The best thing about Black Panther was that it did not play like a superhero movie. And that is a big step in the right direction for the camp of Marvel Studios.
While Doctor Strange disappointed me as I was hoping for a horror genre, Spider-Man: Homecoming delivered as a highschool, Howard Hughes inspired flick, and Ant-Man was a successful heist movie. Captain America: Civil War was the first to be a genre movie inside the superhero genre movie.
And Black Panther is now the furthest away in its departure as a traditional superhero movie for Marvel, and it deserves all the applause for it.
At its core, the movie is about a nation and its people, a king and his lineage, (and borrowing a sentiment from Uncle Ben) their power and their responsibility to the rest of the world.
I love director Ryan Coogler's writing, especially Michael B. Jordan's character - Erik Killmonger. There were so much truth from his perspective but it was only his methods that went awry. Some would argue that Killmonger should appear in future Marvel movies because he has a lot of potential in the MCU.
Chadwick Boseman as Black Panther was great. Boseman the actor, however, I have yet to see more diversity in his emotions. But that is a minor complaint.
The rest of the cast was made up of entirely African American or blacks. And so many up-and-comers were in here that you have to be asking who wasn't. It was great to see Daniel Kaluuya and Sterling K. Brown among older veterans like Forest Whitaker and Angela Bassett. But the real standouts were the three female leads in Danai Gurira, Lupita Nyong'o and Letitia Wright. Especially Wright who, I have a feeling, will also be in Avengers: Infinity War - if this is not news yet.
Martin Freeman's character Ross also was one of the best things in this movie. I hope to see more of him.
The land of Wakanda also came with a lot of spectacle. When it was CGI, the CGI was fantastic. But when it came to the more intimate scenes with characters, they blended in very well too.
The only thing that I did not get enough of was more intricate combat sequences. And watching Coogler's direction here baffled me a little because he did so well with Creed's fight scenes. I was hoping more from the Dora Milaje but they only had one very quick pose and attack and not much else. There were also a lot of cut-away scenes that reminded me of Godzilla's happy-trigger edits.
Here was also where I started to miss the directorial skills of the Russo Brothers! They made Black Panther in Captain America: Civil War looked much more exciting.
I would also have liked to see more strain in the relationship between a certain leader and a general because towards the end I almost forgot the relationship existed.
There were also a few slower scenes in the middle as a setup, but overall, I believe this movie will win over critics and will be cheered and championed by the people that it is made for. I will not pretend to understand that sentiment but I at least can feel what it is about.
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