Black Panther

By: Robert Warren

Set in a super technological world, Black Panther rules in its film delivery with stunning cinematography, action filled scenes and acting that has a commanding presentation. This movie is jam packed with moving parts that work well and the costumes are flat out sweet in how impressive they are.

In this movie we see the Black Panther take full shape rather than its brief introduction in Captain America: Civil War as T`Challa (Chadwick Boseman) goes to the African kingdom of Wakanda to take his father`s throne, which he must fight for. Being the protector, it is the throne of the Black Panther that dares to take on challengers to protect his people. It is a vital role and with the skills it requires it is very competitive. This throne of challenges, so to speak, brings on some phenomenal acting and the fight scenes leave you sitting at the edge of your chair.

Chadwick Boseman owns the role of T`Challa, the Black Panther, with phrases like, “We must find a way to look after each other, as if we were one single tribe.” He takes meaningful words and applies them heavily to those watching the film. It is how deep T`Challa is as a character that makes him both complex and loveable with the such strong values of sticking together as a tribe, how he seeks to do right and how he is willing to put up a fight that makes him both intriguing and engaging as a character.  Boseman owns his role in this film by having such powerful acting that it breathes power into his character of deep sensibility.

The protagonist to the Black Panther is the character Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan).  He wants to take on T`Challa to fight for throne. Their altercation makes this movie intense yet heartfelt as T`Challa has a deep love to protect the tribe and that defending of family means everything to him. It isn`t long into this movie until Killmonger really becomes an annoyance of a character with a desire to run the tribe his way. Who will run the tribe in a good versus evil dynamic is really what makes this an intense and captivating film.

The costumes are phenomenal thanks to the work of Ruth Carter. The way the outfits mix with the cinematography works outstandingly well in this film, making the Wakanda nation come to life vividly. The film is quick in speed and definitely eye attentive in cinematography with its battle scenes and its awe striking technological world views. It’s a captivating watch and you can stay from start to finish as there are not only one, but two after credit scenes that hint at something you may want to pay attention to—what is it? Watch the end credits to find out.

The only complaint about this for me would have to be the length of the film with a runtime of over two hours. There were a lot of important elements to cover, but it could have lost a good fifteen minutes of cinematic views and still have been a wonderful movie. With intense emotion, action, great cinematography and the commanding presentation in the acting this is definitely a film to check out.