In 2018 the Marvel Cinematic Universe reached a point where it was no longer just breaking box-office records, but also where the critics, including the most hardened art-snobs who couldn't stand superhero films, were brought to their knees. That moment came thanks to the film Black Panther, which was unanimously and single‑mindedly hailed by critics as an epochal masterpiece on a par with Citizen Kane and The Godfather, and this attitude was reflected a few years ago in an ‘Oscar’ nomination that was unthinkable for such a genre. However, much like the box‑office records, this achievement had little to do with the quality of the film itself. Black Panther acquired its divine status even before its premiere, thanks to an extremely skilful propaganda campaign that made maximum use of the domestic political circumstances in the USA, namely the insistence on ‘political correctness’ and the righting of all the wrongs of American and world history. The titular protagonist of the film is black, and the director was Ryan Coogler, an African‑American filmmaker who had made a name for himself with the politically engaged film Fruitvale Station, dedicated to the suffering of African‑Americans at the hands of white police. Thus, Black Panther was not only pre‑subscribed to panegyrics, but also inoculated against all negative criticism, given that a bad word about this film would in many circles be interpreted as racism.
The titular protagonist, played by Chadwick Boseman, first appeared in the film Captain America: Civil War, where he was introduced as T’Challa, prince of the African nation of Wakanda, who is simultaneously endowed with superhuman powers. The film’s plot at the very beginning seeks to explain where those powers came from and what they have to do with the specificities of his homeland. To the rest of the world, Wakanda is a poor, remote and underdeveloped country surrounded by inaccessible jungles and mountains, which made it uninteresting to white colonisers and thus allowed it to preserve its independence. In reality, a meteorite containing vibranium had fallen on Wakanda millions of years earlier – a precious metal used to produce superior weapons, and on the basis of which the Wakandans created a superior technological civilisation. However, this civilisation is unknown to the outside world due to a policy of self‑isolation that T’Challa, after his father’s death and his ascension to the throne, seeks to maintain. The problem is that two decades earlier, supplies of vibranium were stolen by the South African mercenary Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis), with the help of people from within Wakanda itself. T’Challa, together with his associates, goes to South Korea to try to find Klaue, and there he encounters CIA agent Everett Ross (Michael Freeman), who reluctantly helps him. Klaue is captured, but then freed by his aide Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan), who it turns out has not only personal motives for his actions, but also plans to seize power in Wakanda and use its superior technology to take revenge on white nations and peoples for all the evil that black people have suffered throughout history.
At first glance, Black Panther could be understood as a kind of antithesis to Thor – i.e. Wakanda represents a kind of antithesis to Asgard – a fairy‑tale, wondrous paradise where, instead of blonde and blue‑eyed Nordic whites, only black people live. Many found the epochal nature of the film precisely in the banal fact that all the characters in the film are black, and that it attempts to address some serious global problems from the perspective of African‑Americans, or black people in general. The screenplay by Ryan Coogler and Joe Robert Cole thus seeks to confront the tragic past of colonial conquests, slavery, institutional racism, and its unresolved consequences in the form of poverty, drugs and crime. In doing so, it offers two opposing solutions to the problem – one embodied in racial solidarity, radicalism and violence directed against the oppressor, which more than half a century ago was symbolised by Malcolm X; the other is the path of compromise and non‑violence preached by Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela. Black Panther is distinguished by the fact that these two attitudes are clearly expressed and elaborated through the two main characters, but also that the screenplay does not automatically take sides in this debate – that both positions have their arguments and that the villain will have the opportunity to justify them right up to the end, and the audience will retain at least some understanding for him.
The political engagement of the screenplay – the attempt to talk about serious problems in a truly serious manner – is a great achievement for a film of this genre, but it also carries the risk of doing so at the expense of what matters most to the majority of the audience: colourful escapist entertainment. Black Panther mostly manages to avoid this trap, and not only because of the hundreds of millions invested in special effects, but also because of the creative resources that were able to come to the fore. This applies to the successful attempt to present Wakanda simultaneously as a super‑technological utopia, but also as a place that developed naturally and preserved ancient African traditions. An important role is played here by the skilful use of costumes, set design, props, and also the largely effective music of Ludwig Göransson. The direction is also mostly good, and this can come in handy in the scenes of T’Challa’s visions of meeting his deceased ancestors, which will remind some older viewers of the famous 1982 film Cat People. Coogler, however, is far less adept at action scenes, so some of them, such as the car chase in the middle of the plot, induce yawns, and even the final battle is not particularly impressive.
The cast, on the other hand, is mostly up to the task. Chadwick Boseman is excellent in the role of a Marvel superhero who distinguishes himself from all others by far greater responsibility and foresight, but also by statesmanlike charisma. Michael B. Jordan, otherwise one of Coogler’s regular collaborators, is more than a worthy adversary. Among the supporting roles, the Guyanese actress Letitia Wright stands out most as T’Challa’s geeky sister Shuri. Some other actors, however, were not so lucky – Martin Freeman mostly functions as a white ‘token’, i.e. his character is the equivalent of the black characters who in earlier times served solely to fill a racial quota. Black Panther is far from the unquestionable masterpiece it was described as, but its quality testifies that even a franchise as calculated as Marvel’s can afford something more than mere fist‑fighting.
RATING: 7/10 (+++)
(Note: The text in the original Croatian version is available here.)
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