Black Panther

There's no denying Black Panther could not have been released at a better time, during the turbulence rattling our nation,  as the political wall dividing us continues climbing with the president making more enemies than friends, police forces going too far with their authority, and racial profiling sparking outrage. Racking up over $687 million, the film ranks just above The Dark Knight on the  inflation-adjusted domestic earners list. Still, when you break it down, it's a simple hero-origin story that has been told billions of times. 
We start with where Black Panther came from - the African nation of Wakanda, T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) returns home in the wake of his father - King T'Chaka's death. (It wouldn't be a superhero flick if he didn't die, right?) Predictably, T' Challa takes up his rightful role as king.But of course, T'Challa must pass a series of grueling ceremonial tests to prove his strength and ability to lead when he is waned into a conflict that threatens - not only the isolated community - but the world. 
The movie is filled with cheesy one-liners, like in the scene where a member of the African nation's special forces unit – the Dora Milaje – advises their king, T'Challa: "Don't freeze." Calmly, the leader replies "I never freeze."
In superhero-like fashion, T'Challa is regal, assured , almost Bond-like. (Chadwick would make the perfect James Bond.) As Black Panther rockets through the sky, a car explodes beneath him. He soars through the air, lands sideways on a building in a neon-lit metropolis, races along the building's wall and sails right onto the speeding car. 
Like most Marvel movies, there are a lot of moving parts to Black Panther - the kind of juggling that can be very confusing for viewers. It breezes through introducing the Wakanda people who - while coming across as democratic - have a very militaristic monarchy that rules fair and in democratic fashion.  I have the feeling that Director Ryan Coogler is on a personal mission to diversify Hollywood, with his Rocky spin-off, Creed, and Black Panther. For this, I give him credit. It takes courage to break through the stereotypical white knight. But, this doesn't mean make another superhero movie with a worn epic plot. 
Often times, films like this seem cartoony, with over-developed heroes and underdeveloped bad guys. Sadly, Andy Serkis as Ulysses Klaue falls into this thuggish stereotype, an underworld arms dealer with a weaponized arm. (Of course, the physically challenged man is the villain because we're scary!) 
Let's recap: We have, not one, but two villains for Black Panther to defeat, one Africaans, seething, Killmonger (Jordan), whose conniving ways draws attention from Black Panther - and from CIA's Everett Ross (the agent version of Bilbo Baggins) - who, while skeptical about the whole thing, inevitably gets roped into a revolt in Wakanda against the new king. This is proof that Black Panther adheres to Hollywood's redundant good-versus-evil story-line. 
But, in the movie's defense, Black Panther has a remarkable ethos, which dispenses with familiar binary oppositions that shape our views on race. Spaceships fly over Wakanda while the people weave baskets and mull around the market. In the movie, a white individual says, "{Wakanda}is a third-world country - textiles, shepherds, cool outfits."
In his reflection in Variety, Peter Debruge notes, "While far more mainstream — and by extension, kid-friendly — than such exploitation classics as ‘Foxy Brown’ and ‘Cleopatra Jones,’ ‘Black Panther’ upholds the same tradition of celebrating strong, assertive black women."
Reviews are also generating a lot of hype for Jordan's mediocre portrayal of the villain, with some saying his evil performance is among the best the Marvel universe has ever seen. While his performance is good, it's not quite Oscar-worthy. He sinks like a villain, he quacks like a budding sociopath, but he simply doesn't have the edge of Heath Ledger or Javier Bardem. Instead, Jordan is caught somewhere between a rambunctious tween and a vengeful warrior whose thirst can only be quenched by power and blood. His performance is C+ at best. And, these movies are only as good as the bad guy. 
I am not a fan of Marvel (as you can surmise from my review). These movies are cash cows for Stan Lee to ride as the fifty-million-dollar mastermind laughs all the way to the bank. It's disgusting to think the 95-year-old writer is making bookoo bucks while young, starving writers are just trying to get their foot (or wheel) in the door of publishers, including yours truly. But, I didn't let this notion impact my critique of this film. I'm just saying.