Black Panther is not your typical Marvel movie, let alone your typical superhero movie. Some have already called it one of the studio's best films, and one of the best of its kind in general. In fact, it doesn't feel like a superhero movie, perhaps at all.
To get right to the point, Black Panther (based on the 1960s-based comic book series created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby) is arguably the first great movie of the year. It's a piece of popcorn entertainment that stands on its own apart from a recent run of cinematic universes some may call "Marvel-itis". (This is something that last year's Wonder Woman got right as well.)
It may be the first comic book-based film with a predominantly black cast (not to mention a talented director in Ryan Coogler, who also made Fruitvale Station and the Rocky spinoff Creed), but it also proves to be a very universal film that expertly balances themes of culture, leadership, geopolitics, and past mistakes coming back to haunt you, while delivering jaw-dropping cinematography (from Rachel Morrison), music (some courtesy Kendrick Lamar), production design (how about those waterfalls?) and visual effects, as well as first-rate action sequences. The South Korean club fight and proceeding car chase (complete with warrior chant music), for one, are a knockout!
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| "I accept your challenge." |
The setting is a third-world African nation known as Wakanda, and the story centers on the prince-turned-king, T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman), who succeeds the throne following his father's death (as seen in 2016's Captain America: Civil War). Boseman (who has become synonymous with playing such real-life figures as Jackie Robinson, James Brown, and Thurgood Marshall for the last half-decade) superbly and believably plays T'Challa as a character who is fierce, determined and endearing, while also conflicted, vulnerable, and capable of mercy, compassion, and justice.
The film also includes the most three-dimensional and engrossing adversary in a long while, in Erik Killmonger (a riveting Michael B. Jordan), whose theme music combines hip-hop with orchestral. His misguided view of power, control, leading, and a sense of who and/or what is "lost," sets him on a path of destruction (though not the kind that involves skybeams and blowing up the world, thankfully). His character arc represents what one's mistakes can create, and contrarily the choice to not let those mistakes make us.
Without spoiling anything really, the theme of different actions, choices, and mistakes of two different fathers onto their children is powerfully expressed and and subtly debated. "No man is perfect," assures T'Challa's love interest, Nakia, "You cannot let your father's mistakes define who you are. You get to decide what kind of king you are." Various characters, in fact, question and challenge what should be done with their country's resources (e.g., vibranium): just keep it from the world or share it for sake of poor or struggling communities? The complexities of loyalty and responsibility ("serving" a country versus "saving" it) are equally well-played, as is the theme of turning tragedy into hope by using resources the right way. "In times of crisis," T'Challa tells us, "the wise build bridges, but the foolish build barriers."
Speaking of Wakanda, this is one of the most amazing cinematic places I've been to in a long while (right up there with Gotham City and Thymescira). To see such sequences on an IMAX screen are a rare spectacle. Its mythology and history is thoroughly engrossing, from its African roots to its five tribes and ancient gods to technology to what the "Black Panther" itself and the heart-shaped purple herb represent.
And I can't talk about this place without mentioning the impeccable and phenomenal cast that populates it. Just about every principal player showcases enough depth to get audiences invested. In other words, no characters here are ever dull (well, maybe one) nor are fleeting ingenues. Along with Bosman and Jordan, the incredible talents and contributions of Lupita N'Yongo (as spy Nakia), Angela Bassett (as Wakandan queen Ramonda), Forest Whitaker (as advisor Zuri), Leticia Wright (a breakout scene-stealer as T'Challa's sister, Shuri), Dania Gurira (as army general Okoye), Martin Freeman (as CIA agent Everett Ross, also seen in Civil War), Andy Serkis (as arms dealer Ulysses Klaue, last seen in Avengers: Age of Ultron), Daniel Kuluuya (as second-in-command W'Kabi), Winston Duke (as warrior M'Baku), and Sterling K. Brown (as T'Challa's uncle N'Jobu) couldn't be better.
The resulting film is not only a testament to Lee and Kirby for a revolutionary character to begin with, but also to producer (and Marvel Studios CEO) Kevin Feige for entrusting Coogler in making a different kind of movie, now officially a piece of cinema history. In a word, it's awesome!
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