Movie Review: Black Panther

Look, Black Panther will never go down as the best superhero movie ever, but it's mighty fun. The production design was exceptional, the cinematography and artwork matched the epic scale of Wakanda - which, by the way, was beautifully rendered - the sweeping shots were executed really well, the costume design were stunningly vibrant, and while there wasn't really enough of it, the action sequences were mostly sensational. The film delivered a setting fully formed that it was incredibly immersive.

Most of the characters were also solidly written with varying degrees of growth. Danai Gurira, Lupita Nyong'o, and Letitia Wright clearly stole the show, while Michael B. Jordan's character had interesting motivations, which was unusual, but pleasantly surprising. Indeed, the film had such a strong and rich cast of characters that Black Panther somehow got overshadowed and came off as almost secondary. Don't get me wrong, he's not the least interesting character in the movie, but it felt as if the narrative was not as interested in pursuing him as much as the characters surrounding him. He had a lesser arc compared to the others and that was slightly problematic. 

It was interesting how Black Panther was everything a comic book movie should be, but also not a traditional and cliched introductory film sparing us from the usual discovery process and trial and error montage. Flawed, but exceedingly fun and bad*ss.