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The newest installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is finally out. The "Marvel-thon" posts have been building up to this. Now I can give my thoughts... on Black Panther.
Following the events of Captain America: Civil War, T'Challa has come home to Wakanda, a nation in Africa that's isolated from the rest of the world. However, his status as King is challenged when old enemies resurface. As both the new King and the Black Panther, he must not only protect his people, but also the outside world.
What Worked: There are many positives here. First of all, the performances are very good. After being introduced in Civil War, Black Panther has his time to shine. The performance by Chadwick Boseman there was more about setting the character up. In this, you see how the events of that movie affected him and Wakanda itself. He makes the character his own, and he's only shown up in two movies so far.
There are two other characters to talk about that return from previous movies. The first one is Everett K. Ross, played by Martin Freeman, who also returns from Civil War. You get to learn more about him in this as well, and Freeman does get some funny lines. The other one is Ulysses Klaue, played by Andy Serkis, who returns from Age of Ultron. He had a small role there, which I thought was to set up a larger role in this. Oddly enough, he's not in this movie that much, either. However, some of the events from Age of Ultron are addressed (including one involving him), and like that movie, Andy Serkis is good for the time he's in it.
Now for the new characters. There's Lupita Nyong'o (The Jungle Book, the Star Wars sequel trilogy) as Nakia, who has past history with T'Challa. There's also Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out) as W'Kabi, T'Challa's best friend. In supporting roles are Angela Bassett as Ramonda, the Queen of Wakanda, and Forest Whitaker as Zuri, one of the elders. They all get some interesting development.
There are three standouts in the supporting cast, and either of them could be considered the best character in the movie. One of them is Danai Gurira as Okoye, leader of the Dora Milaje (an all-female group of warriors who are fiercely loyal to the nation and its protector). The second one is Letitia Wright (The Commuter) as T'Challa's younger sister Shuri, who was probably my favorite. If T'Challa is Marvel's James Bond, Shuri is their Q; she is responsible for designing tech not only for Wakanda itself, but also for her brother. The other standout is Winston Duke as M'Baku, who leads a tribe distant from those in support of T'Challa being King. Although Shuri has some of the funniest lines in the movie, M'Baku gets one as well.
Last but not least is the villain, Erik Killmonger, played by Michael B. Jordan. He's a great actor (for evidence of that, go watch Creed), and he ends up being a great villain. Similar to Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming, you see where he's coming from, perhaps even more so than with Vulture. Is he the best villain since Loki as some have been saying? For me, no... he's the best villain since Zemo in Civil War.
As if the villain's motivations were not brutal enough, at least a couple of the fights in this get pretty visceral, too. The best way to describe them is if you take the fight scenes in Creed and the Bane fight from The Dark Knight Rises and put them together.
Speaking of Creed, Michael B. Jordan's collaborator from that movie, Ryan Coogler, directs this movie. He proves to be an excellent choice not only because he knows how to film fight scenes and hold nothing back, but also because he's known for using certain cultural aspects that do not get much attention as a key part of the story, particularly the Black culture. I will get more into that in the outro.
As for how he films fight scenes, it was very impressive in Creed, and this manages to top it. A great example is a casino fight that looks like it's all one take.
The biggest positives are the production design and the music. The costumes, sets, and especially the cinematography are amazing here. With the music, I'm not just talking about the score. There is a soundtrack in this, produced by Kendrick Lamar. In hearing that, you might be concerned that the songs may distract from the movie. If it were any other movie, maybe, considering those try to incorporate as many as they can for the duration of the runtime. Here, having a soundtrack by a popular artist actually works because they're used sparingly. I only noticed three used throughout the movie (counting the credits). The soundtrack for this is very good, and so is the score. There's also a reference to an old favorite of mine during a scene with Andy Serkis.
There is humor, but it's spread out, like with some references and particularly the dialogue.
What Didn't Work: While a vast majority of the visuals are excellent, there are some that you can tell are CGI, especially in the third act.
The beginning is a little slow, but it's not long before it picks up.
Overall: Black Panther is not only among the very best installments of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (might be high up for me; I'll have to think about that), but also will likely be among the very best movies of the year. Like with Thor: Ragnarok, it has another great villain. However, whereas that was the best MCU movie since Civil War, this has the best action since Civil War.
What makes this stand out that much more, though, is its cultural relevance. It's like a mix between Wonder Woman and Get Out. This and Wonder Woman give a particular demographic a hero of their own. This leads to the similarities with Get Out. They both bring to light issues faced by Black culture, except Get Out was a social commentary on that culture, while this takes that culture and embraces it. For those reasons, both also feel like a movie they needed, while being one everyone else can enjoy with them.
Expect a Stan Lee cameo (the best one since Spider-Man: Homecoming), as well as a mid-credits scene and a post-credits scene.