April 1, 2018 2 min to read

Black Panther

Cool stunts, great visual style, and a fantastic cast make Black Panther a lot of fun to watch.

by Zach Saul

Black Panther like most Marvel flicks - is a really fun movie, that’s self-aware, funny, and beautifully designed. Wakanda will be an awesome eddition to the Marvel universe - and I can’t wait to see what future films do with the socio-political ideas in Black Panther.

The obvious methaphor present in Black Panther (they slap you across the face with it a bit) is the duty of the privolidged sections of minorities (or marginalized groups) to empower those outside their circle. Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) decides to overthow the king in order to spread Wakanda’s weapons and prosperity across the world - but has vengefull, violent intentions. Although T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) sucesfully regains the throne - part of his journey includes the epiphany Killmonger was right that living in isolation with the power to help those in need isn’t fair to their brothers across the globe. There is a nobility to protecting one’s own family or an enclosed group - and Black Panther brings a really fresh and understated bravado to the superhero genre.

The sets in Black Panther are absolutely breathtaking - most notably the visuals in the casino scene where T’Challa attempts to capture Claw. This scene also showcases the Black Panther’s unique hero suit that stores up kinnetic energy from gunshots and can redirect it - a very fun element to his skillset.

Plot-wise, I cannot ignore the similarities between the Black Panther and the Lion King - and I don’t think the filmmakers were shying away from it either. Several scenes even draw direct visual references to the Lion King (most notably the sequences when T’Challa is talking with his anscestors). The big difference is that unlike the Lion King when simba return to the “kingdom” to overthow Scar as the hero to avenge his father’s murder as the hero, in Black Panther it’s the Villan (Micheal B. Jordan) who returns to cause chaos in Wakanda.

The Good: Black Panther features some logitimately unique fight scenes, and stunts I haven’t sen in an action movie before. It’s punctuated by clever humor and it’s sets are goreous and expansive.

The Bad: I wasn’t as delighted as some moviegoers by Black Panther’s being so derrivitive of The Lion King, and I have to confess it felt a bit lazy. I also found the individual “battle to the death” scenes to be redundant and out of place with the rest of the film. As a viewer I would have much rather the filmakers include more scenes explaining what the Wakandan’s have build with vibranium, or additional naritive expose’.