By Adam Miklas
Staff Writer
As the Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to grow and grow, we now have the 18th film in the decade long franchise, “Black Panther.”
After the events of “Captain America: Civil War,” Prince of Wakanda T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) returns home to claim the throne and become the rightful king.
However, conflicts arise when two villains interfere with Wakandan matters and it is up to the Black Panther to stop them.
There are so many great things about this movie. First off, this film is gorgeous.
Wakanda is such a marvel (no pun intended) to behold and the locations in the film, either the CG ones or the occasional real locations, look striking and are so full of color and detail that it is awe inspiring.
The culture of this place is so incredibly interesting, and that culture plays a huge part in how the plot moves, so not only is it interesting to see, there is a point to it all.
The technology is incredibly creative and you’ll wish that this was real almost every time you see it.
From flying invisible airships to metal holograms to kinetic energy suits that can hit back twice as hard as what it takes, it is so freaking cool to see all of this and look like it is real.
The action in this movie might not be the best in the MCU, but it is still incredibly entertaining, especially when multiple people are involved.
From the trial to become king of Wakanda, to a car chase in South Korea, the action itself may be lacking, but the set pieces and certain moments in those actions scenes more than make up for it.
Special mention goes to the character Okoye (Danai Gurira) who is a guard for T’Challa and kicks just as much butt, if not more, than her king, despite not having any super powers at all.
The two main villains in this movie are also well done, those being Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis) and Erik Stevens (Michael B. Jordan).
Klaue is just an insane and incredibly resourceful black market dealer who has been a thorn in Wakanda’s side for 30 years and Erik is a military trained man with fairly good reasons as to why he wants to take down the Black Panther. Both of these villains are so entertaining to watch and almost steal the show in whatever scenes they are in.
However, the film still does have its fair share of issues, some major, some minor, and there will be some spoilers.
One of the villains, known for being Black Panther’s main villain in the comics and has been present in at least one other MCU film is built up as a long standing villain, either being defeated by the end or managing to get away for another time, but instead is abruptly taken out. It is not satisfying at all. Because of this, the film feels like the original movie and a sequel were squeezed into one film and while it is done in a believable way, the change is still jarring.
The film is also not very preachy and handles politics and history very well, except for one line in the movie said by one of the villains. It just felt very forced instead of the subtle and positive messages stated throughout the movie.
Some of the comedy is also hit or miss. A lot of it follows the standard MCU type of meta humor and others feel natural. Then you have a “WHAT’RE THOSE?!” joke in there as well for some reason.
The minor flaw in that there are times where you can tell that the actors are in front of a green screen and it can be very distracting when it seems like these characters are not really in a certain location.
Overall, the film is definitely a very good film and a recommended watch as it manages to stand alone and not be needlessly tied to another plot in this franchise, with the occasional characters from other movies being the only hint of something bigger, but the movie still does have enough faults that keep it from being fantastic.
Email Adam at:
amiklas@live.esu.edu
