Black Panther (2018) Review

BLACK PANTHER (2018) REVIEW

Hey, everybody! I know it’s been a long time since a review, but now, I’m gonna start posting content – such as reviews, articles, short films, music, and other things – more frequently. With that said, on with today’s review of Black Panther!

Black Panther is one of the most important comic book characters in the entire medium. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1966 for Fantastic Four #52, he has the distinction of being the first black superhero introduced in comics. Ever since then, he has become one of the most famous characters in comic book history, commonly put in multiple Best Superheroes of All Time lists from IGN and Wizard Magazine. In terms of a film adaptation of the character, that has been a long time coming. Wesley Snipes famously tried to bring the character to the screen in the 90s, but that unfortunately fell apart. Fortunately, after the Marvel Cinematic Universe introduced vibranium – the famous Wakandan metal – in Captain America: The First Avenger, it was only a matter of time before Black Panther would get his chance to shine. He made his first appearance in Captain America: Civil War, being many fans’ favorite part of that film and wetting their appetites for the feature film to follow. And now, his feature film – named Black Panther, of course – has made it across the finish line!

Set after the events of Civil War, T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) returns to his homeland of Wakanda – a technologically advanced African society hidden from the rest of the world – to assume the role of king. When he assumes the throne, he has the aid of his mother Ramonda (Angela Bassett), his best friend W’Kabi (Daniel Kaluuya), Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) his ex-lover and a Wakandan spy, Okoye (Danai Gurira) the leader of the Dora Milaje, and his technologically-versed younger sister Shuri (Letitia Wright). But when an old enemy, namely Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis, reprising his role from Avengers: Age of Ultron) shows up on the radar, T’Challa, Nakia, and Okoye travel to South Korea to intercept him. They succeed, but he is taken back by a soldier named Erik “Killmonger” Stevens (Michael B. Jordan), who has been working with Klaue for his own needs. So, T’Challa must team with CIA agent Everett Ross (Martin Freeman) in order to bring down Klaue and Stevens, who has secret connections to Wakanda (and no, I won’t spoil any more than that).

This movie…I feel like I’ve been waiting for this kind of Marvel movie for a long time. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m a big Marvel fan and I think all of their movies are good, but I don’t feel like a lot of them have risen to the level of “great” post-The Avengers (both Guardians of the Galaxy movies and The Winter Soldier being the exceptions). And maybe that’s because I feel they’ve been too slavishly devoted to the Marvel formula of “character work + Easter Egg references to other Marvel movies + tons of comedy”. Black Panther, however, stays mainly focused on the story at hand and contains only a small amount of references to other Marvel movies, and even then, those references are only made to catch the viewer up on the story. But aside from that, the film is laser-focused on T’Challa’s development as a king and the politics and intrigue surrounding his home country of Wakanda.

In fact, that’s another interesting aspect of this film: despite featuring the requisite action scenes involving Black Panther, this feels more like a political drama/spy movie than a superhero movie. And I mean that as a compliment. In a time where the public is getting inundated with superhero films that are mostly concerned with being action films, it’s nice to see one where the drama between the characters receives just as much attention as the action. As a matter of fact, you could pretty much call this film Wakanda because it feels almost as much like a character in the film as the other characters do, and the country itself – in terms of its politics – seems to go through a kind of arc throughout the course of film. Not only that, but Wakanda looks amazing. Black Panther takes the concept of Afrofuturism and pushes it to its technological limits. Everything from the vibranium mines to the maglev trains and the actual city looks absolutely magnificent, and DP Rachel Morrison (who collaborated with director Ryan Coogler on Fruitvale Station ) really knows how to show it off. Top it off with a score by Ludwig Goransson (another frequent Coogler collaborator), who expertly uses South African instruments and songs by Kendrick Lamar to back up a traditional score, and you’ve got yourself a great Afrofuturistic atmosphere unlike a lot you’ve seen before.

But a great-looking environment and great musical score can only go so far if the story isn’t up to par, and fortunately, that’s not the case here. The script – written by Coogler and Joe Robert Cole – like I said before, is not only focused on Black Panther and T’Challa, but it’s also focused on the politics of Wakanda. Ever since it came into being, Wakanda has been a staunchly isolationist country, refusing to offer any foreign aid to refugees and generally keeping to themselves. However, this age-old policy is called into question by both the antagonists (namely Killmonger) and the good guys (especially Nakia). And part of T’Challa’s character arc, without giving too much away, revolves around coming to grips with this ideology and the negative effects that it causes. And this is what makes good drama.

And all the actors pull their weight in helping to get this drama across. Chadwick Boseman still brings his A-game as T’Challa, Danai Gurira is strong as Okoye, Letitia Wright gives a potentially star-making performance as Shuri, Daniel Kaluuya’s role as W’Kabi goes to an interesting, unexpected place that I won’t give away, Lupita Nyon’go is great as Nakia, and Angela Bassett…well…it’s Angela Bassett, so she’s always gonna be great. In terms of the supporting characters, Forest Whitaker is appropriately mysterious as the shaman Zuri (even if it is a little similar to his role as Saw Gerrera in Rogue One), Martin Freeman does well in the fish-out-of-water role as Ross, and Andy Serkis looks like he’s having the time of his life playing Klaue again.

And yes, what you’ve heard is true. Michael B. Jordan is one of the best, if not the best Marvel villain to come along in a good, long while. See, the thing with a lot of these Marvel villains is that the actors portraying them always state in interviews how “they believe they’re doing the right thing”, which is usually shorthand for “this is supposed to be a sympathetic character” to one degree or another. Trouble is the films either usually don’t focus enough on the villain or the actor goes all in on the villainy, thereby erasing any potential for audience sympathy. But with Killmonger, not only is he an intimidating presence, but we totally understand why he’s doing what he’s doing and why he believes it’s the right thing. In fact, not to give anything away, but once you find out his motivations and his backstory, not only will you find yourself sympathizing with him, but you’ll even find yourself siding with him at times. I know I did.

I know that you’re probably wondering why I haven’t discussed any flaws with this movie. Well, there’s two reasons for that. One: the only minor problem I have with Black Panther would constitute a spoiler and involve me getting more political than usual. In fact, it really deserves an article of its own, so be on the lookout for that. The second reason is that the problems I can talk about without spoiling anything are so minor (some moments of iffy CGI, in case you were wondering) are just not that interesting to talk about with a film this well constructed.

What else can I say? The hype is true. Black Panther really is as good as you’ve heard. And I feel like it’s a film that came around at a time when we in the black community definitely need it. There are those out there who wonder why we’re so high on this film, so I’ll tell you why. It’s because we’re seeing a film with a mostly black cast where none of the cast members are beleaguered servants, it’s not a comedy, and it has just as much effort put into it as the other superhero films, if not more. And what I hope this will do is it will open the floodgates for more black directors, writers, producers, and artists of the like (myself included) to have the opportunity to get their unique visions funded. And if this new renaissance does occur, we’ll know that we have Black Panther to thank for it. So, bottom line: go see it. You won’t be disappointed.