STARRING: CHADWICK BOSEMAN, MICHAEL B. JORDAN, LUPITA NYONG’O, DANAI GURIRA, DANIEL KALUUYA, LETITIA WRIGHT, WINSTON DUKE, MARTIN FREEMAN and ANDY SERKIS
DIRECTED BY: RYAN COOGLER
RELEASE DATE: FEBRUARY 16, 2018
Marvel fans have known that Black Panther was coming to theaters since late 2014 when Kevin Feige revealed at ComicCon over 10 Marvel movies that would be debuting in the coming years. Black Panther was the most anticipated because when The Avengers and their solo films were released, everyone would ask one of two questions, “Where is Black Panther?” or “Will we be seeing Black Panther sometime soon?” They would ask because he is known as one of the members of the Avengers. After a few years of waiting for this movie, Black Panther debuted with a record-breaking $255 million in its opening weekend.
The film began by showing how the fictional country of Wakanda was founded and who the numerous kings were before King T’Challa/Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman). It also showed a heart-breaking event caused by King T’Chaka (John Kani), T’Challa’s father, who was killed in Captain America: Civil War by Baron Zemo. After that, the story showed how T’Challa was preparing to become King of Wakanda but as the Black Panther, he would discretely go out on missions with the head of Wakanda’s Dora Milaje, General Okoye (Danai Gurira). One of these missions introduced the audience to T’Challa’s former love and voice of reason, Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o), who is also a well-trained spy.
One of the things about this revolutionary and outstanding movie was Black Panther’s new suit. It was designed by his younger sister Shuri (Letitia Wright). Shuri made the suit able to be summoned from T’Challa’s necklace by mere thought and also for it to absorb a maximum amount of kinetic energy that could be redistributed. Shuri is considered to be one of the smartest individuals in the Marvel Universe and she’s a 16-year-old black girl which speaks volumes. She was the life and comic relief of the film and kept T’Challa on his feet by making sure he was well prepared in every mission and battle that he was apart of. One such mission is where she prepared T’Challa to capture and bring back to justice a longtime enemy who was known for stealing Wakanda’s most precious item, Vibranium. Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis), who is one of the antagonists of the film, is a very deranged and twisted person who used this rare, precious, alien metal to make a powerful bionic arm to use for nefarious purposes and T’Challa and his crew (Nakia and Okoye) set out to finally bring him to justice once and for all.
The next phase of the film introduced arguably one of the best villains in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Erik “Killmonger” Stevens (Michael B. Jordan). Killmonger’s character was well written and driven by an unquenchable desire to enact revenge on the entire nation of Wakanda for wrongdoings that it enacted upon him and his father. After kidnapping Klaue from detention Killmonger murdered him and turned him in to W’Kabi (Daniel Kaluuya), who is T’Challa’s second-in-command and best friend, who wanted him brought to justice the most because Klaue killed his parents 30 years before. Killmonger brought the Royal Court of Wakanda Klaue so that he could attempt to achieve his ultimate goal which was to challenge T’Challa for the throne and the power of the Black Panther. The events that occurred next consisted of mind blowing action, betrayal and poignant moments.
The character develop was riveting for most characters in the film but the audience needed to know more about Okoye and W’Kabi’s relationship. Maybe in Black Panther 2 the writers will dwell into this. After the first four days of its release, the movie made $250 million and has now exceeded $700 million worldwide. With it being in theaters until early Spring or later, it may soon top Marvel Studios’s top grossing films such as The Avengers, Iron Man 3 and Captain America: Civil War. For it to be a film of diversity, it is considered to be one of the most revolutionary films ever made and is now on the same monetary level as James Cameron’s Avatar and Titanic. Black Panther receives 10 stars out of 10 stars.