Good Morning Lovelies, 

The first time I ever experienced a Ryan Coogler film was a few years ago in a small preview cinema when I was granted early access to Fruitvale Station. I didn’t know much about what it was about, but it really stuck with me. Then came Creed, which again became a huge feature in our home. So, when it was announced that he would be taking on Black Panther, as his third film, I was excited.

Since his first appearance in Captain America: Civil War, the Black Panther has been gathering excitement, as Chadwick Boseman’s teaser proved that he was ready to tell the hero’s story and ready he was. In 134 minutes, the world of Wakanda comes to life forever! And I mean forever, as my heart, my head and my life will never be the same again.

The film opens with a young king T’Chaka (John Kani) telling Boseman’s T’Challa about the origins of Wakanda, a secret technologically advance area, which gained its power after a vibranium meteorite crashed into it (told in the most stunning CGI work I have ever seen). Before being catapulted to California in 1992, the place where the real Black Panther movement was happening.

A group of young boys are playing basketball outside a block of flats. Unknown to them that a younger King T’Chaka has come to visit the Wakanda spies he has placed there. It is at this moment that the world and plot of Black Panther falls into place and everything comes to life, leading us into present-day Wakanda.

Preparing to be crowned king, T’Chaka starts his mission filled film by saving secret agent and ex-lover Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o), with the help of his scene-stealing General Okoye (Danai Guriria) and her army. These three rely on each other throughout the film, as they celebrate the coronation, battle together in the ritual combats and take on the dark villains Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) and Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis).


But they would be nothing without the incredible Leticia Wright (she will be getting that BAFTA Rising Star award next year, right?), who plays T’Chaka’s sister Shuri and the story’s tech genius, who provides the new Black Panther suit. And the rest of the award-winning cast members including, Daniel Kaluuya, Angela Bassett, Forest Whittaker and CIA agent Martin Freeman.

Each character is played with such strength and love that it has given birth to a new form of superhero. Boseman will forever be Black Panther. No one can take that away from him and no one will be allowed to. Whilst Nyong’o, Wright and Guriria completely and utterly steal the show in every moment that they are in. Girl power is high in Black Panther!

Told in the most stunning IMAX footage, CGI and realism you will ever see; the film goes from zero to hero in about 0.5 seconds. Coogler has breathed life over Wakanda that so many will be grateful for. It is a film that has changed the game and for all the right reasons. After the less than serious vibe of Thor: Ragnarok, this feature is very intense. But in a good way. Coogler has gathered the Black Panther world and given Marvel and film fans a lesson of epic proportions. He has created a world of beauty and wonder, all of which will be sure to inspire a whole host of future filmmakers and creators.

It has broken the mould of superhero films and given audiences a first in so many ways. From the gorgeous African scenery to the colours and textures of each shot, it feels like a Marvel feature, but it has an independence to it. A sense that the story being told doesn’t need anybody else (no other character from the Marvel universe features in it until a post credit scene by the way) and it works just fine without them.

Black Panther is a film that will never not be mentioned on best film lists now. It will be a film that will live on throughout the ages as the film that changed everything. It is a film that will give so many opportunities and filmmakers new inspirations. Stories have been opened, lives are about to be changed and this game-changing cinematic adventure will reign supreme over them all, leading them into a new wave of cinema!

And that is why I am giving it…