Black Panther

Black Panther

Yes, it's me. The last man on earth to see Black Panther. It took a full week of me having to see how much joy it brought everyone else as I stared through a misty shop window outside in the rain, cold and alone, but I finally got to see it.

Obviously for starters, the representation is great. Not only is this an almost entirely black cast, but a solid half of the characters are women. And not only are they women characters, but they're actually helpful women characters who don't constantly talk about what strong women they are (because for some reason male writers feels like strong women need to be justified), they just do strong stuff because that's what they do. For the representation alone, the film was worth making, and the double whammy of both this and Get Out doing so well in the box office will hopefully mean we get more representation in the future.

Now, as far as the actual movie goes, there's certainly some upgrades from the typical Marvel movie formula, but overall it still feels fairly studio-driven and the actual filmmaking leaves a lot to be desired.

When it comes to the characters, the most interesting part is Michael B. Jordan. He's so empathetic because of his motivation that it automatically puts him far above the large majority of boring Marvel villains (it also helps that Jordan is such a charismatic actor). That being said, I would've liked to have seen more of him, because he sort of outshines Black Panther. Black Panther is kinda like Captain America, but more awkward. I like that he's not just another smarmy, sarcastic Marvel hero, but at the same time I feel like he needed a bit more personality. I'm sure they'll play around with him more, as he's so new to the Marvel movie party, but based off this movie alone I'd say he's sort of a blank slate protagonist. Also, while I do love seeing all of these female characters on screen at the same time, I don't think they were that three-dimensional. Letita Wright is enjoyable as Black Panther's excitable Q/Lucius Fox/Oracle gadget-making sister, and Danai Gurira is cool as the badass warrior, but Lupita Nyong'o and Angela Bassett's characters don't really have any defined traits, or honestly any effect on the plot. They're both great actresses so they're able to add personality where there really isn't any, but if you put their characters in a room together I couldn't visualize the conversation in the same way I could with Wright and Gurira. Everyone else in Wakanda has the same thing of not necessarily being memorable characters, but getting to be played by good actors. Martin Freeman is solid as stern American Martin Freeman, and Andy Serkis, though given really terrible lines, is clearly having a ball getting to play an actual human for once. I think my blanket note for every character in the movie is that they could all use a personality boost.

The action is pretty standard for a Marvel movie. It's occasionally well-filmed and cool (the casino scene being the shining example), but more often then not it just feels like standard fight coverage. All of the one-on-one fights are pretty forgettable, which is strange because Coogler directed Creed, which has some really fantastic boxing scenes in it. The concept of the remote car was cool, but the car chase isn't that memorable, nor are pretty much any of the other action scenes. It was Coogler's first huge-budget movie, so hopefully next time around he can get really creative with his visuals.

The comedy is the only thing in this movie that's outright terrible. From the dated "what are those" joke to Andy Serkis singing "What is Love" for no reason, this movie REALLY needed a humor punch-up. And considering how funny every other Marvel movie is, I really don't see how this script passed that same test. It certainly has a more serious and genuine tone than all of the other Marvel movies, which is great, but that in no way assisted the occasional grab for a laugh. Marvel, you've got Community writers. Use them.

Also, I didn't think about this until my friend brought it up after the movie, but why weren't Black Panther and his sister more bummed out about their dad dying? That could've played a much larger role and given the movie a stronger emotional core.

My apologies if this review seems rushed, it took me way too long to see the film so I just sort of jotted down my main bullet points, but I also don't feel like there's a whole lot to talk about here. I think it's a solid movie, but there's definitely lots of room to grow. It definitely still feels like a studio movie, but due to its success I'm sure they'll do another one and Ryan Coogler can go full Guardians Vol. 2 on it and really make it his own thing.

Also, listen to the Black Panther album if you haven't already, because holy wow is it good.