. Jordan's Killmonger into the mix, who has his own reasons for giving T'Challa a hard time.
The whole cast is great. Great enough that browsing reviews I keep seeing different actors being giving the 'stole the show' award. Michael B. Jordan? Sure, he stole the show. Danai Gurira? Sure, she stole it, too. My personal show-stealing accusation goes to Letitia Wright as Shuri, the younger, somewhat irreverent younger sister to Boseman's much more serious T'Challa. Oh, and she's also a genius whose technical achievements could give Tony Stark some serious feelings of inadequacy. She does a great routine as 'Q,' helping T'Challa out in a casino-based fight-turned-car-chase that wouldn't be too out of place in a James Bond film.
If there was a flaw at all that I noticed, it's that 3D, especially post-converted 3D (as opposed to being shot in 3D in the first place) has trouble with fast fight scenes, giving them a distracting blur or double-image effect. It's still a gorgeous film and I'm happy to have seen it in 3D since all my subsequent home viewing will be in good ol' 2D.
Ten years and what...eighteen(?) movies in I shouldn't have to mention the importance of staying all the way thru the end credits for a Marvel Movie, but since I still people who bail as soon as the credits start to roll, consider it mentioned.
At its core, it's still a Marvel superhero movie, with increasingly larger and flashier (and more CGI'ed) action scenes that will easily satisfy any fan of these movies, but there's a heart there with the characters and their relationships and motivations that keep an important element of humanity grounding the arcade action.
