Film of the Week: Black Panther

There was a lot of excitement building during the weeks leading up to the release of Black Panther, but instead of the film being crushed under the pressure of a lot of hype, it lives up to expectations and wins over critics and fans alike.

The character was first introduced into the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Captain America: Civil War. Black Panther/T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) wasn’t out of place and helped move the story along. During his first solo movie, after the events of Civil War, we see Black Panther becoming king of Wakanda. Whilst we’ve already seen him under the alias of Black Panther, this solo film is still technically an origin story, as he needs to attend the ceremony to officially make him recognised as Black Panther.

There are a few moments that are replications of previous Marvel movies, including the main antagonist having a version of the same suit as the main character, and where it appears he’s dead after a big fight, but isn’t. However, even those points would normally be associated with the negative side of a film, Black Panther’s uniqueness outshines any negativity this film has. I thoroughly enjoyed watching this film.

The car chase sequence was incredibly entertaining, mainly due to the original spin it inputted. It’s still a car chasing another car, but with other elements involved, including Shuri (Letitla Wright) driving the car from Wakanda via a holographic simulation system, increasing the enjoyment factor that much more.

With every Marvel movie, there are plenty of laughs. Thor: Ragnarok had the most and best laughs of all the films. Of course with each film there’s a different tone, but I had wondered if it was going to be difficult to follow up on the laughs with Black Panther without ruining the film. I was delighted that they followed up with a highly funny moment. One particular moment had me, and everyone else laughing in my cinema seat for a good couple of minutes’ afterward. That one moment easily makes Black Panther stand out from the crowd with its laughs, and is on par with what was the funniest movie of the entire series – Thor Ragnarok.

There has been no confirmation whether there will be a sequel. Most characters in the series, mainly the main ones, have a three film story arc. It would be nice and interesting to see where they take Black Panther next, and what enemies will be popping up and how they test him. At the moment, Marvel’s focus is purely on Infinity War, so I don’t expect any news about Black Panther for a good while, maybe even a few years’ down the line. However, with Marvel’s trust still incredibly high, if they decide to do a sequel, I am confident is saying it will be just as good as the first, if not, better.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)