It’s been three days since I saw “Black Panther” but I took good notes and will review it as faithfully as I can. This movie has been out for some time now and many others have already reviewed it, but dammit, I love reviewing Marvel movies and maybe I can convince someone who’s still on the fence to go see it in the theater.
Black Panther is a different kind of superhero than other Marvel characters. How so? Well, he’s a king, born from a long lineage. Yes, Thor is one too, but unlike Thor, Black Panther actually takes an interest in his people from his childhood on and he’s not a drunken yahoo. He’s a peaceful king who draws his strength quite literally from the earth. A meteorite crashed into the savannah thousands of years before, in the land that became known as Wakanda, home to five tribes. The rock is solid vibranium, the strongest metal on earth (Wakandans call it “Isipia”, the gift). Inside metallic caves grow the heart-shaped herb, which the Black Panther drinks to receive superhuman strength and to journey to the astral plane and converse with the ancestors.
I’m kind of laying it on here with origin story prose, but it’s fun to remember the movie so richly and, also, I’m not going to write about stuff other reviewers have—the colonization and exploitation of Africa by the Western world for the last six hundred years, the reconciliation of the sins of the fathers in a royal lineage, and the marginalization and oppression of African Americans in the US and other places. All of that is in the movie and is certainly important, but I’ll leave it to other people to talk about. I like to write about plot holes, drum beats, and hairdos & don’ts.
King T’Challa/Black Panther is played by Chadwick Boseman, and he does a fine job with a complex character. His costumes, different royal robes and mind-fucking superhero suits, are gorgeous to look at and probably to touch—the badass new panther suit retracts into a claw necklace, and it can absorb and release energy (“kaboom”). I’m not sure how to go into any kind of plot summary with spoiling it all, so I’ll just stay with the sense perceptions (but you’ve been warned, I am going reveal some things). And the sensory offerings are juicy, the CGI’s next level. See this movie in the theater if you can.
The soundtrack was joyful, no other word for it. Drumbeats, chanting, singing, people dancing. The music swelled in the fight scenes, backed off when it needed to. Quick plot summary: Prince T’challa dad dies, he must defend his right to the throne in a fight on the edge of a steep waterfall. The new king learns quickly that it’s lonely at the top. Some of his friends turn distant and jaded, his lovely ex-girlfriend Nakia(Lupita Nyong’o) keeps him in the friend zone, and he’s got all this pressure.
The first trial of his reign is to haul a sketchy arms deal back to Wakanda to face justice for stealing vibranium and murdering Wakandans. This mission goes down in Seoul, South Korea. It’s jampacked with local neon color, ninja moves in a dark wood casino (that looks a little like a dojo), and fast car chases over suspension bridges. That might have been my favorite sequence of the whole movie, actually— Ryan Coogler, the writer/director kept this scene fast, tight, and sparkly. It was the most comic booky, with some shots that were like splash pages and spliced frames. Oh yes, and Stan Lee had his mandatory cameo in the casino scene, ganking chips at the roulette table.
Around here the King, his captain of the guard (“Okoye”, played by Danai Gurira), and Nakia (that’s the whole away team) run into a wimpy CIA agent (Martin Freeman). He takes a bullet for Nakia, so they bring him back to Wakanda to save his life. The king’s sister, Shuri (Letitia Wright) revives Martin Freeman with Wakanda’s secret sauce, vibranium. He wakes up in an undignified hospital gown and immediately starts making churlish remarks. I can’t remember his character’s name, so I’ll just call him Agent Cheeks. Other characters…Angela Bassett is the Queen Mother and Forest Whittaker is the high priest Zuri—both give fine performances, not overdone at all. Such great costumes too.
One theme in the film that I will try to talk about is men and women and what the hell do about us. The royal guard in Wakanda is female—the “Milaje”—and women have an equal place in the royal council, but the men are just as fierce. While there’s peace in the valley, harmony between the sexes is maintained. The gorilla tribe up in the mountains, which has rejected technology in favor of furry boots and a sleek wooden throne room (this tribe worships Hanuman, the Hindu monkey god), seems to have no women, or they are hidden. The men of the gorilla tribe grunt down opinions they disagree with and probably smell pretty ripe.
When a contingent of Wakandan men led by the second, heartless Black Panther (a ruthless, CIA trained killer with a real claim to the throne—skipping a bunch of plot here) tries to send weapons of war out of Wakanda to arm disenfranchised people around the world, the women stand in their way. An intense battle rages between men and women and the two Black Panthers—one silver, one gold. Only when the head of one of the five tribes looks around the field and sees women fighting for their lives, including his beloved—the captain of the guard, Okoye—does he throw down his sword. I had been weeping through some of the previews before “Black Panther” for some reason (including Mission Impossible 12 or 15, whatever), and this made me cry again.
The last scene of the movie takes place in the UN, where King T’Challa extends his hand in friendship to the world, offering to share the knowledge of his people. Unlike a lot of comic book movies, which end with a teaser for the sequel or some ominous weapon being unveiled (pretty much all the Avengers movies), this was a brave, vital scene. In spite of the UN’s actions in Africa, the CIA’s crimes, centuries of murders, and on and on, a young African king is willing to see all humanity as one tribe.
Oh, and for some reason I do not understand, so many people on IMBD (commonfolk, not actual film critics) gave this movie one star (of ten). One star is for a restaurant that serves you a ham sandwich with a cockroach in it, not a good movie you claim is "overhyped" (what the hell isn't in this world?). I'm giving "Black Panther" 4.5 stars outta 5. I was engaged the whole time, nothing felt off or slow, and it held its own against any other comic book movie.
