Black Panther (2018) took theaters by storm quickly amounting to over $1 billion dollars. This movie has become a favorite even gaining awards. It was nominated for best picture at the Oscars. Is it all true? Does it deserve all this acclaim? Find out here, and see our score! Spoilers may follow.
To start, the casting was spot-on. Chadwick Boseman is perfect as Black Panther/T'Challa. It's not the most splashy performance or role, but he does it well. I'm always a fan of Forest Whitaker in whatever movie he is in. Martin Freeman, Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright, Andy Serkis, and Michael B. Jordan were all great choices for their roles.
Jordan is spectacular in his role as Killmonger. While many people consider him the best MCU villain, he doesn't crack my top three, but he is pretty high up on my list. The plotline is interesting with Killmonger growing up alone which leads to him becoming a villain. However, there's an issue with the same plotline to me. While he did grow up alone, the man graduated from MIT (best technology college in the country), and he became a Navy Seal. To me, that sounds like he earned some privilege.
Any top company would have hired him in a heartbeat. He'd be a top 5% salary earner among other things. It severely hurts the premise of his villainhood, and the film doesn't address this. That being said, another interpretation is that he did not have a real reason to be upset with his lot in life considering what I just layed out. However, the writers were not likely thinking that way.
This has some pretty dark themes for generally a lighter movie. He believes that "liberating" people who look like him is his destiny, and he must destroy everyone else. Also, the production and costumes are original and memorable.
The cinematography and editing were adequate as most Marvel films are that way. One scene stands out as especially good, and that is the one-take car chase. One-takes can make your movie look clever like this one or Daredevil season three, or it can be terribly shot like the throne room scene in The Last Jedi. Andy Serkis makes the scene great. The ending battle scene was entertaining minus a few issues which will be discussed in the next paragraph.
A big issue was the CGI at the end of the movie. They were rushed for time to release the movie and hastily completed the work. Black Panther and Killmongers CGI are noticeably bad. Don't believe me? Rewatch the scene, and you will notice.
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