a review of 黑豹

Heavy is the head that wears the crown. After a fantastic introduction in Civil War the Black Panther standalone film is finally here. It forgoes the more traditional superhero approach in favor of a more personal conflict. While there are still plenty of connections to the larger world of the MCU surrounding Wakanda, this is the most self-contained Marvel film in quite some time. There's no world-ending threat looming over the protagonist's head. It's just a man dealing with his new position of power and the sins of the past while trying to decide the future of his people. The representation is fantastic. Black Panther opens up a culture we don't often get to see portrayed onscreen and never at this grand a scale or wide-reaching capability. Wakanda is a fantastic place and the costume design is spot-on. There are a lot of small touches that make it one of the more memorable corners of the MCU. A shame about that CGI though. I noticed around Civil War that the special effects in Marvel films have started to get decidedly less special. All the CGI costumes are quite obvious and you can notice the occasional green screen. Black Panther is another unfortunate victim of this. Although the movie is largely gorgeous, moments like the final one-on-one conflict look really bad. Marvel needs to get it's act together in this area again. Director/co-writer Ryan Coogler wears his inspirations on his sleeve. This doesn't feel like your typical superhero movie. The grand sci-fi elements and plethora of characters give it a vibe and appearance similar to that of the Star Wars prequel films. The battle for the throne complete with family treachery calls to mind The Lion King (so no, not just because of the setting). Then there's that scene where T'Challa is introduced to his new gadgets that's ripped straight out of a James bond flick. With so many different styles of film on display Black Panther brings some needed diversity to film in more ways than one. I was kept engaged by the likable characters, cool Wakandan culture, and the solid action sequences. Unfortunately the plot didn't do as much to entertain. Things really don't pick up until Killmonger finally takes center stage and drags the attention away from Andy Serkis (who by the way is cool to see in person for once). Before that everything feels like what would be the opening sequence in any other Marvel movie. Only here it's like they couldn't choose just one, so they decided to cram all the different takes in and pad out the running time. Not only does Jordan give a fantastic performance, but his character's arrival gives the story some much needed focus, an actual threat, and bumps things up from the initial snail's pace. Killmonger's motivations and backstory also allow Black Panther to talk about some social and political issues. As per the norm with the MCU though, he's still an underdeveloped villain. Ultimately, Black Panther was a little harder to dive into than I was expecting/hoping it would be. There's are so many new things, concepts, and people introduced that there's not enough time for all of it to breath. The majority of the supporting character's go painfully underdeveloped. A shame as many of them are portrayed by fantastic actors and actresses. We never get to experience the full depths of their relationships to and with T'Challa or find out their place in the world. Something that makes deaths noticeably less significant. Then there's what a dull ride it can be at first. However if you get past this there's a remarkable culture on display and the typical superhero movie fun to be had. It's just of the more uneven entries in the MCU overall. Surprisingly the most interesting aspects of Black Panther are the ones related to the throne. Boseman's performance does a good job of capturing the character's internal conflicts and watching the character struggle with what kind of ruler he's going to be gives the film it's heart and makes it worth watching.