Just off the bat, I want to say I thought the original film was....not great. The character worked extremely well in Civil War, but the original Black Panther had too many problems to get into (mostly involving an overused plot, terrible CGI and some very questionable acting choices). THIS movie however, I very much enjoyed. Not to say there weren't problems, because there sure were, but I thought as a whole, I can get behind this installation.


Before anything, the acting was phenomenal. Angela Basset and Letitia Wright FAR EXCEEDED what I expected for their roles (with good reason) and honestly, it's worth the price of admission and your time just to watch them on screen. Tenoch Huerta, Danai Gurira and, as always, Lupita Nyong'o were excellent as well, giving so much life to their characters beyond the script.

The cinematography was inspired and beautiful. The choices Coogler makes is much more elegant than the first film, and you can tell he was much more meticulous about his decisions in this one, which made for a really exciting experience. The score also really made the scenes come alive and was absolutely perfect (more than I can say for the random pop songs that show up at points in the film and completely took me out).

Not to say there aren't criticisms. The pacing was off at certain times. We spent too much time with certain characters or in certain locations when it really doesn't pay off much later on. There were a few scenes that could have been completely cut and it wouldn't have changed a thing. While I'm assuming these were there to tie the MCU together, it really didn't have much of an impact on the plot at all. And finally, not everyone is going to agree here, but there was a lot of emotional manipulation going on at certain times. There are a few that I found respectful and quite moving...but then there were some that were completely just there to make you break down and felt a bit exploitative, just to make the audience feel like they loved the film.

I did very much enjoy the film. I love a film that isn't just action scene after action scene. I'm here to see the story develop, not just a bunch of things explode and vehicles dancing on planes. And this film delivered a lot of character development and well-timed action scenes when necessary. Besides the fact that the villains here all look like the Na'vi, which was a bit tacky, I loved them. I thought they were a perfect threat for an unstoppable well-armed country such as Wakanda - and the backstory of Namor and his people worked so incredibly well.

I love when the MCU does comedy (and don't understand the new aversion to a comedic film), but I also love when they hit it out of the park with the drama and this film did that so well, besides the few pacing issues I discussed earlier. This was a good film and I enjoyed it so much better than the first. A great ending for Phase 4 of the MCU.