Another Wave Of BLACK PANTHER Reviews Point To It Being A Game-Changing Marvel Masterpiece
Following that initial wave of reviews for Black Panther, we've now collected another batch and those point to this being Marvel's best movie yet. However, what issues are a lot of critics singling out?
Yesterday, the review embargo for Black Panther lifted and the initial response to the movie was overwhelmingly positive. A number of other outlets have since shared their verdicts on Marvel's latest movie, though, and it probably won't surprise you to learn that they're all every bit as glowing.
While we've heard from the trades and other similar outlets, below you'll find the verdicts from respected British and American newspapers, publications like Empire and Entertainment Weekly, and websites such as Collider and GQ. It's a great mix of opinions from critics and looking through these, it's easy to see what issues were particularly problematic for some (the running time's one of them).
There are no spoilers in any of the reviews below but be cautious when clicking through to read the full versions as you never know what you might find. In the meantime, though, simply click on either one of the buttons below to check out this list of verdicts in its entirety and stay tuned for more.
SOURCE: Guardian
It’s so exciting to think that black children will finally get to truly see themselves as heroes on screen. On Halloween, they’ll be able to dress up as a character that actually looks like them and at Christmas, they’ll find action figures in their stockings that they won’t have to pretend they’re another race to play with. They’ll learn to be comfortable in their own skin and won’t develop the inferiority complex that often comes with repeatedly seeing people of their race portrayed as slaves, thugs or sidekicks. Instead, with T’Challa and his kingdom serving as role models, they’ll grow up feeling just as powerful as their white peers. Black Panther isn’t just levelling out representation in Hollywood, it’s inspiring the next generation of real-life heroes, and that’s what makes this film truly magnificent.
SOURCE: GQ
Black Panther is an absolutely gorgeous film. Lensed by Academy Award-nominated cinematographer Rachel Morrison, this superhero epic boasts striking shots that bolster every big emotional moment, and buoy every pivotal action. Some sequences are the stuff of top-notch sci-fi, others that of royal drama, and still others surreal and flush with raw emotion. But for all these tonal shifts, Coogler’s vision and Morrison’s camera keep it all cohesive, flowing and powerfully poignant. Simply put, Black Panther is absolutely majestic.
SOURCE: CBR
Black Panther manages to be both thrilling entertainment and incisive social commentary. It’s still a Marvel Universe escapist adventure with extreme car chases and pitched battles, but under all the stunts and effects is a timely drama about identity, isolation, immigration and a lot of the other issues currently dividing America and half of Europe. [4/4]
SOURCE: Toronto Sun
At a running time of over two hours, some may have quibbles on the pacing of the film, but each scene is either filled with a landscape that’s too gorgeous to ignore or an action scene where you want more. Marvel has given Coogler the latitude and tools to have Black Panther readers and fans be proud and where people can feel connected and entertained. [4.5/5]
SOURCE: BlackFilm.com
While the themes are deep, Black Panther is at the same time a visual joy to behold, with confident quirkiness (those aforementioned war rhinos), insane action sequences and special effects, and the glorious reveal of Wakanda, whose culture is steeped in African influences but which also offers a jaw-dropping look at what a city of the future could be. Let's not wait too long for a return trip. [4/4]
It has taken perhaps the safest commercial bet in cinema today – a new Marvel film – to finally give Afrofuturism its blockbuster due. Directed by Ryan Coogler with serious muscle and style, and magisterially imagined by production designer Hannah Beachler and costume designer Ruth E Carter, Black Panther makes you rue that it took this long for a studio to try it. [4/5]
SOURCE: Daily Telegraph
Black Panther isn’t just a triumph because it’s an important and unprecedented film, but because it’s also a fantastic superhero movie and a joy to watch. It’s a delicate, impressive balance. There are flaws to be found, but they are by and large the product of the Marvel mold; namely, the film is 20 minutes too long and has one-too-many minor antagonists, but they’re minor faults that do little to detract from Coogler’s overall success. This is a great Marvel movie, chock full of entertaining character beats and thrilling action. [A-]
SOURCE: Collider
For those of us who have sometimes felt pummeled by the parade of previous Marvel movies, the sheer richness of Coogler's film is almost disorienting. Can superhero films, so often a dull mash of effects, be this dazzlingly colorful? Are genuine cultural connections allowed in modern-day comic book blockbuster-making? Is a $20 billion refund in order? Unlike many of its more hollow predecessors, "Black Panther" has real, honest-to-goodness stakes. As the most earnest and big-budget attempt yet of a black superhero film, "Black Panther" is assured of being an overdue cinematic landmark. But it's also simply ravishing, grand-scale filmmaking.
SOURCE: Associated Press
Welcome to Wakanda, tiny fictional east African nation and home to a monarchical uber-civilisation of high-tech tribespeople who use laser-tipped spears, fly anti-gravity spaceships and ride into battle on top of armour-plated rhinoceroses. Oh yes, if you’re going to do the first black superhero movie of the modern era, this is how you do it. [4/5]
SOURCE: The Times
Passionately performed and lavish in its love for African culture, Black Panther is a franchise film with a distinct individual identity, and one that wants to mean something to those who watch it. When a group of black kids gaze up at the alien-like Wakandan aircraft shimmering in the sky above their California home, their eyes fill with wonder. In moments like these, we’re reminded just why representation matters. [4/5]
SOURCE: Radio Times
Race matters in “Black Panther” and it matters deeply, not in terms of Manichaean good guys and bad but as a means to explore larger human concerns about the past, the present and the uses and abuses of power. That alone makes it more thoughtful about how the world works than a lot of mainstream movies, even if those ideas are interspersed with plenty of comic-book posturing. It wouldn’t be a Marvel production without manly skirmishes and digital avatars. Yet in its emphasis on black imagination, creation and liberation, the movie becomes an emblem of a past that was denied and a future that feels very present. And in doing so opens up its world, and yours, beautifully.
SOURCE: New York Times
Coogler touches on deeper subjects regarding race and oppression while still realising that the main purpose of a Marvel movie is to entertain a mass audience. The result is a film that works just fine as an old-fashioned ripping yarn without ever forgetting its social conscience. [4/5]
SOURCE: Independent
With dialogue that deftly explores serious questions, such as how much if anything do wealthy countries owe the poor and oppressed of the world, "Black Panther" draws energy from Coogler's sense of excitement at all he's attempting. The result is a superhero movie that's worth seeing twice, and that is a rare sighting indeed.
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
When the sequel comes along, it would be nice if the charismatic Boseman had more to get his claws into. But if T’Challa doesn’t achieve much in his own movie, Coogler has achieved a phenomenal amount. As a Marvel blockbuster, Black Panther is vibrant, deftly assembled fun. As a step forward in the representation of black people in cinema, it’s a staggering triumph. [4/5]
SOURCE: BBC
Like Taika Waititi before him, Ryan Coogler gives the Marvel template a bold auteurist twist with an African extravaganza that packs a muscular intensity and challenges as much as it exhilarates. [4/5]
SOURCE: Empire Online
Coogler’s filmmaking isn’t flawless. The CG backdrops veer into screensaver territory, and the battle scenes are often shot in turbulent closeup; the last 30 minutes are so frenetic it feels like there are defibrillator pads sewn into the theater seats. But he infuses nearly every frame with soul and style, and makes the radical case that a comic-book movie can actually have something meaningful — beyond boom or kapow or America — to say. In that context, Panther’s nuanced celebration of pride and identity and personal responsibility doesn’t just feel like a fresh direction for the genre, it’s the movie’s own true superpower. [A-]
SOURCE: Entertainment Weekly
Running 134 minutes, it flags in places; the finale in particular could use some trimming. But throughout, Coogler keeps an ambitious number of balls in the air. Whether the movie will prove a watershed moment for diversity in Hollywood blockbusters remains to be seen. There’s little doubt, though, that the director has a serious claw-hold on scale and spectacle. [4/5]
SOURCE: Total Film
There aren't many superhero films that blow you away with thunderous effects and also tackle ethnic and gender issues, crush racial stereotypes, celebrate women and condemn Trump-era notions of exclusionism. It's easier and way more commercial to be oblivious. But that's not Coogler's style. Written and directed by African Americans who make up most of the cast, the film has taken flak from critics who believe that Marvel is hijacking African traditions to sell tickets, bemoaning the fact that the film was mostly shot in Atlanta instead of Africa. But the accusations ring hollow and ignore the mint-fresh inventiveness and passionate commitment to the black experience that's instilled in every frame. It's impossible not to cheer Boseman as T'Challa emerges as Marvel's once and future king. Say this about Black Panther, which raises movie escapism very near the level of art: You've never seen anything like it in your life. Wakanda forever! [4/5]
SOURCE: Rolling Stone
Black Panther delivers the goods as an adventure film, a political statement, and a cultural celebration. It shakes off a sluggish start thanks to a memorable cast of characters going up against Marvel’s best-realized villain in almost a decade. Some of the vibrance is drained by cartoonish visual effects that endanger the very human feel of the story, but the emotional weight of its themes and the cast’s compelling performances ultimately keep the film on track. Overall Black Panther is an exciting step forward for the MCU. Long live the king! [9/10]
SOURCE: IGN