Black Panther

Rating: 7/10 (26 February 2018)

The leading hero of this next instalment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe made his first appearance in Captain America: Civil War, his solo movie is seen as an important superhero movie, opening the door to black leading heroes, directed by Ryan Coogler (Creed). Basically centuries ago, five African tribes war over a meteorite containing vibranium, one warrior ingests a "heart-shaped herb" affected by the metal and gains superhuman abilities, becoming the first "Black Panther". He unites all but the Jabari Tribe to form the nation of Wakanda, the Wakandans use the vibranium to develop advanced technology and pose as a Third World country to isolate themselves from the world. In 1992, King T'Chaka (John Kani) visits his undercover brother N'Jobu (Sterling K. Brown) in Oakland, California. T'Chaka accuses N'Jobu of assisting black-market arms dealer Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis) with stealing vibranium from Wakanda. N'Jobu's partner reveals he is Zuri (Denzel Whitaker), another undercover Wakandan, and confirms T'Chaka's suspicions. In the present day, following the death of T'Chaka, his son T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) returns to Wakanda to assume the throne, and to become the next Black Panther. Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o), T'Challa's ex-lover from an undercover assignment, Okoye (Danai Gurira), the leader of the Dora Milaje regiment, his mother Ramonda (Angela Bassett) and younger sister Shuri (Letitia Wright) all attend the coronation. At the ceremony, the Jabari Tribe's leader M'Baku (Winston Duke) challenges T'Challa for the crown in ritual combat, T'Challa defeats M'Baku and convinces him to yield rather than die. After Klaue and Erik "Killmonger" Stevens (Michael B. Jordan) steal a Wakandan artifact from a museum, T'Challa's friend and Okoye's lover W'Kabi (Daniel Kaluuya) urges him to bring Klaue back dead or alive. T'Challa, Okoye, and Nakia travel to Busan, South Korea where Klaue plans to sell the artifact to CIA agent Everett K. Ross (Martin Freeman), a firefight breaks out and Klaue tries to escape, T'Challa catches him, he reluctantly allows Ross to take him into custody. Klaue tells Ross that Wakanda's international image is a front for a technologically advanced civilization, Erik attacks and extracts Klaue, Ross is severely protecting Nakia, T'Challa decides to save Ross rather than pursuing Klaue, taking him to Wakanda. While Shuri heals Ross, T'Challa confronts Zuri (Forest Whitaker) about N'Jobu, Zuri explains that N'Jobu planned to share Wakanda's technology with people of African descent around the world and take it over. As T'Chaka arrested N'Jobu, N'Jobu attacked Zuri, forcing T'Chaka to kill him, they covered up the fact that they had left behind N'Jobu's American son, Erik, who became a U.S. black ops soldier. Meanwhile Killmonger, aka N'Jadaka, kills Klaue and takes his body to Wakanda, he stands before the tribe elders, revealing his identity and claiming to be the true heir to the throne. Killmonger challenges T'Challa to ritual combat; after killing Zuri, he defeats T'Challa and hurls him over a waterfall. Killmonger ingests the heart-shaped herb, Killmonger orders the rest are incinerated, but Nakia extracts one first, supported by W'Kabi and his army, Killmonger prepares to distribute shipments of Wakandan weapons around the world. Nakia, Shuri, Ramonda and Ross go to the Jabari Tribe for help, there they find T'Challa who was rescued and is in a coma, he is healed by Nakia's herb. T'Challa returns to fight Killmonger, who dons his own Black Panther suit and commands W'Kabi and his army to attack T'Challa. Shuri, Nakia, and the Dora Milaje join T'Challa, while Ross remotely pilots a jet and takes down the planes carrying the vibranium weapons, M'Baku and the Jabari arrive to reinforce T'Challa. Confronted by Okoye, W'Kabi and his army stand down, T'Challa fights Killmonger in Wakanda's vibranium mine, Killmonger's suit is disrupted and T'Challa stabs him, Killmonger refuses to be healed, choosing to die a free man rather than be incarcerated. T'Challa establishes an outreach center at the building where N'Jobu died to be run by Nakia and Shuri, and T'Challa appears before the United Nations to reveal Wakanda's true nature to the world. In a post-credits sequence, Shuri is with Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) who is in recuperation. Also starring Florence Kasumba as Ayo and Stan Lee as Thirsty Gambler. Boseman is a good choice as the hero, Jordan is a fairly good villain, and there is great support from Wright, Gurira, Serkis, Freeman and others, most putting on convincing South African or American accents, the story is maybe a little complicated at times, but there enough exciting chase and explosive sequences, filled with fantastic special effects, to keep you engaged, and it is also a good exploration of African culture, a worthwhile superhero action adventure. It won the Oscars for Best Original Score for Ludwig GÃ¶ransson, Best Costume Design and Best Production Design, and it was nominated for Best Motion Picture of the Year, Best Original Song for "All the Stars" (also won the Golden Globe), Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing, it won the BAFTA for Best Special Visual Effects, and it was nominated the Golden Globes for Best Motion Picture - Drama and Best Original Score. Very good!