5 best and 5 worst things about Black Panther

5 best and 5 worst things about Black Panther

Tres Dean @tresdcomics
Black Panther is finally here. The hotly anticipated latest installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has arrived, and it's arrived with a record-breaking bang.

The film brings the fictional nation of Wakanda to life under the expert guidance of director Ryan Coogler and features a cast of characters that all make for welcome additions to the MCU. Any franchise that is 18 movies deep is going to have trouble making new films feel fresh and innovative, yet that's exactly what Coogler has done with Black Panther. It's a breath of fresh air, something that feels increasingly rare in today's landscape of superhero cinema. We've broken down our favorite aspects of the movie as well as the bits that weren't quite as stellar. (Spoilers ahead!)

Best: Wakanda



Remember the epic battle of New York in the climax of The Avengers? Of course you do. It's the most memorable part of an already memorable movie. That finale is superhero theatrics at its finest. It's also devoid of a great deal of the gravitas it could display due to where it takes place. That is, despite being a real city, the Manhattan of The Avengers has no sense of place or life to it. It's just set dressing. As a result, the final battle feels like the rough equivalent of knocking over a Lego set. Most Marvel films, short of maybe Thor, suffer from this — a lack of place being well defined. Black Panther tackles this head on with the film's most memorable character: Wakanda.

No, it's not technically a character, but it's tough to point to any single facet of the film that works as well as Wakanda. Through its citizens, royal bloodline, design, and established rules and history, Wakanda feels like a real place, a living, breathing nation with a lived-in vibe that few superhero movies can effectively convey these days. When Wakanda begins to turn on itself at the film's climax, it matters. We care about what happens to it. Without sending a single Helicarrier crashing into a palace or cityscape, we feel the palpable damage caused to the nation through the events of the film. More importantly, we care about that repercussions of that damage.

Worst: The first act
 


There's something else Black Panther has in common with The Avengers. Well, something it has in common besides thrilling action, killer chemistry among its cast, a great villain, and all that jazz. Both films are incredibly engaging, and by their closing moments you've forgotten that their first acts are a little clunky.

Black Panther doesn't really feel like it hits its stride until Killmonger arrives in Wakanda. Once he does, the emotionally potent family dynamics and rivalry between T'Challa and Killmonger elevate the the film to a higher level. Still that first third of the movie is a bit shaky. Sure, it's got quite a lot to set up — from the rules and functions of Wakanda to T'Challa's various relationships with family and friends — but it makes for an uneven 45 minutes. Take the Korea sequence, which feels like a half-baked homage to James Bond. However, once the film gets going, it really gets going.

Best: A movie with something to say


We've discussed it at length before, but one of the biggest problems Marvel films struggle with is their lack of unique themes. Most Marvel films come down to the question "What does it mean to be a hero?" There are rare exceptions in films like Iron Man 3 and Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2, but for the most part every film tackles the same question. Black Panther stands out as one of the few Marvel films to explore new themes and ideas, ones that are unique to its story and strengthen the film's emotional punch.

From the get-go, the film sets up a conflict of tradition vs. progression, specifically in regard to Wakanda's policy of isolationism. The technologically advanced nation keeps its developments to itself and T'Challa, as the new king, finds himself confronted with the idea that this has caused long-term damage to the outside world. His adversary, Killmonger, serves as an avatar of these negative repercussions and challenges not only T'Challa's beliefs but the very essence of old Wakanda. The film also explores colonialism and loyalty to friends and family over country, but both of these themes ultimately stem from the film's primary question. It's handled immaculately under Coogler's direction. He's managed to make the rare superhero film that is both fun to watch and intellectually engaging.

Worst: What CAN'T vibranium do?


We totally understand that MacGuffins are very much a necessity in comic books and the movies adapted from them. There has to be something the heroes and villains are fighting over, and it's almost always embodied in the form of a precious artifact or object of power. So it absolutely makes sense that vibranium, a fictional metal that is rare around the MCU but plentiful in Wakanda, serves as Black Panther's MacGuffin. The point where it becomes a problem is that it eventually turns into a contrivance.

Before Black Panther, the only real exposure to vibranium we've had in the MCU is in the form of Captain America's shield and within the robotic Ultron. Both are made of the precious metal. We don't know much about its properties or how it functions, only that it's hard — like, impenetrably hard. Expanding on its abilities in Black Panther is totally fair game. However, the film turns it from a rare impenetrable metal into a power source that seems to be able to accomplish pretty much anything the plot requires. It's the basis of everything from communication devices to a monorail system and at some point you've got to step back and wonder if there's anything it can't do. Very little of the writing in Black Panther comes off as lazy, but its utilization of vibranium to serve a myriad of plot devices could be handled much better.


Best: An engaging villain


It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who's been paying attention to his career but Michael B. Jordan is excellent in Black Panther. From The Wire to Creed, Jordan has made himself into one of the most engaging, magnetic actors working today, even bringing life to imperfect roles like Johnny Storm in Fantastic Four (honestly, he's probably one of the only good things in that movie). So it comes as no surprise that he turns in one of the best villainous performances in the history of the MCU. Let's not overlook the fact, though, that he had excellent material to work with.

Killmonger is a great villain not because of what he does or what he wants, but we understand why he wants those things and acts the way he does. The scariest thing about Killmonger is how easy it is to understand his perspective. You can't say this about Ronan the Accuser of GotG or Malekith the Accursed of Thor: The Dark World. Killmonger is a great villain because there's a humanity to him that will ring as all too familiar with viewers. You almost don't want to root against him at all.

Worst: Everett Ross


Point-of-view characters are imperative in superhero movies, especially ones introducing new worlds to the audience. The POV character can be the titular superhero (Steve Rogers is very much our door into his world in Captain America: The First Avenger) or they can be a supporting character like Jane Foster in Thor. Additionally, it's commonplace at this point for MCU films to feature smaller characters like fan-favorite Agent Coulson as connective tissue between movies taking place worlds apart, both metaphorically and literally. As such, Agent Everett Ross from Captain America: Civil War being included in Black Panther makes sense on paper. The problem is that he ends up being boring and even redundant.

For someone who functions as a POV character, Ross does very little to help acclimate the audience to Wakanda. The world has been well-established without him by the time he shows up in the country. He doesn't have a particularly compelling arc either. There are threads of a story about a man loyal to his own country being dismissive of Wakanda, only to find himself wanting to fight for Wakanda in the end, though it's never really explored. A character like him is at his best when, like Coulson, he sacrifices himself for the greater good, and by the film's end Ross hasn't even done that. Talented as Martin Freeman may be, the character never ends up living up to his potential and ends up sucking the life from most scenes he's in.