Thanks to the release of Civil War, the community has been abuzz with the two new characters that were introduced to the line up, Spiderman and, of course, Black Panther. The excitement for their solo movies was very high, so Marvel had a hell of a job to meet the fans’ expectations.
None more so than Black Panther, a character, and his country who have a major feature within the comic world. To bring the incredible island of Wakanda to the big screen was going to be no easy feat, but I feel like the movie of Black Panther has done quite a lovely job.
The movie takes place almost immediately after the events of Civil War, where Wakanda’s own T’Challa takes on new challenges including his right to the Wakandan throne, his now roles and responsibilities, and how that factors into his role as the Black Panther and facing foes old and new, in Klaw and Erik Killmonger.
Now, after I stepped out of the cinema, I honestly thought I had seen another Guardians movie, in the sense that the visuals of this movie are absolutely stunning! When we get to see the city of Wakanda for the first time, it is an absolutely stunning view that shows just how secretive the country is kept from the rest of the world. It genuinely shows just how much effort has been put into the realisation of this amazing idea of a secret country that is far more advanced than the rest of the world. From the buildings to some of the amazing artwork that can be seen on the walls, as well as some of the most incredible shots that really push home some of the cultural feel and background that was being put across in this picture.
The performances from the cast were brilliant. Chadwick Boseman continued his role as T’Challa, the newly crowned king of Wakanda and the Black Panther. Boseman is brilliant in showing the turmoil in personal issues conflicting with his new roles and responsibilities. Michael B. Jordan takes the role of Erik Killmonger and shows us quite a well rounded bad guy who has clear motives and does well to give off the presence of a man who is scorned and will do anything to achieve his goals. Andy Serkis is amazing as Klaw and brings a new funny, yet sadistic take to the character that we only got a glimpse of in Age of Ultron. We get some amazing performances from Lupita Nyong’o as Nakia, T’Challa’s love interest, as well as Forest Whittaker and Daniel Kaluuya as part of the elder members of the council of Wakanda and a wonderful performance from Letitia Wright as T’Challa’s younger sister, Shuri, a brilliant technician, responsible for all the new tech we see in the movie. Boseman and Wright should really be complimented on their chemistry as brother and sister. For me personally, the stand out performance goes to Danai Gurira who played Okoye, the general of the King’s Guard. The character was a real bad ass that showed alot of heart near the end of the movie.
All in all, the story was really good, the characters were portrayed really well, everything about this movie was on point, but also its not the same as the normal Marvel origin movie. This movie focused more on the country of Wakanda and bringing it to the forefront of the cinematic universe. I strongly suggest you go and see this movie, purely for the amazing sights, great chemistry from all involved and a nice story of a new king coming to power.
One thing I haven’t spoken about is the amazing costumes that can be seen in this movie. It is nice to see that there are a few Black Panther suits that differ in each iteration. Not to mention the wonderful clothes that can be seen being worn by the Guard, as well as the different tribes that can be seen in the movie. I really like the use of very bright colours that were used in the clothing of tribes people as well as what was used for the weapons. The Black Panther suit itself I really liked the adding of purple which helped make the suit stand out more in certain scenes. I can’t help but wonder about how this purple effect can be pulled off in a lycra suit. Perhaps, using EL wire to light up the suit or even going over parts of the suit with purple thread to give certain parts of the suit a nice purple hue. I personally really hope to see a Black Panther group at upcoming comic cons, as there is quite alot of variety in what tribe or costume you would want to work on.
So great movie, genuinely want you to go and see, and a good variety of costumes that any cosplayer can choose from to make from this movie. I won’t lie, I genuinely can’t decide which I would like to do myself!