Black Panther

Six visits to the cinema and the first full score. I may be going against the tide, but for me, Black Panther is the most interesting and best Marvel movie since Winter Soldier. I haven't been a fan of Marvel movies much lately (Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy or the new childish Thor, which I downright suffered through), but Black Panther set my favorite serious, dark thriller tone and took away more or less everything that bothered me so far. There's no CGI Mess, just the gorgeous and impressive Wakanda, the villain is not an alien or mutant but a human, and right off the bat we have the best villain in the entire Marvel Universe, who also has a different plan than everyone else so far (Michael B. Jordan was incredible), and I can actually praise Andy Serkis, who was reminiscent of the Joker in his awesomeness. It's not fought in space or on an alien planet or dimension, but in Korea or Africa and it immediately feels not only more real, but more intense. The R&B and Hip Hop soundtrack is a big plus and the new track by The Weeknd, which was played in a local bar, was a real treat. I have only minor reservations about the action, and that's the faster editing, but it's intense and effective enough that I was able to enjoy it to the fullest. The finale is decently epic and tense, the characters are all great, the female cast also excels, the Rihanna-lookalike sister of the Panther was very funny, cute and technologically gifted, M'Baku provided funny interludes that were totally apt and appropriate and I really liked the African rituals, costumes and traditions. After a second viewing, the enthusiasm has waned. (16/02/2018)

Black hasn't been this cool in a long time. The boys and girls at Marvel seem to have understood that a watered-down save-the-world story with a ton of visual effects best applied to the destruction of a major American city wouldn’t hold up again, or at least not until the next Avengers (who imho pull a slightly different strand of entertainment). So they decided to be smart about it and use the current geopolitical issue of refugees to their advantage, and crammed national and racial disparities into a cool heroic story full of moral values and fine ideas, spiced it up with a healthily ambitious plot. It might not be the best Marvel flick, because Avengers, with Captain America will pummel it with all those cool dudes and a plethora of TOP figures on one set, but it is certainly one of the smartest comic book movies. Plus, with heroes who, strangely enough, don't want to destroy the world, but to liberate it. (19/02/2018)

Black Panther surprised me. I was worried it would be a scruffy hybrid of the Avenger's colourfulness and mandatory ethnic lecturing to a wider (two billion-strong) audience, but it ended up being one of the MCU's most accomplished entries. The story has a brisk pace, the viewer is thoughtfully introduced to the new world and its possibilities, the balance between serious approach and momentary lightness works perfectly, and above all there is a great and reasonably motivated villain, whose gradual involvement in the game, when he gets to speak at the expense of the previous numero ono villain, is flawless and unparalleled in the Marvel universe. Two hours flowed like water and if there's anything I didn't like (and I did), it's rather small things – namely a few plot holes (the heavy simplification of the capture of Ulysses, who had been on the run for about 30 years; the implausible psychological transformation of W'Kabi; the transparency of the plot despite a narrative based on explanatory flashbacks). Otherwise, though, high blockbuster quality with a couple of witty James Bond references, good actors (especially Serkis, Jordan and, again, the entertaining Freeman), clear action often in long takes and a likeable script that presents Wakanda not as a sexy bimbo introduced for a brief appearance in Infinity War, but as an immersive backdrop to a self-contained plot whose rules the viewer willingly accepts and is swept along by (the duel for the throne is the most emotionally powerful in a long time). Bring in the sequel. 80% (06/09/2018)

Last year, Marvel decided to try and make us laugh in theaters, which it did quite well, but I'm very glad that Black Panther isn't afraid to play on a more serious note. Again, there's some humor, but this time we get a Marvel movie that's much more personal, serious, and earnest. And it works brilliantly. Ryan Coogler manages to work cleverly with the characters, their traumas and motives, and as a result we have perhaps the best Marvel villain, one whose actions we can understand, relate to and respect. And then there's Wakanda itself, a visually stunning world full of colourful costumes, masks, music and a stylish combination of modern technology and African traditions. There are several "wow" moments here, and they appear both during the ordinary macho machismo of the unglamorous world, and in the elaborate action scenes. Towards the end, though, it all gets a little out of hand and we get a perhaps unnecessary wildness. But the result is still an excellent Marvel film that attempts to test whether audiences would be able to stomach a comic book movie that's a little more serious in addition to the already slightly corny antics. Personally, I appreciate this approach much more than the goofing around in Thor. (27/07/2018)

It's definitely not the best Marvel film, and a big role in the hype is played by the political level which, btw, sounds perfectly fine to me, like when a black boy from the Ghetto tells you a fairy tale that he has been hearing since childhood. T'Challa is a remarkably humble figure by MCU standards - Tony Stark stripped of vice and infected with a mixture of Shakespeare and the Lion King. It's magically naive and refreshing, because unlike other Marvel films, Black Panther is really devoted to its characters and, for example, the villain played by the charismatic Jordan is better depicted here than most of his competitors. Black Panther in turn shrinks the MCU world and curtails it by a cosmic dimension. In fact, it only deals with very familiar and current problems, and as a result, it feels like an even bigger fairy tale and escapism. In a way, Coogler concluded his black trilogy, which creates the figures of black saints. In Fruitvale, his efforts were undermined by social realism and in Creed by a lot of clichés, whereas Black Panther feels like his most convincing film, despite all of its problems with tempo and tricks. It's a pity he doesn't have a slightly sharper edit and a greater use of the hip hop soundtrack. Otherwise, this textbook Afrofuturism is really a very pleasant companion. A film that believes in a better world and that the super-protagonist is sometimes the one who just does something selflessly for the community. Political correctness? I say common sense. (13/02/2018)