Black Panther: 10 Reasons Why It's The Most Important Marvel Film Yet

3. The Action Feels Genuine

Black Panther Ulyesses Klaue
Marvel Studios

Ryan Coogler's MCU project might boast a lot of CGI (at times, to its detriment), but Black Panther still knew how to pack a punch when it had to.

Having directed Creed, itself heralded for both its drama and the authenticity of its fight scenes, Coogler was well equipped for making Black Panther a truly compelling action film. The choreography is fast, frenetic and is - at times - more violent than earlier MCU efforts. The fights between T'Challa and M'Baku in the first challenge to the throne, and between the King and Killmonger in the subsequent battle, are among the MCU's very best.

The stakes are real, it's a life or death scenario, and both sequences feel convincing.

Then there's the car chase in South Korea, which was already enjoyable thanks to Shuri's involvement, but is made even better by the way it's shot. Klaue's, well, claw, reduces Nakia and Okaye's reinforced vehicles to smithereens (leading to a hilarious shot where Nyong'o's character is left with the car-seat and wheel), and T'Challa has to get creative with his suit in order to catch up with them.

It's all shot really well, with big, frenetic battles being balanced out by more personal confrontations. The best of both worlds, really.

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Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.