Directed by: Ryan Coogler
Starring: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o, Forest Whitaker, Angela Bassett, Daniel Kaluuya, Andy Serkis, Martin Freeman, Sterling K. Brown, Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright
Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) was first introduced in Captain America: Civil War and stood out as particularly bad ass. He was played with a smoldering intensity by Boseman, who before then was mostly known for playing Jackie Robinson and James Brown in wheezing biopics 42 and Get on Up. (He has since added Marshall to that list). When news of a Black Panther standalone film was announced, I was eager to see it to find out more about this intriguing hero. The film doesn't stand out as anything special. It is well-made, with plenty of fights, CGI, and interesting gadgets, but you have to wonder why a nation as technologically advanced as the one which Black Panther hails from still uses spears to fight with?
We learn Black Panther (alias T'Challa) is soon to be crowned king of Wakanda, an African nation which to the outside world appears to be a poor African nation, but its vast jungle hides a technologically superior near-utopia, with futuristic weapons and modes of transportation made with a metal called vibranium, which is stronger than any other metal on Earth. I'm guessing the metal is pretty lightweight also. The evolution of Wakanda is described in the prologue as the beneficiary of a vibranium-rich meteorite which struck central Africa. Wakanda keeps its vast resources secret by not accepting any outside aid from other nations and not offering help either. Black Panther begins shortly after the events of Captain America: Civil War, with T'Challa still grieving the loss of his father in an explosion at the UN building. On the day of his coronation, T'Challa follows the longstanding Wakandan ritual of allowing those from other tribes to challenge him to a mano y mano battle. One does and T'Challa wins, but this sets the stage for a later battle with an outsider nicknamed Killmonger (Jordan), who we learn has a connection to Wakanda first established in the prologue during events in 1992 Oakland, and wishes to possess the throne of Wakanda. I will leave for you to discover what they are, mostly because recapping them here would take an extra couple of paragraphs and cause you to zone out.
Killmonger, refreshingly, isn't out to rule the universe, but to make Wakanda's vast secret resources available to the oppressed all over the world. He isn't a nice guy, he marked his body with unsightly bumps each time he killed someone during his tours of duty in Iraq and has enough marks to make Chris Kyle envious. He is a malignant ruler, setting fire to (literally and figuratively) to Wakanda's traditions, and of course defeating T'Challa in hand-to-hand combat and leaving him for dead, but that is what happens in superhero movies. The hero loses the first battle, only to regain his strength and come back with guns blazing for the finale.
Black Panther follows the traditions of a superhero movie, but fortunately allows for some standout supporting characters, including his right-hand general Okoye (Gurira), who is at times more bad ass than the Black Panther, and doesn't wear a costume. And she doesn't have to drink all of these potions which at various times give the drinker Black Panther abilities while at other times taking them away. Do they have these different liquids stored in separate vials and labeled properly? During so many instances in Black Panther, I was reminded too strongly of James Bond, The Dark Knight series, and Superman II. The film borrows from these perhaps a bit too heavily.
Boseman returns with the same intense approach he brought to Captain America: Civil War. Jordan is a suitably hateful villain and the movie perks up when he is onscreen, but I think he was shortchanged after he becomes the new ruler of Wakanda. The movie doesn't present life changing under his oppressive rule. He is a mere placeholder until T'Challa can recover from his wounds and return to reclaim his title, kind of like Rocky in any Rocky movie you can think of.
There is little to Black Panther that doesn't instill a "been there, done that" attitude from the viewer. Black Panther has flashes in which it seems like it will transcend its genre, but those are islands unto themselves.
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