Black Panther (2018) - Written Review

It's getting consistently more difficult to find new and interesting ways of introducing a review of yet another entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This is perhaps the most bold and potentially influential of the lot though, given the response to 'Black Panther' before it was even released today. The hype train hasn't been so much about it being "the biggest film ever" but an important milestone for diversity in Hollywood, and paving the way for better representation in big-budget blockbusters, should 'Black Panther' succeed...which I'm pretty sure it will. In many ways, its quality as a film is almost redundant to its potential influence long-term, both to the audience and the studio, but thankfully quality is no worry when it comes to 'Black Panther', because its pretty darn great.

There's something very unique about 'Black Panther' that I think is very easy to overlook: the style of the film relies very much on African iconography and culture, but embeds almost a sci-fi twist, creating a very unique production design. What's usually such a relatively small part of a film becomes a big part of 'Black Panther', with the culture of Wakanda essentially forming the groundwork for the rest of the film. All of the characters are given intricate and detailed costumes, and the Wakandan sets look amazing. Not too long before going to see 'Black Panther', I was watching a few clips from DC's 'Justice League' online, and one of the things that really stuck out to me was how much greenscreen was in there. I almost felt like pulling Zack Snyder away to explain the importance of sets in movies, as the greenscreen backdrops were far too obvious and poorly-handled. Ryan Coogler, however, seems very much aware of the limitations of greenscreen, being very much reliant on extravagant sets with greenscreen windows or backdrops to save everyone from...well, actually falling off a really steep cliff, or building a huge blue cave.

Ryan Coogler's direction frequently allows us to soak in the beauty of Wakanda, and the lighting is often very bright and colourful - it's a bit of a shame that Rachel Morrison's cinematography, like most Marvel flicks, lacks a bit of contrast in the image. Sometimes the picture looks just a little bit too flat, despite how bright the colours on-screen are. Thankfully, the cinematography strong enough to make you forget about this. Added into the mix is Ludwig Goransson's score, imbuing unique drum beats and vocal sounds with orchestral elements and a hip-hop sound, which forms the basis of Kendrick Lamar's 'Black Panther: The Album'. It's an interesting score, although I think that the lack of a really catchy main theme is a bit disappointing. Saying that, the fight music is actually much better and more interesting than most traditional movie scores, so....yeah, it's better than I might be giving it credit for.

As for the story itself, 'Black Panther' melds what feels like two separate solo movies into one. If you're wondering why this is one of the longer Marvel entries, its because of how much is thrown into the film. Initially we have T'Challa's origin, trying to find his feet as the King of Wakanda and the Black Panther, before transitioning into the story of Killmonger. Both narratives aren't as intertwined as they could have been, as the actual conflict between T'Challa and Killmonger feels a little weak. When they inevitably have their big face-off, the conflict lacks the emotional weight I think it needed, given that the two haven't established any particular dynamic. Saying that, 'Black Panther' is a much more thematic movie, instead giving both characters differing ideologies that ignite their conflict. Killmonger ends up being one of the best Marvel villains to date, thanks to some brilliant writing, while T'Challa has a genuine arc across the film which isn't as clear-cut as "becoming the hero he's almost meant to be". That's already happened off-screen. He's earned the suit and his role as King, he just needs to work out who he is now that he is King.

The supporting cast are all very good as well, with Lupita Nyong'o as Nakia, managing to form an actual character outside of just being "the love interest"; Danai Gurira is a force of nature in her role as Okoye, leader of the Dora Milaje; Daniel Kaluuya has a relatively understated role as T'Challa's friend W'Kabi, whose arc across the film is surprisingly interesting; Winston Duke as the aggressive warrior M'Baku is *really* good (especially in a moment towards the start of the third act); Angela Bassett is very good as T'Challa's mother; Forest Whittaker plays a much more developed mentor role as Zuri; but the standout for me was Letita Wright, who brings T'Challa's sister Shuri to bubbly life. Martin Freeman and Andy Serkis round off the cast list, essentially doing whatever they felt like doing on the day. I'm not sure whether Andy Serkis had actually read the script for most of his scenes, but he certainly had fun playing Klaue.

Regrettably though, 'Black Panther' isn't a perfect movie. As I said earlier, T'Challa and Killmonger's conflict lacks much emotional weight beyond their (very separate) character arcs; some of the fight sequences are shot in medium close-up with lots of cuts, which is odd given how strong the fight choreography is when they actually pull out to wide-angles, and hold the shots for a bit longer. There's some CGI rhinos which are...to put it bluntly, awful. Some shots look okay, but they're so fake-looking and weightless that their appearance is very distracting. The film also handles its initial exposition quite poorly (in a news broadcast no less), which seems odd considering how soon it follows on from a wonderful opening explaining the origins of Wakanda. One could easily argue that Black Panther's role in 'Captain America: Civil War' has hurt this film somewhat, but given how well the story and character arc continues on from that prior film, I feel like it's not a huge problem. I also feel like the film could have had an extra fifteen minutes to develop a few scenes and ideas, but I also understand that this cut of the film keeps the pacing very strong and the story consistently engaging.

Overall, 'Black Panther' is a movie that means a lot to quite a lot of a people, which might make it difficult to judge simply as a film. Personally though, I think 'Black Panther' is a thoroughly entertaining and somewhat thought-provoking film that's clearly come right from Ryan Coogler's heart: he imbues the film with so much culture and identity that it feels like the most relevant Marvel movie yet. It's Disney origins may put some people off, but this feels like a real auteur project from Marvel Studios, and is all the better for it. I'm also starting to think that I was wrong about the score. I've been listening to it as I write this review, and it's pretty bloody incredible at points.