The Best Marvel Movie of 2018?

Rating: 7/10 (27 March 2018)

To say that Black Panther is the best Marvel movie of 2018 feels pointless since we have yet to see the rest of 2018's Marvel films, including Avengers Infinity War, Deadpool 2, Ant-Man and the Wasp, and Venom. This film created a massive wave of audience and critical praise as if it were a landmark. This is primarily due to how it managed to shine the spotlight on a fictional African universe that was visually as appealing as Thor's universe, Asgard. For many people of African decent, this was their movie. However this wasn't the first black comic book film to be released as many say it is. It may be in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but if you're asking for the first comic book film based on a black protagonist, the Blade franchise beat Black Panther to it. What Black Panther is is Marvel's first African superhero film to take place in the MCU, set in his country with the majority of the secondary characters being African themselves. The fact that there are fewer white skinned protagonists in the film than there are black gives it great significance.
In that aspect, Black Panther succeeded to make a superhero film set in Africa. Culturally, it hit home, as fictitious as it is. That goes for the characters, who were not only likable, but great to watch as the heroes of the film. It just goes to show anyone of colored skin can portray great, appealing and heroic characters. The character of T'Challa/Black Panther is about as heroic as it gets. Following his story from Captain America Civil War, we are given a different T'Challa, the noble, brave king willing to sacrifice himself for his people and for all rather than the T'Challa driven by vengeance in Civil War. The other characters also fit in well in the world of Black Panther, most of them anyways. The Black Panther suits visually appear stunning and are taken to new levels of power.
The hype of a film can often times succeed or ruin the experience for some
viewers expecting to witness a triumph in film making history but were given instead a shipwreck. This was sadly the case for Black Panther as the film wasn't without obvious problems that take away from it's highlights. Black Panther was not a disaster either though it was no where near being the best of the Avengers Universe franchise.

For starters, the film's main antagonist, a believable performance delivered by Michael B. Jordan, brings forth new aspects to a villain not often seen in films including films from past MCU entries. A villain character who creates turmoil for audiences and leaving them undecided as far as their feelings go towards the character, are they for him or against him? That is immediately a win going for the film. Michael B. Jordan's character's motivations for doing what he does are understandable to the point where one feels great sympathy for him despite being the ruthless villain that he is. That is a special ability whenever a film goes for that impact. Although for the first act of the film he remains hidden in the shadows with the spotlight landing on Andy Serkis' character, who kills his role perfectly as he always does. Serkis plays such an interesting character, one that isn't performed through motion-capture performance as he is known for the most, that it is a shame he got killed off. Furthermore it feels like a mistake that the film killed him for he had excellent hero/nemesis dynamic opposite T'Challa. Jordan however is excellent as a villain and deserves recognition for this role since his last experience in a Marvel film did NOT work well for him.
The film's CGI was not the best compared to it's predecessors in the MCU especially towards the end. That said, the third act feels completely contrived. As if the film was desiring to reach it's finale much sooner than it needed to be in order possess a natural flow. Not to say that the final battle was not impressive at all or fun to watch but compared to a film like Batman Begins, Black Panther did not have the same final battle between hero and villain vibe that a superhero film should have where the hero after going through much trial rises to the challenge and even then it is not easy for him/her
The best moments of the film were mostly during the first act, with the car chase in South Korea being the show stopper for the film. The rest of the film deserves an average score in this reviewer's opinion. What mostly saved the film were it's talented actors and familiar faces from past popular films and television series. Another positive aspect is how the film took a shift from the MCU's past films that contained excessive humor (Thor Ragnarok, Guardians of the Galaxy, Spider-Man Homecoming). The serious dramatic change gave the film a necessary good feel, however it did contain moments of humor. Black Panther has been called out for having vague similarities with Disney's The Lion King, strangely enough they have some things in common here and there, not to say it is an issue. The fact of the matter is it could have been much more extraordinary had they put more thought to the second and third acts, the weakest moments in the film. Regardless, it was a good addition to the MCU. Up next we have Avengers Infinity War coming soon and it is easy to assume many will be looking forward to placing it above this and many other comic book films released before it. It probably might turn out better than Black Panther. In conclusion, credit where credit's due. This just doesn't feel like the best Marvel has to offer for this year.