Here’s my Black Panther Review which was powered by Marvel PH and Walt Disney Studios Philippines. It stars Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Forest Whitaker, Angela Bassett, Letitia Wight, Danai Gurira and Lupita Nyong’O. Directed by Ryan Coogler and opens February 14.

Credits: Marvel Studios

Synopsis

After the death of his father, T’Challa returns home to the African nation of Wakanda to take his rightful place as king. When a powerful enemy suddenly reappears, T’Challa’s mettle as king — and as Black Panther — gets tested when he’s drawn into a conflict that puts the fate of Wakanda and the entire world at risk. Faced with treachery and danger, the young king must rally his allies and release the full power of Black Panther to defeat his foes and secure the safety of his people.

I am so excited to report in this Black Panther review that the movie is not only a good addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it also ranks high up especially if you’re a Marvel fan.

Black Panther Review PROS

• I loved Chadwick Boseman here more than ever. Marvel gave him good material in Civil War and now he’s his own constellation in this movie. The guy can act, make you laugh without trying too hard and make you shed a tear here and there too.
• The supporting cast for this film is ridiculously dope. Danai Gurira as Okoye has great moments while at the same time cementing her place as one of the MCU’s toughest female warriors.
• Shuri is a character that needs more development in the future. Letitia Wright’s portrayal as T’Challa’s younger sister was so refreshing, I felt like I need to see more of her in the future… Like say in a few months during Avengers Infinity War perhaps?

Shuri from Black Panther

• The action set pieces were beautifully done especially the car chase in South Korea’s Busan.
• Like me, you’ll never get enough of the Black Panther and Golden Jaguar’s Henshin transformations.

• Black Panther had the sickest urban beats this side of the Marvel Universe and we all have to thank Kendrick Lamar for that.
• I like Killmonger’s motivation for doing what he did in the film. It’s an echo for some people who are fed up with the system and fed up with the way other people are treating others because of their race or color. It’s easy to be swayed to that ideal and motivation too as seen with the tribe that allied with Killmonger led by Get Out‘s Daniel Kaluuya’s W’Kabi
• You gotta hand it to Coogler and his team for providing us with easy-to-digest nuggets of information for Wakanda and the Black Panthers in general without the need for too much exposition. It made the running time justifiable. Although I wouldn’t mind if they made the movie run for 4 hours; but I’ll take that option for when Avengers Infinity Wars opens in April.

Black Panther Review CONS

• Goddamn it Marvel, why do you always kill your villains. I had hopes that you had changed with sparing Frank Grillo’s Crossbones in Winter Soldier and Andy Serkis’ Klaue in Age of Ultron and yet, here we are again. When will you learn?
• Michael B. Jordan was great physically as a Killmonger but was mediocre in the grand scale of MCU villains. He was a great “mirror match” for Black Panther but not a memorable villain. I’d rank him as a mid-level to good villain.
• Klaue on the otherhand was such an enjoyable villain and someone I could see in the sequel or in a third movie but no such luck.
• Plot holes here and there dont ruin the film, but it brings it down tonally.
• The Black Panther post credit scenes while amusing didn’t have enough WOW factor in it.

Black Panther Review Proper

This film had a lot of things running behind it and stands to elevate movies, not just comic book movies, to the next level and Coogler and company actually deliver. The cinematography was insane, the music was really really good, the musical scoring was top notch. The movie was well planned and while it suffers from the occasional plot problem at one point or another, it still delivers a satisfying flick.

There’s no waste with the actors and actresses they cast in the film; hell even the Gorilla tribe’s M’Baku (who in the comics is referred to as Man-Ape) was GREAT. But you gotta give props to Danai Gurira’s Dora Milaje general, Okoye here. She’s just so endearing while at the same time badass.

Visual effects were astounding and when paired with musical score done by Ludwig Goransson, well you get powerful moments such as that time T’Challa meets his father T’Chaka (John Kani) in the afterlife. Incidentally it reminds me of this scene from another Disney movie…

Overall, I loved Black Panther. It manages to break the superhero movie fatigue while at the same time providing a fresh look and a fresh commentary about the world without being preachy.

Verdict: 9/10