Directed and co-written by Ryan Coogler, who has already been on a
roll with noteworthy films like Fruitvale Station and
Creed, takes on the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Black
Panther, one of the better entries to date. Working well
as a standalone film, a mix of James Bond, war epics, Shakespearean
intrigue and requisite comic book antics, Black Panther
stakes its own claim as being a mix of formula and new ground in the
so-called superhero cinema arena, and one that has plenty of relevant
themes to ponder once it is all said and done.
Chadwick Boseman (Gods of Egypt,
Get On Up) stars as T'Challa, who we were introduced to in his
brief appearance in Captain America: Civil War. After his
father, King T'Chaka (Kani, The Ghost and the Darkness), is assassinated, T'Challa ascends to the throne
as king of the (fictional) majestic African nation of Wakanda, a
proud, protectionist nation that that had never been colonized by
European influence, and which prides itself on isolationist policies
that keep themselves self-sustaining and avoiding getting into
protracted wars. Becoming king also bestows upon the king the powers
of the Black Panther, though his threats aren't physical so much as
political, having to deal with not only external forces who want to
use Wakanda's stash of the worlds hardest and most powerful metal,
vibranium, to their advantage, but also within Wakanda, among those
who feel that they have a responsibility to share their advancement
with the world to help those who desperately need its harnessed powers
to heal, or, more extreme, to use their secretive wealth in resources
and weapons technology to right centuries of wrongs for people of
African descent around the world through a revolution.
Praise has come from those more sensitive to the issue about how
Coogler is able to craft his high price-tag tale without the need to
put in a white male lead in a major role, with most speaking parts
going to actors of different nationalities, but descendants of Africa.
Going the extra mile, Coogler also pushes forward several strong
female characters who are noble, intelligent, fierce and heroic, but
also grounds them as separate and distinctly female entities, rather
than just generic roles that just happen to be played by women.
The supporting characters are usually an afterthought, but in
Black Panther, they are so well drawn that they seem every bit as
interesting, perhaps even more so, than the main protagonist himself,
who is either mostly masked or obvious CG during his battle sequences,
whereas we are always aware as the women fight, with full acting and
facial expressions to root us into their fight in the moment.
Coogler not only handles the large-scale epic direction with finesse,
but the building blocks of his storytelling as well, co-scripted by
Joe Robert Cole (Amber Lake). We get some of the story as it plays in the
present, but we also see key pieces that shade that present with
flashbacks to the past. Coogler ups the intrigue as the film
plays, with each new piece of the puzzle put together to deliver
impact, and to change what we know about these characters in ways that
give the entire story a surprising amount of nuance, given the amount
of characters to follow, as well as the wider scope of the
international politics. It leaves you wanting more without
feeling
There is also an interesting villain. Not necessarily the deadly
master thief known as Ulysses Klaue (Serkis,
Star Wars: The Last Jedi), whose missing arm is supplanted
by a powerful prosthetic weapon, played with gusto by Andy Serkis, but
in American black ops assassin Erik Killmonger, portrayed by Coogler-favorite
Michael B. Jordan (Fantastic Four,
That Awkward Moment) in a way that exposes his intentions to do great
harm, but also reveals a tortured and twisted vulnerability and inner
pain in terms of what fuels his rage. Unlike most Marvel
villains, who have little nuance as far as their evil intentions, Killmonger has a rationale for his malevolent acts, and a certain
sympathy beyond this, that makes the film more a struggle for
political ideas than it is just a black-and-white fight between good
guys and bad guys. In the battle between the man born to possess
everything, because he was born into royalty in a nation full of
wealth, and the other, in the inner city, who has nothing, it's an
interesting
With solid actors, good writing, vibrant costume work, a terrific
score from Coogler-regular Ludwig Goransson (Central
Intelligence, Stretch), humor that's delivered with refreshing
subtlety, and Coogler's taut pacing that also takes the time to build
up its scenarios, Black Panther succeeds at delivering an
unlikely solo effort in the superhero genre, and leaves skeptics and
those completely unaware of the characters within the comic books
hungry for more.
-- There are two extra scenes during the credits (one mid-credits and
one post-credits)
Qwipster's rating:
©2018 Vince Leo
