Refreshing hero in a fun, but underwhelming narrative

Rating: 7/10 (14 February 2018)

"Black Panther Down" is the movie directed by Ridley Scott and starring Orlando Bloom for 2 seconds. Alright, I'm just joking. It's been a long day, but I got the chance to check out the new Marvel movie, which I had no real expectations for. The marketing didn't get me hooked and it all sort of felt underwhelming to me. But I wanted to see it since I liked the Black Panther a lot in ''Civil War'' with his "I don't care" attitude. The character did grow with his own little story arc, so when you see him now, he's become a more responsable man. The movie was fine in my eyes. It's your usual Marvel picture when it comes to story and visuals, but at least it's an entertaining flick with enough craziness to keep you locked in for two hours. That's something I feel that the guys at Marvel aren't afraid of anymore; to go all out with the comic book weirdness and sometimes campyness. Now they wanna embrace it. Which has been strongly evident in the last "Thor" movie. That's not to say that there isn't any grittiness, because there is. It's all combined into one here. I'll applaud them for going to new places. But the end result didn't stick out to be more than mainly a fun time with popcorn at the movies.
I would have probably changed the visual style more if I was the one making it. Can they use less green-screen next time, please? It's Africa! I wanna see the savannas and the fantastic nature sights. There's an over-reliance of just resorting to fake digital backgrounds rather than using real locations. The digital gloom over everything lessened the visual appeal for me. But, hey! That's just the look. How's the story? Yeah, it's decent. I liked the grounded stuff mixed with African culture and/or mythology. The Wakandan technology and civilization was jarring to me at first sight. Not even Tony Stark has that level of tech. It was too much of a future city for my taste. Although the question of why the Wakandan tech has never been heard of before is brought in the movie as a major plot point. So I thought it was nice that it was addressed. The characters are fun and everyone brings a nice charisma to the screen. Chadwick Boseman, Lupita NYong'o and Forest Whittaker give their absolute care to the movie. It's no paycheck day for sure. It feels like Martin Freeman basically just hanged around on set. I was happy to see him there though. Because he would see and react to Wakandan culture like we, the audience would. The villains are good, but like in most previous Marvel films; they get sidelined again. Andy Serkis brought a fantastic personality to his mischievous guy, but his screen-time is limited. That was an unwise choice. Michael B. Jordan (AKA Creed) is also very interesting and unique. Not very often these days when you can understand the villain's motive so well. The main group are, like I mentioned, good and all.. But, the biggest problem I have is that the story line goes to all the expected places. It's pretty much like "we've done all of this stuff before". I wasn't surprised by where the plot ended up going because it's usual business and all so going through the familiar beats. It would have been more fun with some different twists. The action is entertaining. You even get a ''Skyfall''-like casino scene, but with some additional slow-mo fighting, of course.
Did I care for the story? Sure. There are neat moments and a fun adventure with good heroes to root for. None of it was captivating enough to raise my enjoyment unfortunately. I could see the emotional things and what they were trying to do. But, I didn't feel it. Black Panther is a superhero I've known almost nothing about. That's the reason I decided to go in as blank as I could. I would have loved to have been surprised, but I got a fun action movie with like-able heroes instead. Ultimately the character is sort of a mix of "The Phantom" and "Batman". I'm a fan of both those two and if you haven't read the Phantom comics, then I would highly recommend them. I wanted to see more of the tone you'd read there. It's grounded, but it feels a little fantastical too. The jungle is dark and mysterious. Filled with many legends and roads to unknown adventures. Well, I think my review has ended up too long, so I'll wrap it up. I'm sure Black Panther can become even better down the line, if there's more focus on delivering something less predictable and maybe more personal. Oh, and delve into the mythology and the mysticism more next time. It did what it had to do; to entertain and make audiences feel familiar with Wakanda. Now my thought is that "Infinity War" better deliver. Show me what 10 years of this Cinematic Universe has been leading up to. Do not play it safe, please. Any way, "Black Panther" was fine. It's a good time, but it should have had more weight.