Good, But Not Great

Rating: 6/10 (29 April 2018)

'Black Panther' is being praised as "Marvel's masterpiece", but unfortunately it didn't quite live up to the hype for me. The film's first act is enjoyable, where we are told the origin of the African nation of Wakanda and introduced to the main characters. Sadly though, the second act felt drawn-out and kind of boring, and the film never seems to regain it's momentum after that. The scenery is beautiful and it is very well-shot. Wakanda is easily one of the coolest and most vibrant locations in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and I can't wait to see more of it in May's 'Avengers: Infinity War' (YAY!!!). Some of the acting was terrific, particularly Black Panther's sister Shuri (Letitia Wright), the film's primary villain Erik "Killmonger" Stevens (Michael B. Jordan), and secondary villain Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis). Shuri and Klaue served as the film's comic relief, and their humor was refreshing and on-point. Killmonger is definitely one of Marvel's best villains to date. He was intimidating and captivating to watch. Unfortunately, Black Panther himself (Chadwick Boseman) didn't seem to show much emotion and struck me as very monotonous. The action scenes were pretty cool, but some of them were too dark and I didn't always know who was who, which made them hard to follow. The end fight between Black Panther and Killmonger felt very CGI-heavy, which took away from the enjoyment. Although I like the design of Black Panther's new suit more than his first suit from 'Captain America: Civil War', it looked too cartoony for my taste. It was even more unfortunate that Killmonger had the exact same type of suit with a different design. Overall, 'Black Panther' was good, but fell short of great.