Marvel Studios
The last few Marvel movies have been all about the spectacle, cramming as much into the movie as possible sometimes successfully (Thor: Ragnarok) and sometimes a little less so (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2; Avengers: Age of Ultron). I enjoy the superhero movies with special effects and big action scenes but it seems that the stories are to a point where they service the effects instead of the other way around. And now Marvel’s latest offering, Black Panther, is here and I really wasn’t sure how I was going to react. Of the Marvel movies, this was the one I had the least interest in just because I don’t really know all that much about the character except what I saw in Captain America: Civil War.
Having seen the movie I can now say that Black Panther is a breath of fresh air, probably one of my favorite MCU movies of them all, so far. I think it was smart of Marvel to give us Black Panther’s ‘origin story’ in Civil War because we don’t have to go through all that stuff in his first stand-alone movie. And make no mistake, this is a completely stand-alone film that only references the explosion that killed T’Challa’s father in Civil War in flashback with nary another Marvel superhero in sight. This allows us to be completely invested in T’Challa’s story and the world of Wakanda. The only other tie to a previous Marvel film is the villain Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis) who first appeared in Age of Ultron.
Black Panther finds T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) preparing to take the throne following his father’s death. But the various tribes of Wakanda are permitted to challenge him with their own representative. None of them do until M’Baku (Winston Duke) throws his hat into the ring, but even without his Black Panther powers, T’Challa not-so-easily wins the match. Then he must focus on Klaue, who is selling vibranium — Wakanda’s source of power — on the black market. CIA Agent Ross (Martin Freeman, also first seen in Civil War), is undercover in Busan, South Korea to make a deal with Klaue for what he believes is the last of Wakanda’s vibranium, but that deal is interrupted by T’Challa and his team who want Klaue for themselves. But when Klaue reveals to Ross that the Wakandans have only just barely scratched the surface of their vibranium reserve, he become more interested in just what exactly is going on in what he thinks is a Third World country. Unfortunately, Ross is seriously injured during a rescue attempt by Klaue’s henchmen and T’Challa is forced to bring him back to the real Wakanda. But there’s more to the story than Klaue as T’Challa learns the truth about his father’s actions with his own brother, and a nephew who was left behind in Los Angeles. That nephew is now the grown Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) and he has a bone to pick with T’Challa, seeking his rightful place on the Wakandan throne while also seeking justice for their people who have been marginalized around the world.
Black Panther has some great action scenes, but this story focuses more on the palace intrigue than anything else. Klaue plays a pivotal role in the story but he’s not the main ‘big bad’ of the film, and I found that little twist refreshing because the story zags when I really thought it was going to zig. The script, by Ryan Coogler (who also directed) and Joe Robert Cole, has a great balance of family drama, action and humor, giving us the film’s best character in Shuri, T’Challa’s sister who is sort of the Q to T’Challa’s Bond (and taking the whole superhero aspect out of the story, this really could play as a Bond movie). I don’t know much about Letitia Wright, who has appeared on the TV series Banana, Cucumber and Humans, but I can see her star on the rise after her breakout role in Black Panther. She steals every scene she’s in and I’m curious to see how she’ll be used in Avengers: Infinity War.
Besides the terrific script and solid direction (and Marvel is hitting it out of the park with their choices of directors lately, including the Russo Brothers, James Gunn and Taika Waititi) and original songs by Kendrick Lamar, the movie is filled with a who’s who of great black actors — Boseman, Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Daniel Kaluuya, Sterling K. Brown, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker — who really help elevate Black Panther above a typical superhero movie. I know that in our current political climate there has been some hate directed at the movie because of its predominantly black cast, and Coogler’s intent to ask what it means to be African, but this is the superhero we need now, one that we can all embrace regardless of his or our skin color or heritage. Wonder Woman gave females a superhero to embrace, Black Panther gives black audiences their own superhero, but as a people we should all be able to embrace and accept these characters universally. Gender and race should have no meaning at this point in our history, but they sadly still do. It’s important to have these characters who reflect all aspects of our civilization but they should not be exclusive to those groups. Wonder Woman became the most successful of the DC Comics’ movies by bridging the gender gap, and hopefully Black Panther will be able to rise above the internet troll hatred and become a beacon for all audiences.
Black Panter has a run time of 2 hours 14 minutes and is rated PG-13 for prolonged sequences of action violence, and a brief rude gesture.
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