Black Panther is directed by Ryan Coogler and stars an incredible ensemble cast of Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker, and Andy Serkis.
The film focuses on T’Challa who returns to his kingdom of Wakanda, after the Avengers Civil War and the death of his father, to reign as king only to find his rule threatened by inside and outside forces seeking to dethrone him.
Coming out of Captain America: Civil War, Black Panther was my favorite new character shown in the film so I was ecstatic about this film. With every casting and the addition of Ryan Coogler as director this became one of my most anticipated movies of 2018.
I absolutely adore this film. From the cast to the music I loved almost every aspect. So let me get through the positives as that’s a majority of my review.
I’m gonna start by saying I absolutely LOVED how they take time to build the world of Wakanda up and show you the five different tribes and how differ from one another both in look and actions. The Border tribe and the Mountain tribes are the most expanded on and I wish they’d explore more. Hopefully they show more in the sequel.
As I’ve rediscovered doing my MCU Rewind, casting is something that Marvel does so very well. Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa/Black Panther may be one of the best superhero castings RDJ as Stark. In Civil War, he showed a stoic warrior out for revenge but in this film he was given a chance to unwind and show a light heartedness in the role and he has perfect chemistry with the supporting cast.
The rest of the cast are incredible but the standouts are Dania Gurira, Winston Duke, Leitia Wright, Martin Freeman and Andy Serkis.
Gurira portrays the leader of the all-female guards the Dora Milaje, Okonye. She’s badass and gets some great character development throughout the film. Duke portrays M’Baku, the leader of the mountain tribe who worship the white ape over the panther like the rest of Wakanda. He’s intimidating and tough and given some great humor at times. Wright plays Shuri, the genius little sister of T’Challa and his probably my favorite character introduced in this film. She’s funny, quick witted and badass. I can’t wait to see more from her. Freeman and Serkis, who play Everrett Ross and Ulysses Klaue respectively, are also really good and a great way to connect to the rest of the MCU as they’ve appeared before. Serkis plays Klaue with such insanity and is hilarious.
Michael B. Jordan portrays the main antagonist in Erik Killmonger, an exile seeking revenge. He’s well rounded, intimating and has believable motivations for his actions and it’s another perfect casting. You understand his actions and almost feel sympathetic for him.
The story is straight forward and cleans up every plot thread and feels relatively self contained from the rest of the MCU. The message of the film is also really well done and feels totally organic. The movie also has some very big repercussions to the world going forward in the franchise.
The world building as I said before is really well done and I loved the look of Wakanda with the five very different tribes and gives them such great costume designs that hint at what each tribe contributes to the country of Wakanda.
The humor is also really well done and doesn’t have very many moments of wasted comedy. The effects are incredible as are the cinematography and direction. This is one of the most visually stunning movies I’ve seen in a long time. The music, both soundtrack and score are amazing. The composer combines classical, African and modern rap tones so fluidly and makes such a unique soundtrack I would definitely consider buying.
My only minor gripe is that the pacing at times was a little off. They seemed to rush in parts and I would have liked to let certain moments marinate.
As I said before I loved this movie and can’t wait to see it again. Black Panther gets a 4.8 out of 5.
Bern After Reading reviews 