"Black Panther" - Marvel's Ultra-Average Hype Film

Rating: 7/10 (23 June 2018)

Black Panther is a great movie. It has plenty of flaws, but none that really should discourage you from seeing it. The only thing that really bugs me is the terrible, obnoxious hype for just an average film for Marvel. It doesn't have an underlying message or stands for empowerment. It has none of that. What it does have is black leads who do a good job and a fanbase larger than Michael Bay's ego. Chadwick Boseman's character, T'Challa, becomes the Black Panther after his father dies, and must fight to protect his kingdom, all while trying to live up to the previous Black Panther's legacy.
The graphics, acting, and general scale of this movie is astonishing. Not much else can be said. This movie takes you on a trip you can only really remember for a short while. What you will remember is the media circus about how 'This movie changes the course of cinema' or 'The black community has changed in so many different ways'. There are better movies that get empowerment and representation across better than Black Panther. Ryan Coogler made a wonderful experience that, when watching, has nothing but action to offer on a dark-skinned platter.
Chadwick Boseman made Black Panther interesting. As the star of the show, he makes his way pretty good. Michael B. Jordan, however, was the real master of acting in the film. Him as Killmonger was a match made in heaven. Lupita Nyong'o was very entertaining and well-written, and Danai Gurira was badass and awesome. Daniel Kaluuya and Winston Duke did just fine, and they made the film better, but not like MBJ did. Letita Wright was funny, except for the awful, awful dead memes that she referenced (you know which ones). Angela Bassett was entertaining, and Forest Whitaker did amazing (two performances that no one seems to mention). But the two that were easily my favorites were Martin Freeman and Andy Serkis. They may the only two white actors, but they were still entertaining. Seeing Freeman act in such an exotic and strange culture was great, and Serkis did phenomenal in being intimidating and yet still crazy. Overall, an A- in the acting department.
Black Panther is just another Marvel movie. If you want to see it, good. I recommend it. For me, I just find it very average and okay. The acting is great, the visuals are great, things seem fluent and balanced, and the real film isn't very political. 7 out of 10!