First things first:
Black Panther is an origin story – even though some things are shaken up here, the core elements are unmistakable. And, more importantly,
Black Panther is pretty much a stand-alone film. Audiences can enjoy this film without any prior knowledge of the MCU – which in terms of marketing is a great plus (personally, I would have enjoyed a bit more interaction with the known MCU world). It also works in the other direction: I believe you do not need to see
Black Panther before
Infinity War comes out. Seeing that MCU films seem to come out at ever shorter intervals, and that
Infinity War will be released in just over two months time, this might be quite useful information for people who do not know yet if they will be able to see
Black Panther in time.
Opinion:
As I said,
Black Panther is good, but not outstanding – unlike what some reviews try to tell you. In general,
Black Panther seems to suffer the same fate as
Wonder Woman: the reviews of the film are embedded in a wider cultural context that has nothing to do with the film itself, and so the praise for the film has vastly exceeded its real-life qualities. In reality, if you compare
Black Panther with other recent origin stories, it has to be said that both
Doctor Strange and
Ant-Man were more enjoyable, more entertaining.
While
Black Panther is a good and entertaining film, I struggle to call the story of the central plot "good", as there are a number of writing and directing problems.
The unconvincing plot is moved forward by a series of questionable/unlikely decisions . The main problem is that most supporting characters in this film are lacklustre, two-dimensional and/or bogged down by unconvincing character developments. This problem extends to the villain, who is underdeveloped. In addition, the film features Forest Whitaker in one of the "shtick" performances he regularly seems to deliver lately.
The fact that the titular hero, T'Challa, is a bit of a bore doesn't help – but I have no doubt that the writers will come up with some additional personality traits in the future. Nothing here is the fault of Chadwick Boseman, by the way, who is a great actor.
Martin Freeman is highly enjoyable, but I believe he is miscast in the role of the military yank. The outstanding performances by Freeman and especially by Andy Serkis have the unintended effect to draw attention to the fact that most of the cast around them are simply not acting on the same level.
Most enjoyable is Letitia Wright as T'Challa's sister Shuri. Not only is the character the sole bright spot in a sea of dull and dour characters – Wright's acting is also top-notch. Unfortunately, there is some wasted potential here, as her character did not receive the necessary attention / fine-tuning from the writers and the director that it deserved and that would have helped to underscore Wright's great performance.
With the writing not being the film's strongest suit, it falls to the visuals to make this film memorable. The film is beautifully shot, with everything being on an epic scale. The landscape and city envisioned here are beautiful, and the design is top-notch (as in all MCU films). I wish the design of the Wakandan ships and interactive technologies would look a bit less like alien tech; and I wish that the people of Wakanda would look less like Hollywood-African folklore. But these are minor points.
As I said, this is a solid, entertaining MCU film, but it is not one of those films which you need to rush to the theatres for – you can easily wait for the DVD.
Rating:
7.5 out of 10
PS: Like all MCU films these days,
Black Panther comes with a mid- and a post-credit scene.