By Olivia Buster ’20 and Daniela Wainfor ’18
Chadwick Boseman stars as the Black Panther in the latest Marvel film alongside Lupita Nyong’o (Nakia), Michael B. Jordan (Killmonger), Angela Bassett (Ramonda) and other big-name film actors. Director Ryan Coogler’s “Black Panther” is the first film in Marvel history to center around a superhero of color. The movie is an engaging, and a humorous cinematic masterpiece.
The movie takes place in the fictional African country of Wakanda, which thousands of years ago were hit by a meteor charged with vibranium: the strongest metal on Earth. Wakanda is more technologically advanced than any another country in the world because of this.
The film features a fresh, new take on issues around the world from the perspective of a normally third-world country secluded and undisturbed by the outside world.
The film combines native African culture with arrows and spears to exciting fight scenes in addition to armor that depicts African tribe wear with vibrant colors and tribal patterns.
Although some parts of the movie were a little rushed with certain scenes unnecessary to the plot, the movie was extremely well made and a landmark movie to star Marvel’s first African American director.
More suspenseful scenes could have been added to draw the viewer in, instead of the fast-paced action scenes that were overly present. Although exciting and breathtaking at first, the movie became less interesting as the actors appeared less emotional closer to the end.
Nevertheless, Black Panther is a must- see, as it intertwined real-world problems into the surreal realm of Marvel. Not only does it address the discrimination African Americans face in the film industry by having an overwhelmingly African American cast, but “Black Panther” challenges the notion that Africa is just a third-world country that many fail to see the beauty of.