⚠️Spoilers ahead!⚠️
The movie that everyone was waiting for, Black Panther, absolutely lived up to and exceeded its expectations. Holding a 97% in critic website Rotten Tomato scoring, it is currently retaining the status of best rated superhero movie of ALL TIME. After several box office disappointments, Marvel has finally hit the mark that they’ve been reaching for for so long.
The representation of many world issues added depth to the film. Many empowered women were cast as leads in the movie, which was much needed in light of current events. One of the movie’s main conflicts was whether or not to share their secret resources and innovation with the rest of the world, especially impoverished places. In the end, the king of Wakanda decides to help support others who were less fortunate than the people of Wakanda. This segued into the fact that the villain, who was actually the Black Panther’s cousin, was once a kid with big dreams and limited support. A traumatic event, such as seeing his own father dead, drove him to violently seek the throne and get aid for those like him.
The beauty of simplicity was also well incorporated into the successful film. Nature’s sheer ability to put one’s eyes into a trance was certainly not lost on the incredible Wakanda sunsets and landscape. Hand in hand with this element, was peacefulness. Unnecessary violence was thankfully left out of Black Panther. One of my personal favorite scenes was when rhinos were used in battle and one of the characters stood in front of the charging creature and put out her hand. The animal stopped and licked her in the face. As an alternative to killing the rhino that she knew was not evil, she simply showed it compassion. Being an animal rights activist at heart made this scene very special to me and all other animal lovers who constantly see countless animals slaughtered in major box office films.
Chadwick Boseman absolutely crushed the role of Black Panther and King T’Challa, Embodying the honor and respect of his character. One of the main attributes of the film’s success had to do with the lack of plot holes. Marvel has produced several movies (*coughs*) that contain discrepancies in themes and over powering fighting scenes that drowns out a plot with a deeper meaning and a basis for a unifying factor.
Black Panther represents many different things for many different people, but to me it proves that alone we are weak, and together we are strong -- strong enough to achieve anything and break any limit previously set by someone. Choose peace over war and good over evil every time, and we can be our own superheroes, even without the claws.
