Taking place just after the events of Civil War, Black Panther gives us a look into the previously mentioned Wakanda, the technology and the culture. [Spoiler Free]
T’challa is to be crowned King and heavy weighs the crown. As with any other place where there is a power vacuum, there is always more than one person that wants that power. T’challa has to fight off challengers before he can become King. Of course, with being King comes the added responsibility of being the Black Panther – the protector of Wakanda. In what has become somewhat of a trope for the MCU films, ghosts of the past come back to haunt our heroes and, in Black Panther, that ghost is Erik Killmonger.
The performances in Black Panther are really good across the board. Andy Serkis turns the nutso dial to eleven playing Ulysses Klaue and it’s fun every time he is on screen. Boseman and Wright as brother and sister are great, as they nailed that good natured sibling rivalry perfectly. Bassett, Whittaker, Nyong’o, Freeman, Kaluuya are fantastic, however it’s Michael B. Jordan that is the standout. As Killmonger, he is furious, seething and calculating. You can feel his (justifiable) rage through the screen and it’s yet another great performance for him, in his short but spectacular body of work.
As Wakanda is more technologically advanced than any city on Earth, naturally on screen it is a CG city. The city looks great, however, the same can’t be said for all of the effects (of which there are many). When the CG is on point, it is just fantastic, no more so during an excellent sequence in Korea. The Korea section of the film is far and away the best section of the film. Excellent fight scenes, action is perfect and is combined seamlessly with the CG. It works so well. Unfortunately, toward the end of the film, there is too much going on CG wise and it is difficult to tell what is happening.
Black Panther is a bit long and takes a good while to pick up the pace and get moving, but I understand that as the audiences haven’t ever been to Wakanda in the MCU, spending so much time in Wakanda makes sense. Coogler has directed this with style and it is a style that is definitely his own. A tough task within a massive franchise. With some jabs at immigration and a lot of other social issues, Black Panther manages to be a successful film, have its own voice and slip effortlessly into the MCU. Long live the King.
Ryan Morrissey-Smith