Tuesday, 27 February 2018

Film Review: Black Panther (2018)

Rating: 9.5/10
Genre: Fantasty/Action
Related Titles: Captain America, Spiderman, Avengers (etc) 
By Leanne Harragan

When his father dies T'Challa returns home to Wakanda to become King. When an old enemy rears his head, T'Challa determination as King and as Black Panther are tested. The new King must rally forces to beat his enemies, protect his people and the fate of Wakanda. 

After a heavy trailer campaign at the cinema (meaning that I saw the trailer at basically every single film I went to see for the past four or five months) I wasn't overly excited about this one if I'm completely honest. How wrong I was! This film is fresh, funny and fantastic. 


This is a fresh film from Marvel and I thoroughly enjoyed it! It was funny and there were moments when the whole screen laughed out loud which is a rarity these days. The film itself was quite deep and touched on topics of importance. The soundtrack for this film was also great, it really tied together a lot of the scenes. The script was funny, some really well played out jokes and bonds between characters. While you always know that good will triumph and evil will fail, the tension throughout the film builds nicely and there are a number of great memorable fight scenes. Visually I was enthralled; it was another stunning film with strong special effects. 

The cast were also charming. Chadwick Boseman as T'Challa is effortlessly charming and sticks to his decisions even when challenged. I loved the relationship between T'Challa and his sister Shuri again amazingly performed by breakout star Letitia Wright (can't wait to see more of her!) I could talk about the whole cast as they were all incredible. I especially enjoyed watching the strong female characters ruling the roost, with my personal favourite being Danai Gurira. 

My only little quibbles for this film are somewhat minor and don't take away from the overall film. Shuri is early on, introduced as being knowledgeable in the tech side of Wakanda and despite a few visits to her lab and testing of her equipment, I would love to have seen more of this and even some more of her working on her ideas. My other minor disappointment is that early on in talks Ayo and Okoye were possibly going to be a lesbian couple, but you can't win them all! This film still does wonders for representation as a whole and proves that the African-American narrative deserves the limelight and has the power to generate audience and profit as this film has already claimed the title for the biggest debut of a February film ever, so congrats Black Panther!

I could dissect more but I will leave this for now as I would rather everyone go see/support this film and form your own opinions!

Rating : 9/10
By Rebecca Mannick


I'll keep this short and sweet as Leanne has really gone into detail for this blockbuster. Firstly I will say that I am so happy that this movie has been so popular, it really deserves it. With all the hype around this picture it for sure delivered what audiences were looking for. It is quite rare that we catch a movie within the first couple of days of the release date but we did for Black Panther - and it was so busy the whole screen was basically full up. 

It was everything you'd expect a good Marvel film to have and much more. I can't believe it's 2018 and we have only just had a superhero movie based around black people of African decent. Bloody ridiculous if you ask me and it annoys me that it's a big topic in Hollywood. Nevertheless small steps and we will get there. Anyway, this storyline is complex and gripping. The action scenes are second to none, I won't dive into the plot too much but it is very original and well rounded which you don't see so often in this genre of film. I think the most impressive part of Black Panther is the character development. Somehow you get a sense of each character in such a short space of time which is such a challenge but is pulled off. 

I loved the futuristic Wakanda (the unknown city where the Black Panther is King) The scene where they fly in is magnificent and I love seeing each interpretation of the future that directors and set designers create. They are all pretty similar in my opinion which is interesting. I said I would keep this short and sweet but the more I think about this movie the more I realise that I really loved it. I haven't even mentioned the acting (which was pretty great) and I didn't mention the all the badass women (who are badass). 

Overall, I urge everyone to go and see this movie, you will be entertained. Oh yeah the soundtrack is amazing too. 



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