Black Panther

Black Panther is the 18th movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the first of three for 2018 alone. It stars Chadwick Boseman as T'Challa, the Black Panther, and is directed by Ryan Coogler (who directed the fantastic films "Fruitvale Station and "Creed"). The movie picks up right after the events of the Civil War arc, where T'Challa finds himself taking the place of his father in the hidden Nation of Wakanda. Things immediately go south for T'Challa as the son of a Wakandan from America returns to reveal some truths that will change the way T'Challa sees his new position as King and his future path. 

Right out of the gate, let me say that this is one the best looking Marvel movies ever made. The unique mix of traditional African with sci-fi visuals make for a really amazing looking movie. Of course as you'd expect from a Marvel project, the visual effects and sounds are all as good as a movie can get these days. The action scenes were really well done, especially the great sequence that takes place in an underground club in South Korea. The setting of Wakanda just felt really fresh and exciting for a Marvel movie, something that hasn't been done before (that I know of).

The other really great part of the movie was the huge cast of great actors. From Chadwick Boseman killing it as Black Panther, to two bad-ass warriors played by Danai Gurira and Lupita Nyong'o and T'Challa's tech genius sister Shuri played by Letitia Wright. Honestly I could just name of the entire cast because they all did a great job. Michael B Jordan played the main "villain", and he always does a great job. Most Marvel villains feel like just side-stories for the hero to fight at the end, but I like that they actually made the villain here more fleshed out. There were some good emotional moments that came from the villain, moments that challenged the hero in interesting ways, i'd say even challenged the viewer. The villains motivations are the kind that you could totally understand where he's coming from as a viewer, which I think always makes for the best villains. I still would have liked to have seen more from the villain, maybe it's cause Michael B Jordan is such an awesome actor, but I definitely wanted to know more about his story.

The third act, like most comic book movies, ends in a giant battle with lots of spectacle all around as the thing the hero is defending in in jeopardy. These are always my least favorite part of these movies, because it almost always plays out exactly how you think it does. It didn't really take away from the movie though, it was still very fun to watch with some of the best visuals to make it look as epic as possible. As I said before, the mix of  African culture with sci-fi really helps it stand out as very unique to look at. The big battle also lead to a great emotional scene from the villain, the kind we don't see to often from villains in Marvel.

This was an overall great movie to watch and I think was just as important as it was great. It might just be a comic book movie on the outside, but it really does have some important things to say inside of it. The performances are great, the visuals are unique and awesome to look at and the message goes beyond the Marvel universe. Ryan Coogler is a fantastic director and I can't wait to see what he does next with these characters and what he does outside of Marvel. The Marvel Studios side of Disney just keeps getting it right over and over again, and after years of these Marvel movies, I've never been more excited to see what they come up with next.

Overall Grade: A-

Here's an update on my Marvel movie rankings from worst to best:

Iron Man 2
Iron Man 3
The Incredible Hulk

Thor

Thor 2: Dark World

Captain America: First Avenger

Age of Ultron

Ant Man
Guardians Vol.2

Doctor Strange

Avengers

Iron Man
Spider-Man Homecoming
Black Panther

Civil War
Thor Ragnarok

Guardians of the Galaxy

Winter Soldier

It's actually pretty hard trying to decide where to put Black Panther and all of last years Marvel movies because they were all so good. I'll leave it like this for now, but it might change with some re-watches and of course after the year is over we will have two more to add to the list.

Next week we got two new big sci-fi releases in Annihilation and Mute, so I hope to be reviewing those both.