A Cinematic Masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (4 December 2018)

This may sound dramatic to some, or maybe a lot of people, but this isn't me being melodramatic or exaggerating my view of the movie. To me, Black Panther IS a cinematic masterpiece.
I could write a whole essay on why I adore this movie and why it is marvellous. Hell, maybe I will. But this is a review, not an essay, so here goes;
why Black Panther is a 10/10 star movie and a cinematic masterpiece.
First of all, the characters.
The characters of Black Panther are strong, complex, and three-dimensional. This is true for both the women and men in the story, the heroes and the main villain.
The three main women in Black Panther are strong characters as individuals, especially whose purposes and characterisation within the story aren't solely related to the men in it. They have their own motivations, beliefs, strengths, and weaknesses.
Shuri. Nakia. Okoye.
Shuri is incredibly intelligent, funny, and greatly skilled in science.
Nakia is kind, compassionate, diplomatic, and forward thinking.
Okoye is immensely loyal, determined, passionate, and dedicated.
Out of all the Marvel movies so far, Black Panther has the best representation for women in my opinion by far. I found myself internally screaming in awe at how awesome they are while in the cinema, especially at their badassery and boldness.
The men are also well represented, particularly T'Challa and Killmonger. They, like the women, are three-dimensional, strong, and complex. They too, feel real, as all great characters do. What is especially significant about these two, however, is the construction of them as main hero and main villain. T'Challa has the title role of the superhero Black Panther, while Killmonger is the villain. Despite being a villain, it is easy to sympathise with Killmonger, because he is a three-dimensional villain. His reasons for his behaviour are shown to us through his backstory and not only does it make the audience put ourselves in the 'villain' 's shoes and understand why he did what he did, but it did a brilliant job of demonstrating that people are complex and morally grey, that the person/character set up as a villain is only the villain from one side of the story. Killmonger himself did what he thought was right and what he was motivated to do based on his experiences. The depth and pain and heartache this added to the story and movie as a whole, as well as the characters and their relationships is what makes it significantly better than some other Marvel movies in terms of villain characterisation.
Then there is the representation of African people. As someone who is not African, I cannot speak on the representation of African people in the movie. I can only speak on what I observed and know, and that is, that this movie did amazingly well at the box office. Not just because it is a Marvel movie, but because it is a diverse, almost all POC cast Marvel movie. The fact that this movie did that well at the box office, as did other diverse movies such as Crazy Rich Asians and Coco, speaks volumes to the amount that diversity in cinema is not just wanted but needed. Online, on twitter especially, I saw people of colour, specifically African people, talk about how Black Panther impacted them, how seeing themselves represented in an entire cast of a Marvel movie felt. Black Panther means a lot to a lot of people and it's impact is another reason why it's absolutely brilliant.
Now, the writing of Black Panther, Holy Hera. The writing of this movie, just WOW. It is witty, clever, character driven, exciting in every scene, emotional, and packed with social commentary. A kind of social commentary that is executed so well throughout the movie that it is intertwined with other aspects of the movie. It's sprinkled into the witty dialogue, Killmonger's backstory and characterisation, the relationships between the characters, gorgeous cinematography, wonderful acting, and exciting action. The social commentary isn't a smack in the face, it's a series of questions that are directed to the audience in subtle yet clear, and bold ways.
I've seen a heap of reviews on here, and other places, where people review it as "overrated" or "overhyped" but that seems a bit fishy to me. People do, of course, have the right to their own opinion and to express that opinion, however, I recommend that people who hate on Black Panther or who simply view it as "overrated" rewatch it. Not everyone will agree with me that it is a cinematic masterpiece, but please don't discredit it completely because of predetermined ideas about it or biases.
If all I've already said about Black Panther isn't testament enough to the brilliance of this movie, it's impact, and it's worthiness of 10 stars, then perhaps this will;
Out of every Marvel movie I've seen, this is the one Marvel movie that as soon as it had finished, I immediately wanted to rewatch it.