Things changed when the MCU
began, with Black Panther on the list of 10 films Paramount was to distribute.
It ultimately ended up on the shelf until the casting of Chadwick Boseman as the
titular character was announced in 2014. The film was passed by various
directors, until it landed with Ryan Coogler, who had recently written and
directed Creed.
Coogler also co-wrote the
script with Joe Robert Cole, who had previously pitched stories for a War
Machine and Inhumans which weren’t picked up for various reasons. He’d recently
written and produced The People vs O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story
Made on a $200m budget, the
movie surpassed all expectations delivering a $1.35bn box office, over $700m
from the US. It’s also one of the best rated Marvel movies with a 97% rating
with an average score of 8.26/10, though audiences were slightly harsher with a
79% although with a similar average score of 4.1/5
Black Panther won many
accolades, being nominated for 7 academy awards, including best picture, and
ended up winning for its original soundtrack, costumes and production design.
It probably would’ve been a better win than Green Book.
Black Panther tells the
story of T’Challa, made King of the nation of Wakanda after his father’s death
in Civil War, and is now the guardian of the Country’s massive mound of
vibranium (capable of doing impossible things such as: instantly heal bullet
wounds, create shoes that don’t make any sound (that never actually has a
purpose), stop cars, form com-links with limitless range, remote control
vehicles, create armour that’s virtually indestructible and fire sonic blasts)
and must decide how to handle this responsibility. Things are made more
difficult with the arrival of Killmonger, the son of a Wakandan killed by the
king for treachery who grew up with the hardships of black life in America and
wants to use Wakanda’s resources to do something about it.
Black Panther’s story is
fairly basic when you boil it down. If you’re any fan of Marvel shows you’ve
seen Black Panther fight someone in ritual combat, lose but then claw his way
back and ultimately win. Usually it’s M’Baku who has been reimagined in this
film is someone whose character has less racist undertones. I actually really
like what they did with M’Baku, he’s not a despot, he does of course challenge
for the leadership, but he fights fairly and accepts his defeat. He’s a man of
honour and has the Jabari tribe to back him up.
I’m gonna say something controversial
now: I think Black Panther does a better job at female empowerment than Captain
Marvel does. There are 3 supporting female characters in the film, and all of
them are awesome. Shuri is the tech wiz and extremely excitable and
progressive, whilst sometimes at the expense of tradition. The only forced
moment I can’t behind is “What are those?” Don’t do that again Marvel, memes
are relevant for less time than your production cycle, also don’t use memes
ever, it’s always tacky.
Okoye is the leader of the
royal guard. She’s stern, always focused on the mission at hand and is a
powerful fighter. She’s also loyal to the throne of Wakanda to the point where
she considers for a moment siding with Killmonger when he gains the throne,
only conceding when she saw that T’Challa was still alive and had an excuse to
betray him as the ritual didn’t complete itself. My only gripe with her is her
relationship with W’Kabi which amounts to a full 2 lines of the film.
Nakia is the most involved
of the 3, an intelligence operative who doesn’t see the value of returning home
when so many need her out in the world. She is also T’Challa’s sorta love
interest, though it’s only brought up a few times. She is the one to stand by
T’Challa’s family after he falls to Killmonger, saving his family and
ultimately the future of the Black Panther. Each of them is unique and has
something plot-related to do whilst all being strong women in their own right.
(And they didn’t need “I’m just a girl” to do it)
This movie also earns respect
for the villains. We’ll start with Klaue. I barely remember him from Age of
Ultron as he was a bit of a footnote in that story, thankfully they remind us
early on that he stole vibranium from Wakanda and that’s all we really need to
know. Andy Serkis’ performance in this is certainly memorable, he is over the
top to a degree that even Hela would be jealous of. I love that he comes out of
a firefight, screaming ‘that was awesome’ like an excitable child. He’s
definitely among the more entertaining Marvel villains.
Killmonger is the main
villain of the movie, and it’s Michael B Jordan redeeming himself for
Fant4stic. Killmonger is definitely not a morally grey character. He’s involved
in murder early on, joins up with Klaue’s crew, gets a ‘girlfriend,’ rescues
Klaue from activity only to kill him and the entire crew, including his
‘girlfriend’ and kills a respected Wakandan elder. But, much like with Tombs,
he kinda has a point. His argument that Wakanda had turned their back on the
world as things went to sh*t (although there’s no explicit references to
particular events) is a solid one and his solution, whilst potentially
devastating would work.
Killmonger’s origin doesn’t
stop at the death of his father, it’s enough to fill his heart with hatred but
they then add his involvement in wars and being a member of the secret service
to justify his skill level being on par, if not superior to T’Challa. He is a
fleshed out villain, relatively smart and skilled, without taking too much time
away from the heroes.
Because the moral debate of
this movie is about opening up to the outside world, they needed someone to
represent the outside world and choosing Everrett K Ross, who had a
semi-established connection to Black Panther (they met in Civil War), was a
good one. I have little to say about him but he seems relatively competent,
rather than the comic relief he apparently is in the comics.
T’Challa himself has to struggle
with the weight of all the reveals throughout the movie, and make decisions
about the kind of ruler he is to be. Given the way I’ve seen Black Panther in
media, it’s good that Chadwick Boseman can show him being emotionally
vulnerable. T’Challa is one of the few Marvel protagonist who doesn’t go for
the punchlines, which is enough in an of itself to make this film stand out.
It’s not lacking in humour, but it doesn’t border on a full on comedy like the
first 2/3 of Thor Ragnarok did.
The Oscars Black Panther won
are well deserved. The Production Design, Costumes and Music help to create an
atmosphere unique to Wakanda. I like that each of the 5 tribes of Wakanda have
their own unique designs and weapons. Also props to the visual effects teams
for making Wakanda look really nice, but now we move onto the negatives
The negatives I have with
this film all stem from the climactic battle. The CGI on the armoured rhinos
looks sh*t, and the Black Panther fight in the vibranium mound does not hold up
well either. It just becomes another Marvel climax with a big fight with lots
of CG. Not everything is bad, we get more M’Baku which isn’t a bad thing.
Okoye’s dialogue is badass, they even give Everrett something to do in all
this.
Black Panther is among Marvel’s
strongest movies, elevating a relatively simplistic story with memorable
characters, strong villains, some good action scenes, and a relatively
interesting ongoing theme. The acting is stellar with memorable dialogue but
it’s slightly dragged down but it’s CG-heavy climax
Rating 85/100
We’ll continue with Marvel
movies another time, but since we’re not doing a full theme month in June
anymore, let’s do a movie marathon. Coming next week: The Jurassic Parkathon
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