Adam Lark
Black Panther is the first live-action film to star the very first black comic book superhero after his initial onscreen appearance in Captain America: Civil War for his first appearance without a title role. Even as a supporting character and a large piece of the puzzle for Captain America: Civil War’s narrative, audience members and critics alike agreed that this was a character with some serious and long-awaited potential to live up to. Now that we have a Black Panther with compelling intrigue from his initial appearance in Captain America: Civil War and a story expected to speak to the character’s true origin and the excitement of fans ready to know this character even more, does it live up to the hype? It beyond exceeds it. Here is my review of Black Panther.
Black Panther is a story about King T’Challa’s rise to the throne within a mere week after the events of Captain America: Civil War’s ending. Such exposition really grabs you into the story as if the events of Captain America: Civil War happened yesterday. God, how I love how Marvel does this with their chronology, and I am not being facetious. Even though T’Challa’s previous appearance in Captain America: Civil War was a requisite to the story, so much more unfolds here. Much of the story is persuasive in monitoring the previous events whilst setting up an origin story that is not necessarily run-of-the-mill. Rather, this story is actually built upon complications in rulership, the difficulties of Wakanda’s place in the world, and the importance of understanding racial injustice toward Africans in the world’s history. Granted, many of you reading this now are concerned that this will go one way or the other on political zeitgeist and, yes, the film is challenging. Not just in the name of entertainment, mind you. You are not forced to play political hot potato with anything, you are there to see through all of the characters’ eyes and motivations about how fucked things have been and always will be with human nature and responsibility as it is what it is. This film did this, arguably, like every MCU film to date on some level but this time it comes with a risk to make audiences challenge their very thinking. This taking of such a chance with our political climate as of now absolutely does a standup job that may be the most important example since the original Iron Man about showed us the horrors of arms dealing. Yes, evil is good gone wrong. There is much evil in the world, yet there is good to preserve and heal the world, regardless of the frame of reference. Black Panther’s focus is very real, raw and takes us away to a world of comic book adaptation to teach us things that are important about us in the real world and does not shy away from the real pain that exists. Anyway, back to the film itself.
T’Challa, played again with excellence by Chadwick Boseman, is surrounded by much responsibility after the death of Wakanda’s previous heir, T’Chaka. Most of the throne sits upon mountains upon mountains of Vibranium, the very metal that built T’Challa’s armament and is secretly held within the invisible nation of Wakanda. This precious resource allowed Wakanda to become the most advanced civilization on the planet and one that needs to remain intact due to the outer world’s tendencies of violent colonization and war. This weighs very heavy upon the young king as the earth has changed with newer sicknesses, malice from villains and also the very state of the oppressed. This forces the largest ultimatum upon T’Challa, become a benevolent leader to his nation as it has been upheld or sacrifice the riches with said benevolence waiting to be used against them by outsiders who wish of nothing but their own control? This decision is further complicated when Erik Killmonger surfaces with plans of his own Wakanda to come to pass.
Erik Killmonger, played expertly by Michal B Jordan, is extraordinary and lethal. We can call off the search for the MCU’s most sympathetic and capably destructive villain – a balance hard to earn and maintain. Like any great and extraordinary villain there comes an uneasy paradox: Do we relate to the villain’s motives? What caused his calamitious intentions? And perhaps the biggest question is, should one be in his shoes, is he right? That right there, mes amies, is quintessential to what can solve Marvel’s underlying problem with having compelling villains that are empathetic and threatening. That is how raw the history of the character feels and how well the character is written. Killmonger easily escalates the list of the MCU’s best villains. Both the acting on Michael B Jordan’s part and the well-written backstory are a perfect example of a villain done right.
Now, let’s break down more of the film. The cast was stellar. The chemistry between Lupita Nyong’o and Chadwick Boseman was excellent, Danai Gurira was incredible as Okoye with some of the sharpest battle moves the MCU has seen with a any MCU weapon (I… pun intended), Letitia Wright as Shuri was the funniest and smartest character of the film, Martin Freeman was great to see reprises his role from Civil War as Agent Everett K. Ross, Forrest Whitaker was a crucial emotional part of the film as Zuri that was excellent and Andy Serkis chewed the scenery like nobody’s fucking business as Klau. All was good there in the acting department. A great story is as good as that cast that conveys it.
The writing was stellar as well. However, I do have some simple gripes with the film’s ability to not feel forced at times with humor. There was a “make it rain” joke that might just be the most forced fucking joke of the MCU that was just lame. Referencing popular shit does not make it popular if it feels forced. I heard the biggest groans from the audience during the “make it rain” joke and a joke about “whipping” in reference to someone’s hair. An easy fix for this would be to enjoy the witty dialogue without any one liners that were forced. Many good jokes worked, especially between T’Challa and M’Baku. As for Black Panther the character, the pacing was just right with the film’s main narrative for T’Challa himself. We see his development in real time and all the daunting turn of events that come with it. T’Challa knows that not only himself is meant for greatness, but Wakanda. This enumerates so many things that would go through a newly crowned king that is faced with adversity. With Killmonger’s arc, we see the nature of the grey area of power, to wield it as one views as right within their own mind that seeks to destroy their torment. Fire versus fire in such cases may not be so cut and dry. Power that is used for change by Killmonger is not reserved for the sake of chaos, it is this use of power to destroy his own injustices that he himself experienced on his own terms.T’Challa understands his suffering, yet will never yield to his intentions under any circumstances. The true convictions of each character blind no one. They are clear and never stagnant. Heavy subject matter and this film pulls down the curtain effortlessly.
To play to the film’s strengths without considering the character action, given short of a few slips with CGI and jokes at certain moments, Black Panther nailed everything it set out to accomplish. The visuals are grand, the score is amazing with percussion and tribal influences sewn throughout, the character designs are on par with the best MCU films, the action was so intense and personal that you felt every hit on every mark, the dialogue is spectacular and the film’s overall storytelling is stunningly well done. The emotion of the film sets it apart from the MCU’s recent outings as this is not a typical yarn. This does have funny moments, immense moments of action, gracefully done chase sequences that will leave you stunned yet it has some moments that will make you ponder the nature of mankind and what was, is and will be to have the safety and strength to be held dear at the end of the day. During acts of war and even protecting what is yours durings times of peace, therein lies the embracing of the same collection of necessities to never be taken over. “Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure.” – Confucious.
Overall, Black Panther is definitely one of the MCU’s best films. Aside from a few forced and outdated jokes, it definitely takes it spot on my top 10 list for MCU movies. Yes, this film was needed in more ways than one something to shake most out of apathy about mankind’s treatment towards one another in this universe. Black Panther accomplished so much to teach us something with exciting action, heartfelt acting, a great score that was exactly what the movie desired, humor, visuals, dialogue and a great addition to a great fictional Universe with enough weight to be proud that it was released, black or not. This is honoring so much with the great vigor the MCU to teach us humanity and the film stands by it. A difficult feat indeed to give us a truly entertaining Marvel movie, great characters, amazing atmosphere and lessons on mankind’s place in the world and for its inhabitants. When times are hard, the wise build bridges and the foolish build barriers – and the fortitude of the film to make that ambiguous and even challenging when it counts is this movie’s paramount message. As history has foretold many generations since, a good king must act upon an act of kindness and an act of cruelty at any time to ensure a kingdom’s safety and prosperity. Black Panther carries the weight of real social issues and makes it unforgettable. That is the sign of a great film – the ability to challenge not only its characters, but YOU. The very moviegoer is meant to feel the weights and measures and it succeeds. Captain America: Civil War pushed us here with the morality of heroism at the expense of collatoral damage, Black Panther sent us back to the root of so much to consider conceptionally both real world and within this universe of what is right and can be done about what is wrong. Excellent story telling, great characters, impressive emotional weight and amazing visuals are just part of this great MCU addition and a more-than-worthy origin story for the books. Wakanda Forever.
Lark score 9.5/10
