Mini Film Review – Black Panther

Yesterday I watched Black Panther; and it was really good! Directed by Ryan Coogler, and starring Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Letitia Wright, and Lupita Nyong’o, and based on the Marvel character of the same name; Black Panther is a superhero movie, which tells the story of newly crowned King of Wakanda T’Challa, as he faces an unknown challenge from his country’s past! It’s hard to know what you’re getting into with this film, as though while it’s based on the superhero of the same name, it’s not your average superhero movie. Sure, the opening of the film is rather reminiscant of both Aquaman, and Wonder Woman, but it doesn’t really carry a major super villain threat. The threat comes from a couple of sources, which resonate on a personal level for those involved, and create a real challenge, within a story that isn’t about the city being under threat from anyone over-powered. This does lead the film down a narratively predictable route however. But that doesn’t detract too much from the films overall level of enjoyablility. Yes it does have other issues, not just it’s predictability, but these are minor in scale. They include some visual effects where it’s blatantly obvious that things aren’t really there, and some of the weapon based combat comes across rather blurry. But everything else, is a strength in the film’s favour. From the creative casting, to the epic final battle, to the incredible car chase early on, and the more hand to hand combat moments, which were seriously enjoyable (not Monkey Man, Deadpool, Nobody, or The Raid levels of enjoyable violence, but Black Panther is a Disney film afterall). So yeah, I really enjoyed it!