Black Panther Review

     Black Panther hit theaters February 15th and Marvel amazed us yet again with its beautiful worlds, mesmerizing visuals, and an unforgettable cast of dynamic characters. Black Panther has not only immortalized itself within our hearts, but it has also immortalized itself on the charts as Black Panther has become one of only 5 movies to ever reach over $200 million dollars in its opening weekend, making it the most successful movie in MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe).

FUN FACT!200 Million dollars sounds impressive, but to really get a grasp on how many people flocked to the theaters last weekend in the U.S., imagine this: for the entire population of Tulsa, Sapulpa, Bixby, Jenks, and Broken Arrow  to make 200 million in one weekend, (and lets just say tickets are 10 bucks a piece) each person would have to watch Black Panther… 34.56 times.

     We last saw T’Challa in 2016 during Civil War as he deals with the death of his father and tries to kill our favorite one-armed vigilante, Bucky Barnes, until realizing Barnes was framed. Then he becomes one of the first of the heroes to try to mend what was broken by the events of Sokovia, and we are left with a glimpse of the invisible-to-the-rest-of-the-world country of Wakanda. At the beginning of the movie, we finally learn the origins of the Black Panther’s powers, and we are thrown back in time to Oakland, California, 1992 and see T’Chacka (T'Challa's father) and his brother argue the origins of some stolen Vibranium. But when events don’t go as planned and certain truths are omitted, we are given the origins to our story. We are then brought to the present as we are reminded of the death of king T’Chaka. T’Challa arrives home and finds himself the king of a country and having to claim his throne. But of course, T’Challa will not obtain his birthright without a fight, and both new and old enemies challenge our hero.T’Challa also wears the mantle of Black Panther, protector of Wakanda, and travels halfway around the world to track down an old enemy of Wakanda Ulysses Klaw. But when T’ Challa finds out he’s not the only one after Klaue, we are treated to a 30 minute wig throwing fighting spectacular. Now, I won’t spoil any of the events after South Korea so everyone has a chance to experience this cinematic masterpiece for themselves, and go I’ll into my analysis . I’ll start with the critiques which included the notable lack of physics (but to be fair, in a world where a dude can run around in a catsuit, I’m sure the audience isn’t too concerned with the scientific accuracies). But the movie leaves very little to complain about from me and from critics as it is ranked with a very high 97% on rotten tomatoes by over 340 critics with only 11 deeming it as rotten which is extremely impressive. This movie left audiences, not only with chills from its amazing graphics and dynamic heroes and villains, but with a message-- a message of strength. This movie speaks to the strength of a people and of family. It speaks of strength to people of color and women and giving power to people that are assumed to be helpless. If I could have, I would have bought a ticket to the next showing and watched it again. P.S. This movie holds 2 (that’s right 2) cut scenes and I don’t think you’ll want to miss them.