We got lucky over President’s Day weekend, and saw Black Panther (2018) on Sunday evening. From what I’ve read, it’s doing gangbusters at the U.S. box office. Damn, that was a good film. I’ll break it down like this:
- Unique story – I think most movie-going fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) are familiar with the basic plot line. So familiar that you’re a little tired of it. The characters are different and some of the details, but you still have rich arrogant man (Tony Stark, Stephen Strange) get their come comeuppance, get humbled, see the world different, fight a bland villain seeking to destroy the world for X reason. I’m not saying I didn’t like the Iron Man films (1.5 out of 3?) or Doctor Strange, but the using the same formula gets old. Also, Age of Ultron was less about the story and more about setting up future films made you wonder what you were sitting there to watch. Instea, it’s the MCU films that were different that really stand out — Guardians of the Galaxy, Thor: Ragnarok in particular. This film doesn’t try to introduce you to T’Challa, since you met him in Captain America: Civil War. Instead, it introduces you to the Wakandan society, introduces a cultural issue of helping others or helping yourself, and the audience wonders whether the hero or the villain is right. I found that Black Panther sets itself up as fresh and different in so many ways.
- The film has a great cast of actors, young and old, and they are great actors:
- Chadwick Boseman
- Michael P. Jordan
- Lupita Nyong’o
- Danai Gurira
- Martin Freeman
- Daniel Kaluuya
- Letitia Wright
- Winston Duke
- Sterling K. Brown
- Angela Bassett
- Forest Whitaker
- Andy Serkis
I consider this a must-see film. Very entertaining and thought-provoking.
Black Panther (2018)