Marvel Studios has always been at the forefront of the superhero genre in cinema. As expansive as Marvel's Cinematic Universe is, we can trace its success down to two things: genre and audience. By designating their films to particular genres (Guardians of The Galaxy as a space opera, Thor as a fantasy e.t.c.) they all work as individual films but can still function as a slice of the MCU. Marvel also knows how to appeal to their audience and, most importantly, give them what they want. With 'Marvel Studios' producing 'Marvel' films, they know their comics as well as their audience, working alongside the film's chosen director to do so.
Black Panther doesn't only uphold these trends, close to the heart of the MCU, but it exceeds them with flying colours.
My experience of Black Panther before seeing it was similar to Blade Runner 2049 - just the cast and crew alone was enough to get me excited. It's directed by Ryan Coogler, starring Chadwick Boseman, Michael B Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira, Forest Whittaker, Daniel Kaluuya, Andy Serkis and Martin Freeman. I won't get into what each of these names has done, as I'm sure you probably know already. With that said, the acting in this film is amongst some of the best in the MCU. The film's plot takes Wakanda on a journey, with quite a few changes in the film's runtime. However, the actors/actresses that need to adapt to these changes do so with ease, giving their roles a certain consistency that goes against the basic categorisation of good and evil.
Although what truly makes the film unique, and more than "just a Marvel film" is just how much focus there is of making the film so visually impressive. It's common knowledge that many MCU films take place in America with maybe half-an-hour at most dedicated to another location. So when we see Wakanda on screen as the film's main location, it feels like a breath of fresh air. The picture above gives you a small sense of what a Wakandan city is like, although this is just one frame of a feature-length film that goes to even a lot of different places within Wakanda itself. I won't spoil the best locations, as they deserve to be seen in high quality, on the big screen, as it should be.
Wakanda doesn't limit its uniqueness as an aesthetically pleasing setting either, it's visually-pleasing extends to its costume design. It's interesting because normally I'm never one to notice costume design, shrugging it off as it tends to blend in well with a film's mundane setting. But Black Panther's costuming is on the other end of the scale. With its meticulous detail, outstanding colouring and regal overtones to match the film's overarching focus on royalty; the costumes are hard not to miss and even harder not to be in awe of.
In terms of Black Panther as a film in the MCU, it doesn't just borrow techniques used to keep the franchise connected, but moulds these techniques into its own unique liking, - keeping the shape of the MCU while doing so. For instance; its main theme is grief. Having lost his father in Captain America: Civil War, T'Challa is still grieving while simultaneously continuing his father's legacy as the Black Panther, King of Wakanda. Without going into much detail, what Coogler reinvents Marvel's traditionally thematic stories. Doing so by weaving grief into the arc of the film's antagonist, Erik Kilmonger. As a result, the converge nceof themes between very different characters makes for one of the most interesting hero-villain dynamics in a Marvel Studios film, and perhaps the most interesting since The Dark Knight.
If you had to ask me my favourite thing about Black Panther, it'd be the character writing. Personally, I have always had a hard time memorising character names, thus sometimes this makes things confusing as things develop and progress. However, Coogler isn't just able to write memorable characters, but develop them in a way that makes them feel like more than just an accomplice to the protagonist. This culminated by the film's final battle; when I could identify a lot of the characters, whose side they were on and what their motivations were for being on that side. It's a satisfying technique that should be used not just for superhero films, but film as a whole.
All in all, Black Panther has raised the bar for Marvel Studios. Not just on the level of representation, but in what the MCU is already good at too. It also stands as proof that the MCU can come out of its comfort zone and produce truly unique films. With the rights to seven thousand characters and plans for another twenty films, it doesn't look like Marvel's stopping the broadening of its already expansive Cinematic Universe, now let's just hope those twenty films are just as unique as this one.