IS EARTH READY FOR A HIGHER FORM OF SUPERHERO MOVIE?

Rating: 6/10 (16 February 2018)

Ryan Coogler, relative new comer, and director of 2015's Creed, does an incredible job of realising this complex character first introduced in the third Captain America movie, Civil War, Black Panther was an integral part of the storyline and captured audience's attention with a flair for spectacular action stunts.
Black panther stands triumphantly as it's own story, understood to be taking place in the grander scheme, but telling a story firmly rooted in it's own world, and not leaning too hard into being an infinity War lead-up. Compared to plethora of MCU films, and even to the current deluge of films in the super-hero genre, with releases this year from Fox, Sony, and others, Black Panther is a fun solid start to 2018's year of the superhero.
The film has spectacular action sequences, a beautifully moving and creative score, design work evoking African culture while melding with fictional advanced technology. However, the film is not without its faults. The plot is predictable when it's not all over the place. The script fails to endear us to characters in the way the score is begging us to feel. Many characters' motivations are constantly undefined. And the 3D conversion is nauseating (and that's coming from someone who ALWAYS chooses the watch a movie in 3D if available).
There is a moment in the Avengers where Thor says of Thanos' intentions that his interest in Earth stems from the fact that Earth has demonstrated they are ready for a higher form of war, and Black Panther asks the audience to accept a higher form of superhero film, and while I applauded it for its attempt, and for the moments where it succeeds, that just makes the moments where it falters all the more disappointing and unforgivable.
You can't ask an audience to come along on a more intellectual movie and then hand them a B grade superhero flick. I don't fault critics for being so overwhelmingly positive about this movie, it's a good movie with a positive message, and I'm rating it positively too, it's just not the movie we needed, it's not the Messiah that it's being hailed as.
Wonder woman needed to be good so that we can get other female led superhero films. Black panther needed to be good because we need better minority representation in films, in genre films specifically. Not just in characters, but in story. And in that regard, it will undoubtedly succeed in making sure studio executives believe investing in movies like Black Panther is a good idea and will bring audiences to the theatres in droves. In that way the movie has most definitely succeed.