**WARNING: MINOR SPOILERS WITHIN**
There’s no denying the cultural significance of a film like Black Panther in today’s blockbuster landscape. It’s the first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to feature a predominantly black cast. Just this fact alone marks Black Panther as a singular entry in this franchise and a major achievement in its own right, and with the excellent writer/director Ryan Coogler at the helm, a strong ensemble led by the likes of Chadwick Boseman, Lupita Nyong’o and Michael B. Jordan, stunning visuals and an expansive, believable world, it stands as one of Marvel Studios’ most unique offerings yet.
That’s the good news.
The bad news is it still succumbs to the standard Marvel movie weaknesses: all-too familiar story beats and an underdeveloped villain. Plot-wise, it feels like bits and pieces of movies we’ve seen before, a little James Bond here, a little Lion King there (no joke). But while the predictable plotting and simplistic character beats hold Black Panther back from true greatness, they can’t quell the overall entertainment value and delight of Coogler’s unique vision, a vision which adds further, much-appreciated variety to the MCU.
I won’t go into the plot too much since there’s still a week to go before the film is officially released, but I’ll offer a brief summary. In the aftermath of his father’s murder (recalled in a brief flashback), T’Challa a.k.a. Black Panther returns home to take his rightful place as Wakanda’s new king. But while T’Challa would prefer to keep his people and resources safe by cutting them off from the rest of the world, a force from outside Wakanda’s borders threatens their very existence and a dark secret from the royal family’s past could bring about their kingdom’s destruction.
Black Panther takes its time doling out information at the start, building its expansive world and setting the stage for events to come. It’s a bit slow and plodding with little action or excitement, but Coogler combats this by filling the frame with colorful visuals and endearing characters to keep us engaged. It’s one of the few films in the MCU that has a strong visual identity, its striking production design and effects work feel unlike anything we’ve seen in this universe before. Wakanda teems with life, beauty and culture; it’s a living, breathing world you totally buy into.
Things pick up when the story transitions into its fast-paced second act, and from that point on the awesomeness rarely lets up. The action sequences are exciting and engaging, with some amazing fight choreography. One sequence in particular, which features a fluidly moving camera ascending between two levels as it follows multiple fight scenes without a single, visible cut, is an astonishing achievement. This is followed by another of the film’s highlights, a breathtaking car chase through South Korea’s fluorescent cityscapes, featuring Black Panther’s superhuman acrobatics as he leaps and flips between cars and buildings like a total BAMF. As with most of these movies, Black Panther’s third act devolves into the standard CGI action climax we’ve come to expect, but Coogler has done such an excellent job getting us to that point and ensuring we’re invested in these characters it doesn’t hinder its effectiveness.
Rounding out Black Panther’s greatest assets is its phenomenal ensemble. As the titular hero Chadwick Boseman does an excellent job conveying the character’s nobility and conflict. Lupita Nyong’o plays the love of his life, dishing out sage wisdom and ass-kicking in equal measure, and few things are more enjoyable to watch than Danai Gurira of Walking Dead fame twirling a spear and wiping out the baddies. Andy Serkis and Martin Freeman also make a welcome return, reprising their roles from Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War respectively and giving us the Bilbo/Gollum reunion we’ve all been waiting for.
The ensemble’s standout, however, is newcomer Letitia Wright as T’Challa’s younger sister Shuri. She serves as the film’s ‘Q,’ developing new weapons and technology for her older brother. Many of the film’s highlights and biggest laughs involve their sibling squabbling and interactions.
This brings me to perhaps my biggest beef with Black Panther: its villain, Erik “Kill Monger” Stevens. As Erik, Michael B. Jordan gets a lot more to work with than the standard Marvel villain. His motivations are strong, personal and much more human than your average ‘take over the world’ schemes….even though that ends up being his ultimate goal. But you understand why he feels this way.
The problem is we don’t spend enough time with Erik to get a real feel for who he is. He’s not introduced as the film’s true antagonist until about halfway through the runtime and by that point we’ve spent so little time with him, it feels like an odd left turn, unmotivated by the events leading up to it. Jordan’s performance is good, but one-note. Erik is angry, brutal and aggressive without much room for nuance or subtlety. It’s easy to understand what he feels and why he feels that way, but it’s harder to empathize with his brutal methods. As portrayed, he comes across more as a scorned, angry teenager than someone with genuine grievances. It undercuts what would otherwise be one of the stronger villains in the land of Marvel and it’s a shame that Coolger and co-writer Joe Robert Cole couldn’t interweave Erik’s storyline more organically into the rest of the film.
Black Panther works in so many ways and feels so creative and full of great ideas that you can’t help but wish it felt a little more original in the storytelling department. It’s a reminder that it’s possible to recognize the cultural significance of a product while also acknowledging that it falls short in other areas. That being said, Black Panther is one of the stronger solo hero entries in the MCU, succeeding as an exciting action/adventure that carves out a new section for this expansive universe to play in. It contains moments that will take your breath away and more than make up for its weaker tendencies.
But perhaps Coogler’s greatest accomplishment here is that he was able to dive into the well-oiled machine that is Disney/Marvel and create something that feels like a sincere expression of his own heart, a product that feels epic, but also has something important to say. In that regard, Black Panther is more than just a movie - it’s a celebration of a culture that has for far too long been marginalized and under-represented in these kinds of movies. I can’t imagine how exciting it must be for a young black boy or girl to finally get to cheer on superheroes that look like them.
It’s about damn time.
And for those interested, here’s where Black Panther fits into my MCU rankings:
- The Avengers
- Captain America: Winter Soldier
- Captain America: Civil War
- Iron Man
- Thor: Ragnarok
- Iron Man 3
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
- Black Panther
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- Spider-Man: Homecoming
- Captain America: The First Avenger
- Avengers: Age of Ultron
- Ant-Man
- Doctor Strange
- Iron Man 2
- Thor: The Dark World
- Thor
- The Incredible Hulk
