'Black Panther' review: Marvel tackles politics, race with jaw-dropping new film

Marvel’s “Black Panther” is the antidote to superhero movie fatigue.

“Black Panther” features all the right ingredients to become one of the most successful superhero films of all time. It’s injected with fresh vigor, a laser-focus on character, a not-so-subtle tinge of politics, vivid world building and a jaw-dropping stellar cast.

Director Ryan Coogler (“Fruitvale Station,” “Creed”) breaks “Black Panther” free from the charging herd of superhero films – even Marvel’s own repetitive mold – by focusing less on clichéd plot devices, like taking down CGI monsters, and instead takes a page from Shakespeare to dissect political intrigue and destructive familial drama all while cleverly shrouded under the cloak of a superhero film.

“Black Panther” begins shortly after the fatal events that introduced Black Panther to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in “Captain America: Civil War.” T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) returns to his secret African nation, Wakanda to assume the throne after his father’s murder, and once crowned king, he must balance the power of being the new Black Panther with the growing political schism in his kingdom. Everything is disrupted once the American mercenary Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) infiltrates Wakanda, challenges the throne and seeks revenge on T’Challa and his family for his father’s murder decades earlier.

Coogler uses his indie film world arsenal to flesh out “Black Panther’s” characters to great effect. He lays bare Black Panther’s almost obsessive need to teach and live by his late father’s seemingly noble moral code, but when that code is shattered and revealed to be a façade, Coogler clearly has fun flipping traditional superhero tropes on their axis to play with the dissemination of the core characters’ relationships.

And Marvel gets political.

This is certainly the most woke superhero film to date. Beneath the expected genre clichés, Coogler provides a flourish to a number of current political and social issues ranging from border security and the refugee crisis to inequality and black empowerment. Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o), a spy and Black Panther’s former lover, maintains a running argument throughout the film that Wakanda should have open borders to share the country’s advanced technology and provide aid to refugees, an idea strongly opposed by the king and later exploited by Killmonger.

Source :- foxnews