Black Panther Review

        I always feel that the MCU has peak years that help define them and gain more considerable fans to hop on the bandwagon. 2018 was monumental not just for the MCU but for the Marvel brand as well. You had this film and two others that grossed 3 billion dollars and an animated Spider-Man film from Sony that blew the door open for a different style of animation. It seemed that the brand could do no wrong with Black Panther. 

1. A Prince Becoming a King

        It’s kind of astonishing just how this film blew up when it came out many years ago. What helped was the small glimpse of T’Challa in Civil War and seeing just how he was like an Earth version of Thor. Since he has superhuman aspects and is of royalty. In some way, this feels like a better version of what Thor could’ve been in the context of the MCU. In some way, the whole idea of adapting the Black Panther is such a huge task that no other director could’ve done it better than Ryan Coogler. 

        He's the next director that has that distinct voice. Creed is the first film that I’ve seen, and it really exposed me to what kind of films he has made so far. I haven’t had the chance to see his debut work Fruitvale Station, but I’ve heard great things about that one. He’s one of those directors where I will actively watch his subsequent works. It’s something to really admire Marvel for giving an established director a B-Level superhero. It seemed that he had total control of how he wanted to portray the T‘Challa and the world of Wakanda. 

        The way the movie starts is both a subversion and keeping in line with how the Marvel films of this phase start. We assume that the young prince is learning about the history of the kingdom from his father. Only to transition to Oakland and that the father and son speaking are exiles from Wakanda. It’s revealed that the King’s brother has been helping weapons dealer Ulysses Klaue obtain Vibranium. We’ve seen him prior in Age of Ultron, since he’s practically tied to the character comic origins. 

        Years past as we see T’Challa now becoming the temporary ruler of Wakanda. I love the banter between T’Challa and Okoye. In between that we see a tiny glimpse of the tech that Wakanda has. Fairly advanced that rivals anything that we see Tony Stark create. After the prince rescues his ex Nakia, we then transition to entering Wakanda. I just love the whole moment of the characters entering Wakanda. We start with a small Serengeti-esque land then entering the city itself as it’s protected by a disguised shield.

        From there, we see the trial and tribulations of what T’Challa is going through. He wants to be a good king, but he’s conflicted with opening his kingdom to the outside world and bringing in Klaue. His own mentality gets the better of him since he hears from different people on how to be a good king. He’s doing what he thinks is right, but not being wiser. I’ll talk about Killmonger in a second, since he practically steals the show from his cousin. 

        Lastly, I just love the world of Wakanda. I think the best aspect of it is that we see the traditional wear that the different tribes wear when T’Challa must go through ritual combat. All-encompassing some aspects of traditional African wear while still being able to be it’s own thing. My one gripe is that we don’t see enough of the city to get the feel for it. Like it would’ve been one thing where T’Challa walks through the city and realizes that he should do more. Putting the emphasis on how the new king must provide for his people or still maintain its isolationist role due to tradition. 

2. Killmonger

        Of course, Michael B. Jordan must appear in a Ryan Coogler film. Both basically are conjoined to the hip when owing their successes. It’s rare nowadays to have a director-actor duo in movies right now. I think the closest so far in a duo is Martin Scorsese and Leo DiCaprio, although I could be wrong. Anyways, everything about Killmonger is so interesting that he’s next in line next to Loki with how complex he is. 

        I love his introduction since he manages to play cool, but easily turns a switch by being sinister. One would think that Klaue was the actual villain since he has more firepower to his augmented arm. It would be interesting, but Killmonger has beef with the whole kingdom due to how it hasn’t done anything for the other African races across the globe. More so that his anger is directed towards the new king. 

        You must have the villains be the opposite of the heroes, that’s one thing. Like you got to have them be the evil version of the hero by having an evil Jaguar suit. Panthers are just Jaguars, in case anyone doesn’t know their big cats. Anyways, we see that N’Jadaka practically treats anything ancient as beneath him. He steals an African mask and is just a leader gone mad when he usurps control of the kingdom. 

        My favorite scene involving him is when he takes the herb that grants him powers. It’s established that when T’Challa ingests it, he’s transported to the ancestral plane. When Erik ingests it, he is immediately transported to the plane that resembles his dad’s apartment. From there, we learn that Erik hasn’t moved on from his father’s death, immediately looking for info on Wakanda. Dressing like his younger self and asked by his father why he didn’t grieve of him. 

        I think in one way, it’s representative on how there’s a massive disconnect between Killmonger and Wakanda. For as much as he claims that the throne is his, he’s an alien that looks just like them. More so that it can be interpreted that while T’Challa’s vision was him being free, Killmonger’s is like him being inside a cage. Additionally, with him being disrespectful to their traditions to now becoming a king with ill intentions. 

3. A King’s Legacy

        I remember just how tough a task it was to try and get a ticket for this movie. I would think that the subsequent Avengers film would have a daunting task of just getting standing room to peak at the screen. I had to wait two weeks just to get a ticket to see the film. And I remember the theater reactions being more outpouring of the film. Mind you, this film spoke to the target audience that didn’t read the comic books. This is the inflection point of where a B-level hero would now become an A-lister. 

        One would think that aside from Iron Man and Captain America, I would never think that this film would even gross a billion dollars. Or even be nominated for Oscars and subsequently winning awards. It’s at this junction that the sub-genre gained the level of prestige where, while yes it has a targeted audience to push merchandising. More so that it moved people thinking that this is the level of representation that has been needed in a cinema. Specifically in a comic book movie where the hero only made seldom appearances only in animation.

        I think it’s appropriate that I discuss Chadwick Boseman. I think that when the sequel was announced, I was more than ready to see him suit up again and face the next threat to his kingdom. It’s still a shock that four years has gone by that I remember the notification popping up that he passed away. You really can’t talk about the movie and character without mentioning Chadwick. Boseman did a good job as portraying the King and a hero. 

        He had that level of charm and intelligence where he had the playful banter between his sister and with his captain of the guard. In one way, he was the inspiration for a lot of people to act like him and show someone that it’s possible that someone looking like him could be in higher power. It’s weird that I’m reflecting a performance posthumously since the studio made it a point that they won’t recast the role. What I will say to wrap it up is that it’s a gutsy move to have him show his physique while he was battling cancer. That takes a lot of courage and I’ll leave it at that. 

4. Overall

        Black Panther is probably up there with one of the best MCU films, and one of the best comic book films in general.