Review of Black Panther (2018) by Ann V — 28 Feb 2018

This film has been a long time coming. Where Wonder Woman celebrates the strongest, most heroic, and fearless that women can be as superheroes while starring them, where Coco (and Book of Life) sincerely celebrates Mexican culture, Black Panther rises on a pedestal that embraces an amazing ensemble of actors and actresses doing justice by the characters they portray while glorifying the various elements and cultures of Africa through Wakanda. This is one of the better, if not best, Marvel film to come out yet, beautifully blending futuristic sci-fi, mystical fantasy, spy, drama, and action elements, standing out as more than a superhero story. While it focuses on Chadwick Boseman as an African King and his nation at a peak unlike anything imaginable, this film is also unafraid to call back to the real-life cruel histories of slavery, colonization, and centuries of racial oppression and discrimination through Killmonger, amazingly portrayed by Michael B. Jordan, who has now joined the tiers of great and compelling super villains like Ian McKellen's Magneto, Tom Hiddleston's Loki, and Heath Ledger's Joker. While a film like this has been a long time coming since Blade, I am actually glad it took this long to make a Black Panther movie because no other director, no other writers, no other team, no other studio in any previous time would have given Black Panther the dedication, the music, the characters, and story that would have done this superhero and Wakanda justice. Black Panther is not only possibly the best Marvel movie, it is also one of the best superhero movies period.

Also, watch it in IMAX. It makes a real difference.