Black Panther is a 2018 superhero film directed by Ryan Coogler, starring 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. In Black Panther, T’Challa returns home as king of Wakanda but finds his sovereignty challenged by a long-time adversary, in a conflict with global consequences.

Plot:  T’Challa returns home to Wakanda where he must ascend the throne in wake of his father’s death.  After becoming king  finds his sovereignty is challenged by a mercenary named Erik Killmonger. T’Challa loses his throne to Killmonger and is nearly killed.  However, he does manage to return with the help of those in his inner circle.

T’Challa is mourning the death of his father T’Chaka while ascending to the throne.  Unfortunately, this story doesn’t really seem all that relevant to the development of the character or the story.  There’s no real struggle for the throne which kind of waters down the plot.

Now I did appreciate T’Challa finding out about his father’s mistake and how he plans on becoming a great ruler because I think that it’s an event that can develop the character.

Killmonger’s grand plan to basically start World War III is just as bland as the story never addresses his plans in detail.  There’s no build up of his plans nor the people who he’s working with.

The story is all that original and does take a long time to get into.  I appreciate story, characters, and setup but found myself thinking that it was pretty slow.  There are some twists here and there but not enough to make the story overly meaningful.  There are honestly some moments that are even predictable.  However, the story is easy enough to follow but deep enough to enjoy. (3 out of 5)

Characters:  The characters are good but my main issue is with the main character T’Challa.  T’Challa is the king of Wakanda and its protector known as the Black Panther.  The character is a bit of a mixed bag because he doesn’t feel “strong” enough, doesn’t have enough presence.  Yeah, I like the fact that he’s struggling with being king but he never really feels badass in this movie.  He’s more sure of himself, more awesome in Captain America: Civil War.  There was never an actual moment in the movie I thought the character was actually badass.

But really, the film’s staring characters are Nakia, Okoye, and Shuri.  Each of these characters did a great job of stealing their scenes meaningfully.  Nakia brought a lot of heart to her scenes with her love and empathy for others, Shuri brought a lot of intellect and humor, and Okoye brought strength and badassary.  Okoye honestly had most of the awesome sequences in the film overshadowing T’Challa several times.  I loved their contributions to the story.

Klaue was brought back and he felt a little goofy.  Yes, he was pretty cool but still pretty goofy (which we will chock it up to the writing).  Thinking about Klaue reminds me of how I felt on Bebop and Rocksteady in the 2016 TMNT sequel.  How can I take these dark characters so seriously when they’re so cartoonish.  Also, despite him being in the film, he doesn’t really feel needed.  If he were written out the story would’ve been more or less the same.

However, let’s talk about the actual highlight of the film.  Erik Killmonger is probably one of the most interesting villains in the MCU.  Passionate, strong, ruthless, and aggressive he definitely has the chops to rival T’Challa.  He does have understandable motivations although he is just as big a dick as Loki, Thanos, or Ultron.  Perhaps the only thing I didn’t like about the character was his “hood” portrayal.  I don’t mind him being from the hood or approaching the black supremacist angle but he was the overly violent hood rather than an intellectually driven character like Loki, Bane, or the Joker.

Everett Ross is a great character but honestly I don’t think his character was needed in the film.  Everything he did, could’ve honestly been performed by another character and been just as effective.  When he got shot, it could’ve been Okoye who took the bullet for Nakia.  During the climatic battle, it could’ve been Shuri flying the ship to stop the weapons shipments. (3 out of 5)

Cast:  The casting is topnotch with some great performances by the main and supporting cast.  Chadwick Boseman is fantastic as T’Challa and does a great job of giving a lot of depth to his character.  The humbleness he gives to the character is only mirrored by Michael B. Jordan’s badass peformance as Killmonger, easily one of the best MCU villains.

Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, and Letitia Wright do a great job and have great chemistry with Boseman which help make their relationships feel authentic.  Martin Freeman is always great and does a great job. Thumbs up to the performances by supporting cast including Daniel Kaluuya, Winston Duke, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker, Andy Serkis, and John Kani returning as T’Chaka.  Loved the performances all around.  (4 out of 5)

Visuals:  The movie is just a beauty to look at but there are some moments where the visuals do falter.  First, I’m going to admit that this is just a beautiful looking movie.  The wideshots of the African landscape, Wakanda’s cityscape, the technology, just the presentation of the film is just a beauty to look at.  Also, the practical effects, costume design, set pieces, and makeup designs are to commended and make the Wakandan culture look great.

The action sequences look good and the choreography is handled well making for some really intense fight sequences.  I like the original Black Panther costume design but the newer ones look really good too.  Especially with how the costume covers the wearer’s body.

Disappointingly enough, the visuals sometimes suck when it comes to the CGI for the Black Panther character himself, especially the fight with Killmonger.  The overuse of CGI was highly distasteful and definitely made the fight seem pretty lame.  Black Panther had much better fights in Civil War.  The CGI rhinos could’ve been done better or not done at all.

Some of the editing when it came to the actual hand-to-hand fights should’ve been handled better.  I watched the final fight in 1990’s Lionheart film and was appalled at how shitty the editing was.  This is pretty much what you get when it comes to most of T’Challa’s fights in this movie.  (3 out of 5)

Score:  I have to admit that I really did enjoy the soundtrack.  Ludwig Göransson does a fantastic job of giving a good bit of depth to the film.  During the Wakanda moments there are obvious African inspired themes that are just as beautifully crafted.

On the other hand, there are some pretty well developed hip hop themes and rap songs that give the film a modern feel to it.  Kendrick Lamar was brought on to help with the soundtrack and I must admit his contribution was a great choice.  (5 out of 5)

Writing:  Despite everything I liked about the film, the writing is pretty bad.  There are so many plotholes and conveniences riddling the writing that it’s shameful.  Ryan Coogler directed this mess and despite me liking 2015’s Creed I found his delivery quite lacking in this movie.  Now, let’s go down the list.

First, T’Challa was poorly written in this film.  He had no ferocity, no strength, no presence to his character.  In nearly every scene, he is overshadowed by the other characters.  Especially by Okoye during the action sequences.  And oddly enough, despite his age, he acts like an eighteen year old rather than a mature middle aged man.

Second, there is the character Erik Killmonger.  We don’t get enough exposition of the character.  How was it struggling without his father?  How he dealt with being stranded in America?  How did he meet up with Klaue?  Who are his associates he was planning his uprising with?  Who was his girlfriend and what did she contribute to his plans?  There’s just not enough build up around the character.

There is a lot of forced humor that doesn’t quite hit the mark.  I liked Shuri’s character, how she was portrayed as intelligent, and some of the humor she brought.  But there is a certain level of dialogue that humorous and a certain amount that comes off as corny and cheesy.  The dialogue is a poor blend of this.

Also, there is the whole pro black/black nationalist themes I thought the movie could’ve worked out better.  Killmonger’s motivation comes from seeing “his people” dealing with racism, segregation, and slavery.  I’m a black man and to some extent I can understand his reasoning.  But the biggest problem is that he blamed everyone but “his people” for their problems.  I’ve lived in the hood and believe me, there is no “white man” manipulating black people.  A lot of black people are just ignorant and dysfunctional.  Now, if his character had been back in the past during Jim Crow and slavery his reasoning would be more sound.  And to point out, if Wakanda was so perfect, how was Killmonger able to bring so much dysfuction to it?

Also, there is the entire Killmonger usurping T’Challa’s throne.  There was no division among the Wakandans, no polarizing factions.  Nope, it’s just Killmonger is the king and everyone goes with it.  Even with Killmonger’s plan for overthrowing the “white man”, the writing doesn’t support any of it.  There’s no Killmonger talking to associates across the world establishing himself as a real badass.

Even Ross being in the film does somewhat undermine the actual message of it.  They had to save this white man and even though Wakandans don’t trust outsiders they easily trust him even so much as giving him intimate knowledge of their deepest secrets.

This is just a few of the many problems with the script and directing that just makes for just a bad script. (1 out of 5)

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The Verdict:  In the end, Black Panther is as good a film as it is bad.  Yes, it could’ve been done better on a lot of angles and most of the problems stem from the poor writing and poor directing.  However, I did enjoy the performances, the characters, the visuals (most of them atleast), and the awesome soundtrack. Black Panther gets 3 out of 5.  It’s a decent attempt for what they were going for but ultimately it could’ve been a better movie.  That being said, I’d still recommend people watch it.