Wakanda Forever

Sorry for the late post. I got lost in Wakanda. This is an amazing movie. One worthy of all the praise its receiving. And we don't need to grade this movie on a curve because it's a superhero story.

There are so many praises to sing. Michael B. Jordan (Erik Killmonger) delivered a top tier villainous performance. Letitia Wright (Shuri) and Winston Duke (M'Baku) stole every scene they were in. Andy Serkis (Ulysses Klaue) was an insane, fun character. Coogler and Cole did a great job of finding time to build a cast of characters that can support T'Challa in the future. They displayed a beautifully realized Wakanda.

That's not to say that Black Panther is a perfect movie. Killmonger's time as king felt rushed. W'Kabi took a rather wild turn from close friend of T'Challa to number one supporter of Killmonger. Klaue was a bit more disposable than I was expecting given his entrance in Age of Ultron. The fight scenes were a bit too blurry for my tastes.

Solo superhero films are vehicles to develop the main character in isolation from the rest of the larger universe. They allow the audience to explore the depths of the character that the ensemble hero films find little time to do. But Black Panther instead instead develops the supporting cast and world builds Wakanda. T'Challa's growth in Black Panther is more akin to Steve Rogers in Captain America than Tony Stark in Iron Man.