A fun, interesting journey despite a predictable storyline

Rating: 8/10 (16 February 2018)

Finally the first the major release of 2018 is here in the form of Marvel Studios' Black Panther, which is the first comic-book movie based on a colored superhero. Co-written and directed by Ryan Coogler, this is a bold and mostly fresh take on the superhero genre. With all the hype being built around the movie, you may be asking, does it live up to it? The answer is, mostly.
The events of Black Panther take place shortly after "Captain America: Civil War", where T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) returns home to Wakanda to become the new king after the unfortunate death of his father. But the problem is that T'Challa doesn't believe that he is ready to follow in his father's footsteps and be as great of a leader as him, which creates some conflict within himself. This conflict and self-doubt however, must be put aside when a mercenary named Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis) threatens to sell Wakanda's secret resource, vibranium, on the black market. T'Challa also has to deal with someone by the name of Erik Stevens aka Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan), who has a surprising backstory that gives some depth to the character, which actually makes him a decent villain overall. Unlike most comic-book movies with multiple villains, this one handles them really well and never lets them make the story too convoluted, which can be credited to the writing by Coogler and Joe Robert Cole.
This is by far one of the most mature Marvel movies ever made and part of that is because of the performances by a talented cast that has a mix of veterans and newcomers. Boseman holds his own as T'Challa, Michael B. Jordan is solid as the main villain, and even Forest Whitaker brings something to the table as Zuri, one of the elders of Wakanda. The scene stealer here however is Letitia Wright, who plays T'Challa's sister, Shuri, who is basically the brains behind all of the advanced medical and warfare equipment that Wakanda has. It helps that she and Boseman have good chemistry with one another, making the brother and sister relationship that they have in the movie believable. What also makes this movie more mature than other Marvel films is the themes that it touches on. Some of the themes include racial, moral, and political issues that really make this movie seem a bit less like a typical action-packed superhero movie. The action scenes that are present in the movie are fine and exactly what you would expect, but the emphasis here is on the characters and themes.
Even though it is a more mature piece of work when compared to the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it still has that same formulaic and predictable plot that plagues almost every superhero movie these days, especially the Marvel ones. It even got to the point where towards the final act of the movie, I predicted exactly how everything was going to play out and sure enough, I was right. It's just your typical rise, fall, and rise again storyline that features a hero of some sort. But perhaps this is the problem with solo superhero movies that are set in cinematic universes, you already know which characters can and can't die, and this leads to the movies having the same predictable plot line that we've seen over and over again, and Black Panther is no exception. It's the only real major weakness of the film, but it's a big one.
All in all, Black Panther delivers an origin story that is more grounded in its characters and themes compared to most other comic-book movies, which was definitely something refreshing to experience. It's not this masterpiece that many claim it to be, but if you can get past its formulaic and predictable plot, you may find yourself smiling throughout this journey all the way up until Infinity War in May.