Black Panther is a movie for the ages

Warning: This review contains spoilers.

Two things in this world go together better than peanut butter and jelly—Marvel and Chadwick Boseman. Marvel’s “Black Panther” hit theaters Friday, Feb. 16 and has come to be known as the best Marvel movie to date.

In its opening weekend, “Black Panther” made a whopping $202 million and made $108 million the following weekend. The movie has earned around $400 million within 10 days of release which makes it the third fastest grosser of all time behind “Jurassic World” ($404 million) and “The Force Awakens” ($540 million).

Marvel has done it once again with producing an amazing story line that is easy to follow and not complicated. The movie begins in Oakland, Calif. in the 1990s where someone is murdered and a boy is seen left alone.

This scene is basically the reason for everything that happens in the movie.

While the opening and premise of the movie is a bit cliché, the underlying themes of oppression and racism make all the difference. In an article written in Rolling Stone, director Ryan Coogler explained why he needed to make “Black Panther” after finishing the hit “Rocky” reboot “Creed.”

“The biggest thing for me was the themes of the story – letting them [Marvel] know where my head was at and making sure they would get on board,” Coogler said. “I was very honest about the idea I wanted to explore in this film, which is what it means to be African. That was one of the first things I talked about. And they were completely interested.”

Although the young filmmaker only had two movies under his belt, “Fruitvale Station” and “Creed,” he excelled at “Black Panther,” and I’m thrilled Marvel didn’t contact anyone else for the job.

The movie was cast perfectly, and I’m not just saying that because 99 percent of the cast was black, but because every person fit the role of their character. Boseman in Black Panther was a complete contrast to the T’Challa we saw in “Captain America: Civil War”. T’Challa aka Black Panther presented himself with the grace and dignity of a king, but was also very humble with his people which made him a likeable character.

In contrast, Michael B. Jordan as Erik Killmonger was the ideal candidate to represent the rage many African Americans feel toward white people. Jordan seemed very authentic in his role and it was hard to dislike him because as a black person it was really easy to relate to his feelings and understand why he felt the way he felt.

The best part of the movie was T’Challa’s little sister, Shuri. Letitia Wright brought Shuri’s humor, spunk and intelligence to life, and I couldn’t imagine anyone else as the iconic character. The comedic relief wasn’t over the top like we’ve seen in the past, but it was just enough and came right when it was needed.

The movie has become a huge part of black culture—hello, it’s the first black superhero this generation has seen on the big screen! That’s a huge deal for the black community who oftentimes sees African Americans portrayed as criminals in the media. To see a black man in a position of power and as a good guy provides the younger members of the black community inspiration to be like Black Panther. This movie is inspiring in more ways than one, and I for one, am glad that there is finally a movie about black people that isn’t about gang violence or drugs.

If you haven’t gone to see the movie that is demolishing the box office right now, I recommend that you do. Not just because you may be a huge Marvel fan, but to see a pretty accurate representation of black people that hasn’t been seen on the big screen before. Get ready to be welcomed into Wakanda!

Rating: 5/5 stars