"Black Panther" Is a Party

Like many of you, I have been searching the hype and coverage of Black Panther with a fine-tooth comb.  The reviews--surprise, surprise--have been nearly unanimously positive.  I mean, this is Marvel we're talking about, after all.  However, those of you that know me know I'm very skeptical about extremely positive reviews (don't even get me started on The Last Jedi again).  There was also a part of me that was suspicious any real critic would be unwilling to write anything objective about Black Panther due to fears of being "racist."  Or something.  Regardless, I hope my objectivity regarding movies is established based from my irritation with identity politics in addition to my previous reviews.  That said, Black Panther is about as good as they say. 

I'm all about opening weekend.  Many of you say, "I don't get it--it's the same movie a week later.  Why not see it then?"  Because opening weekend is fun, that's why.  So shut up.  Plus, this way, I have hand.  See, I hold the ability to spoil it for you rather than worry about any of you spoiling it for me.  Who's ridiculous now?  

Anyway, I'd worry about being called a fanboy, but any of you who have seen Black Panther wouldn't be saying that.  It was quite fun.  The characters, story, acting, action scenes, editing, development, storytelling...all of it was very well-done.  This is a particularly rare review for me because I hardly have anything negative of which to rant.

For starters, this movie was perfectly cast.  Chadwick Boseman (42), Michael B. Jordan (Creed), Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out), Forest Whitaker (a ton of stuff), and the beast-mode terrific female leads (only one of which I'm familiar with, making it ever more impressive) were just made to play the roles they were in.  There weren't outrageously unnecessary, stupid, boring, or under-developed characters.  The villain was enjoyable, (somewhat) smart, well-developed, and provoked just the right amount of empathy.  All the protagonists were incredibly fun, interesting, played their parts effectively, and all contributed just the right amount to the plot.  Even though this movie is over two hours, it thankfully didn't have long, pointless sub-plot tangents.  

I also loved the narrative.  Plenty of Marvel movies spend too much time on the characters and not enough on the story, but Black Panther excellently balances the two.  The plot made sense, had a consistent timeline, was dynamic without being convoluted, and actually--you know--had depth.  I know it's a superhero movie, but it's refreshing to see a plot that doesn't revolve around the same shallow mumbo jumbo slug fest that's usually pedaled.  What's better is that it has depth without being unnecessarily subliminal and annoying. 

My favorite part, though, was that the action scenes were so well-done!  Ahhhh!  I love any genre of movies, particularly well-done action movies.  What's great about Black Panther, though, is that you'll particularly enjoy it if you don't like action movies.  See, so many action movies are cut to death, have maddening shaky cam, or are filled with pointless slow motion that just drags.  However, the editing and filming of Black Panther reminded me a little bit of that of The Revenant or even Birdman.  Instead of having a million cuts and senseless actions bursts, long takes are used to fully grasp and enjoy the scene, placing emphasis on the outstanding and cheer-inducing choreography and visual effects.

In order to obtain some form of objectivity, I have to include at least some flaws in my review.  In all honesty, though, I'm really reaching, here.  Due to reasons I can't include without spoilers, there was a 20-something-minute stint in the movie where it was like, "...all right, let's pick it back up, here, gentlemen."  I'm not saying it got boring by any means, but the pace went from incredibly fast and fun to being somewhat plodded along for a few minutes.  However, that several minutes of plodding turned out to be necessary, as it set up the intensely fun and dramatic final act that was executed so brilliantly.  

Take note of this review, because I really liked Black Panther.  Not many movies leave me with hardly any negative things to say, so I'll leave it at that and give it an 81%, making it undeniably 

Theater Worthy