T'Challa is still lamenting the death of his father but there's no time to mourn since the tradition ask him to become the new leader of his nation and the holder of the powers of the Black Panther. However, another person believes himself the right owner of the mantle.
I was honestly not expecting much from this film at the beginning.
The reasons were pretty simple, I wasn't a fan of T'Challa's portrayal in the movie Captain America: Civil War. The film was pretty entertaining (despite of an overly-contrived story) but I don't think it gave T'Challa any justice since it portrayed him as an arrogant jerk who is forced to become the Black Panther after suffering a loss but without much explanation behind, he was basically "Tony Stark-lite" (even more than the recent Doctor Strange) and therefore wasn't really a good interpretation for me. I tend to prefer the more intelligent and serious depictions he has gotten from writers like Christopher Priest (who has the best-known run featuring the character). The good news are that Director Ryan Coogler also understands this and creates a brand new characterization for Black Panther and expands his world in a way that I wasn't expecting.
The plot is centered around the ramifications of Civil War with T'Challa inheriting his father's role as King of Wakanda and forced to learn how to become a proper leader for his people. Mind you, the introduction the protagonist had in Civil War was pretty forced and mostly served as an excuse to say "Hey, this character exists and we're going to use him in the future" but still created an interesting enough set-up for the direction the flick is going to take. Is a story about legacy and revenge that takes place technically during two generations and shows how incredibly complex the universe of Wakanda is and how their people can disagree immensely in their opinions about the future of their home.
The social commentary is something that you're quickly going to notice since the beginning. From the early sequence when T'Challa's father appears in front of his brother, this creates a pretty interesting contrast about how the people of Wakanda live compared to the rest of the world, especially compared to the people who share their same skin colour. Mind you, I still think this kind of political tone is overused in today's stories (particularly the ones featuring black characters who are seemingly always forced to talk about these topics to the point it becomes predictable), but I don't mind it here since it actually contributes to the story in a way that makes sense due that it launches the upcoming conflict that the protagonist will face. Most importantly though, is the kind of social commentary that feels real in a sense and is not explored as heavy-handedly as most stories centering around the same idea would.
Nonetheless, the most attractive aspect of the film for me is the worldbuilding and my God, there's some magnificent worldbuilding here. The mythology behind Wakanda is quickly established showcasing the different tribes that exist within it (tribes by the way that have to potential to be further explored in the future and I hope they do so because they seem really compelling) and the multiple personalities that inhabit this gigantic place. There's also a quite intriguing parallel between the sci-fi and supernatural themes of Wakanda since this is supposed to be the most technologically advanced nation in the world but also features concepts of the afterlife and mysticism. That's without mentioning the ideas of religion, idioms, cultures, traditions and many other elements that turn Wakanda into probably the richest and most successfully developed setting in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Is a world where many other worlds exist and that's incredibly fascinating to me (and I hope that they manage to exist separated from the other Marvel properties since I believe they need to reveal more about this environment without being forced to clash with other universes).
The characters also dictate the story nicely. Chadwick Boseman reprises his role as T'Challa and fortunately he receives a much better direction and writing here, while the T'Challa from Civil War didn't have an unique personality nor motivation, this version features a much more responsible, thoughtful and determined protagonist who has a genuine reason to become the ruler of his reign and suffers a quite strong dilemma half-way that makes him reevaluate his own ideals. The actor manages to pull that off much more effectively than during his more narcissistic and unfocused previous appearance.
The rest of the cast is equally strong aside from a few cases. Danai Gurira portrays Okoye who is an extremely competent warrior who is loyal to Wakanda and its people, the actress does a quite solid job in the role and becomes one of the most interesting characters in the flick. Letitia Wright handles the role of Shuri, T'Challa's sister, and manages to handle the youthful and intelligent heroine from the comics nicely (and might have a more interesting future based on the book). Martin Freeman returns as Everett K. Ross and just as T'Challa, he receives a more interesting direction here with a much deeper depiction that shows how noble he can be despite of his early impressions. Winston Duke as M'Baku gives us a little glimpse of how other tribes in Wakanda live and again, makes me excited to see more of it, the actor also showcases some serious and even funny moments.
The exceptions come with the stereotypical romantic interest. Nakia, interpreted by Lupita Nyong'o, appears basically from the beginning and we're supposed to take her as T'Challa's former lover and they apparently still have sentiments for each other. Let alone the fact that we haven't seen any of their previous interactions to actually care about their relationship, their following dynamic doesn't sell the idea of romance much better either. Worst of all, I don't think Nakia contributes that much to the plot, the most important events in the story were handled by Okoye, Shuri and even Ross while Nakia is basically just there, this could have been done by basically anybody else. This makes me believe that she was only included because there always need to be a romantic interest for the male protagonist (because God forbid that his only motivation might be his mission, we can't have that). I understand that the character has a history in the comics and the actress doesn't do a bad job per se but still she feels mostly like a waste.
The main villain doesn't sell me the idea that much either believe or not. Michael B. Jordan handles Erik "Killmonger" Stevens who is the son of T'Challa's uncle who was killed by his father to prevent more deaths. This in and of itself is a pretty interesting concept, not really because of the whole "revenge" aspect since is way overused, but mostly because it reflects the idea of how violence might create a much more dangerous enemy in the long term and Killmonger ends-up being a pretty strong opponent for T'Challa who also challenges his own views about the rest of the world. I'm less impressed about the result of their battle though since while I understand the point of the character and how he was supposed to motivate T'Challa to help their people outside of Wakanda, the story tries to present him in a sympathetic light even giving him the end he always wanted... without addressing that he killed many people to reach Wakanda where he was planning to cause even more terror around the planet. I'm sorry but I don't care how "oppressed"you are and that you prefer to die before becoming a slave (also being incarcerated for your crimes is not the same as slavery by the way), when you do all of those things you simply don't deserve a compassionate ending. Jordan does a good job with what he has and I'm glad he has a future beyond the failed Fantastic Four but things could have been better.
I was more impressed by Andy Serkis who interprets Klaw which is by far one of the most entertaining versions of the character and one that always made me laugh during all of his appearances.
The special effects are solid, not particularly impressive but get the job done and contribute nicely to the well-choreographed fight scenes, there are really good action segments here.
A few flaws aside I can safely say that Black Panther exceeded my expectations and then some. Is a really well-paced story with no dull moments that escalates nicely towards the satisfying conclusion and gives me a lot of hope for what the Director and writers can do for the rest of this particular universe.
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