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Despite all the talk of “superhero fatigue”, Marvel movies are still event films. Even before I picked up a Moviepass, any movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) was still something I made a point to see quickly in the theater regardless of my mood. Even as I fall behind on their Netflix shows (when picking the latest show to stream with my special someone, we didn’t even think to consider watching the one we left off on which I think speaks volumes), their cinematic offerings are some of the biggest events of the year and with only two exceptions (the lackluster Iron Man 2 and the barely acceptable Thor: The Dark World), they have also been consistently entertaining at the least with a number of them achieving something more.
But the hype around Black Panther has been something else. A significant portion of that for me comes from the people responsible for the film. Ryan Coogler is responsible for the great Fruitvale Station and for making the best Rocky film since at least the original in Creed. Any film he made next was going to be on my must watch list. Add in a cast including Chadwick Boseman, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, current Oscar nominee Daniel Kaluuya, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker, Sterling K. Brown, and the always great (and defined by his collaborations with Coogler) Michael B. Jordan as the villain, and it would take some rather lackluster reviews for me to not be there opening week. The cinematography comes to us from Rachel Morrison who just received the first Oscar nomination for a female DP for Mudbound and a well-deserved one at that. That perhaps the most critically acclaimed rapper working today (Kendrick Lamar who I make regular attempts to get into) produced the soundtrack shouldn’t be a mere footnote in the film’s hype and yet here we are.
For most though, it is not the people who made this film that have the attention at a fever pitch or rather it is not the quality of their previous work. It’s that this is a superhero film starring and directed by Black creators. In an era where the film industry is under fire for its lack of proper representation, it’s about damn time the MCU sees its first Black star. As I said before, these MCU films are some of the biggest of the year, and so it is a chance to define the year early around a non-white lead and to prove that these films can make money. Black Panther is hardly the first Black led superhero film, the forgettable Abar, the First Black Superman, The Meteor Man, the underrated if minor Blankman, the ultra-dated Spawn, the execrable Steel, Blade (the first two were very good), the misguided failure Hancock, and the solid Sleight, (I think we can all agree Catwoman never happened) all came first, but this is easily the highest profile one.
Since Thor went and became Guardians of the Galaxy, it’s only natural that Black Panther would go and become Thor. As a defender of the first film in that series, this delights me, but it basically confirms my belief that everyone would have loved that movie if it had stopped not long after the fish out of water bits. The amount that this film feels reminiscent of the first and third films in that series is impossible to ignore. The Shakespearean family drama (complete with traitorous brother), similar blending of sci-fi and traditional visual design, similar futuristic craft, similar towering futuristic city design of Thor, the intentionally forgotten family member, the elite group of female soldiers, and the stylized flashback scenes of Thor: Ragnarok (not to mention a conclusion that visually made me think of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2). In fact, it’s clear that Black Panther looked toward their most unquestionably successful villain (Loki) and did the best they could to use him as a model for Michael B. Jordan’s Killmonger.
The main difference is that this is decidedly African as opposed to the Norse overtones of Thor. Frankly, the fact that they embraced the African heritage instead of trying to lean away from it is visually the most interesting thing they did and serves as a lesson in why it is essential to have Black representation behind the camera on such projects. In other hands, it would be very easy for certain design and tribal elements to come off as cringeworthy at best, racist as worst, but in Coogler hands they come across as pure pride. They are just a matter of fact instead of the subjects of gags with the jokes that do exist them mostly being the product of one younger character’s minor rebellions.
The film is set in the hidden nation of Wakanda or rather hidden might be the wrong word. Instead, it is a city which despite its advanced technology, instead seeks to hide itself in plain site as a third world nation best known for where they got the Vibranium for Captain America’s shield. In reality, it is the rest of the world which is the third world, and what was thought of as all the Vibranium in the world being in Cap’s shield, is but a tiny fraction of their immense deposits. What is merely a nifty flip on the surface (“What if an African nation was really the most powerful nation in the world”), spurs most of the plot. It’s a history of the US foreign relations on fast forward as an isolationist nation must determine if it wants to stay that to ensure the safety and neutrality of its nation (pre-WWII US and certain groups since), use its technology and power to help the underprivileged around the world (the idealized US foreign policy since that war), or use that might to overthrow the oppressive leaders and give weapons and power to those underprivileged (the actual US foreign policy since the war). The fact that the main villain is American and a product of those beliefs (as much as he wishes to oppose them) is not lost on the film.
T’Challa/Black Panther made his debut in Captain America: Civil War, a key figure in the registration program, but more notably, he is determined to get revenge on the Winter Soldier for his (mistaken) involvement in the death of his father T’Chaka. It was a crowded movie but Boseman made a compelling debut. Black Panther also returns Martin Freeman and Andy Serkis (in a live action role) from Avengers: Age of Ultron, but otherwise this is a whole new cast. And what a cast it is. Boseman and the rest of the talented actors are wonderful of course with seemingly everyone given a chance to show off their abilities both dramatically and comedically, but two of the funniest and most compelling performances come from two relative unknowns in Letitia Wright and Winston Duke (who I best know from a recurring stint on Person of Interest). They convey such confidence and fun in both dialogue and physicality.
Boseman’s T’Challa maintains even more of the reserve and quiet dignity which separates him from the rest of his MCU brethren, but he also plays conflicted without hamming it up. It’s his villains though that for once shine the brightest. The MCU has received a reputation for the lack of strength in villains that is both deserved and a bit unfair. It’s unfair in that most of the heroes have multiple films to develop as characters and the pressure is more heavily on them to carry their respective series (as well as the Avengers films), but it’s impossible to deny that so many of them are forgettable and interchangeable. The Loki’s and Helmut Zemo’s with actual shading and motivation are few and far between in this universe. I won’t pretend Serkis’ Klaue is all that deep, but he sure is a ton of fun to watch and steals every scene he appears in. However, Jordan’s Killmonger is seemingly influenced by both Loki and Zemo (mostly for reasons which I can’t get into more here) and manages to craft someone interesting and also with actual layers. The film shows rather than just tells with him and not only do you understand where he’s coming from, he has a way of drawing out sympathy for him.
That representation isn’t just reduced to giving voice to Black characters though, it is also easily the film that gives the most female representation to date. Instead of just maintaining the one resident badass woman fighter per film (or maybe two in a couple cases if you count Sharon Carter’s somewhat underdeveloped one) and calling it a day, this film goes much further than that. The chief science tech (well seemingly the only one), both of the lead action supports to Black Panther, the aforementioned elite fighting force (who isn’t just murdered in a flashback), the seedy club owner, and of course the still living mother of the King are all female. Sure, the villains are almost entirely male and most of the tribe leaders are as well, it is still remarkably well rounded in character types. They even decide to give the female badasses actual character traits beyond “female badass” and are able to differentiate them from each other effortlessly.
Lastly, on to the intangibles. The cinematography by Morrison may not be Mudbound pretty, but it’s impressive none the less. It falters a bit in the action sections, but for the MCU, it is still decidedly above average. The soundtrack is pitch perfect though and while it isn’t going to be something that I seek out to listen to outside the movie, I don’t think there’s a superior score in the MCU, and the soundtrack is likely only behind the soundtrack driven Guardians of the Galaxy films in quality. It’s also one of the best paced of the universe as there is never really a point in the film where it sags. The basic plot beats are all still here, but I never found my mind mentally going “and here’s the part of the film where _____ happens”, the formula just felt natural.
I won’t say that Black Panther is about to pass the latter two Captain America films, they remain the gold standard of what this franchise can produce, but I can say that it shares the trait they have where they at once feel a part of and above the universe. The film feels meaningful and memorable and stands alone as a film, yet it feels wholly integrated to the world it inhabits. In fact, the central driving force of isolationism that motivates most every character mirrors the debate over films in the MCU world itself. To embrace the overarching story or to mostly ignore that outside world. Thankfully, Black Panther shows that it’s possible to take the middle option in both debates, no matter how hard that is to achieve.