When it comes down to superhero movies, it’s quite likely your mind will split into two defining sectors between Marvel and DC: one bright, explosion-y, and stuffed to the point of bursting with cheesy one-liners, the other: gloomy, edgy cinematography-reliant, and packed with as many references from every possible comic with no context. With Marvel on a spree of covering every possible hero from the obscure colourful universe, you’d expect Black Panther, a not-too well-recognised secondary hero, to fit in like another card to the deck with it’s unique, defining attributes getting modernised along with lots of predictable action and humour like almost every Marvel film. Thankfully, Black Panther claws away it’s roots and stands proudly as its own meaningful contribution not only to Marvel, but as a film of true pride with a wonderful message of what it truly means to stand up for, not only your own people, but the connection of the world as a whole as you notice the greater responsibilities you have with the gift you’ve been given.
Long ago, a meteorite packed with vibranium, the strongest metal known to man, lands in central Africa. Five tribes wage war over this unique resource, many dying pointless deaths until one warrior consumes a herb blessed by the divine substance, gaining superhuman powers in strength and agility, reigning supreme over all but the Jabari tribe as the Black Panther. The united tribes use the strange powers of this metal to create the third-world nation of Wakanda, living amongst the most advanced technology in the world, completely hidden away. The film centres around the current, recently-crowned Black Panther: T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) getting crowned king after his recently deceased father, whilst his unknown cousin: Erik Killmonger (Micheal B Jordan) plots an upstand to avenge his father’s death and use Wakanda’s vibranium to make weapons to destroy the oppression the African-descendent people face and overthrow the government.
If there’s one thing to say about the elements of the film, it’s the unique, artistic representations of old African culture. With the crowning ceremony and such being decorated with old tribal clothing, ceremonies, and use of well-recognised landscape which is used very cleverly in giving the film it’s unique identity as a tribute to old African heritage whilst blending it in with modern superhero themes such as the Wakandan super jets and science-fictioned cultural weapons like African spears that fire electric shocks and other superheroey stuff, or just strange unique elements as a whole, such as the luminous vibes of the legendary panther leaf gardens and the genius functions of the new panther suit. All these cleverly intertwined elements give this gripping oddball of a ride a whole new flavour to the plate of cinema.
The characters, with a couple of honest exceptions, are simply phenomenally crafted in this film. The charming, witty script is executed fantastically due to some brilliant casting choices. Danai Gurira’s character of Okoye is pretty intriguing, with her attributes of a proud, loyal warrior being handled in a nicely unique way.
Michal B Jordan does an exceptional job as Killlmonger, carving the character of a set-in-stone revolutionist with elements of tragedy charging him flawlessly, with the film achieving more opportunity with a nice emotional moment of reunion with his dead father that puts more emphasis on his tragedy motivating him spectacularly. If anything, the cousins are a complete ying and yang, one being charged by the honourable memory of his father to becoming an identical, fair king, the other being charged by the tragic memory to become a furious revolutionist.
My personal favourite has to go to T’Challa’s sister: Shuri (Letita Wright) who does an amazing job as a sly, arrogant comic relief, except, of course, for an intensely painful attempt at memes as she points to her brother’s shoes and yells ‘What are those?!’ (seriously, 300 years ahead in technology but 3 whole years behind in memes?). Speaking of which, the chemistry between the 2 siblings were easily one of my favourite elements of the film. The two have an unbelievably attachable sibling chemistry, T’Challa’s character wouldn’t nearly seem as solid if it wasn’t for his banterous moments with Shuri throughout the film.
Then there’s the secondary villain: Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis) a vibranium smuggler who’s presented as the stereotypical rowdy, crankily evil Brit who the film vaguely references as a Victorian colonist who enslaved the free African people. But I just found his overly-cranky behaviour constantly breaking the tone, not to mention his only true point in this film is to be the trojan horse that Erik used to get into the city by killing him and lowering T’Challa’s reputation for his grand reveal.
However, I was left absolutely baffled by just about the oddest casting choice in superhero film history since Schwarzenegger as Mr Freeze with Martin Freeman playing American agent Everett Ross. Of all the hundreds of American actors they could’ve smashed it with, they bizarrely settled on one of the main actors who’s impossible to see as his actual role who isn’t even American (instead putting on a horrendous southern accent that sounds like he’s doing charades at a tequila party). Clearly not his fault, just an awful casting.
The character (or characters) I was actually underwhelmed by most (rather than sat frozen in disbelief at Freeman) was M’Baku and the Jabari tribe. Although it’s nice to see T’Challs’s greater actions have some payoff by sparing him in ritual combat so he can still reign, only for the Jabaris to end up helping him in the fight against Erik out of honour, they’re seemingly just there as the typical otherworldly people in a usual adventure film that somehow end up helping the heroes. Not to mention they get very little development compared to the rest of the characters, as well as just disappearing after the final battle with no send-off just makes it rather anticlimactic.
Some elements as a whole just seem like cheesy stuff to appeal to younger audiences, such as the over-the-top mask-shaped Wakandan jets and Shuri’s final battle getup that just ends up making her seem like a clunkier version of Symmetra from Overwatch. Not to mention the absurd battle rhinos used in the final battle which just breaks the layer of intensity of seeing 2 sides of the same people tragically reliving the old years of fighting ferociously for different loyalties, only to succumb to action-movie cliché of having giant brutes constantly barging into any true tension, seemingly only there for a moment where one halts and licks Okoye to force her lover and disloyal king’s servant W’Kabi to realise the true depth of the stronger-willed citizens putting loyalty to the unity of Wakandan people over anything else.
Then there’s the final battle between Black Panther and Killmonger, which has a neat, unique setting, but just ends up looking rubbery and disappointingly fake with the lean suits not blending in well at all to the cgi environment and just ends up like a scene straight out of Tron, and not in a good way. Not to say the cg is bad as a whole, more of a mixed bag. The scenes such as the car chase where Black Panther pounces building-to-car only to send the shredded vehicles skidding behind are pure eye-candy as well as the intense feeling of obscure beauty captured in the spirit world parts, with lighting effects as well as the cg used on the shifting sky being executed flawlessly. Not to mention some neat tricks with cinematography, with most fight scenes being typical rapid-camera shifts to keep the tension up but one part where the camera keeps focused and moves along with T’Challa in the casino as he leaps table-to-balcony to pounce on some henchmen, to keep those smooth panther characteristics alive with a single camera movement is damn impressive stuff.
The main message of the film, which is excellently presented, is that the Wakandan people are simply too politically correct to acknowledge that they delude themselves into thinking everything is okay in this isolated little paradise while ignoring the great suffering of the outside world that Erik is part of. They’ve been isolated for so long, they didn’t see to adapt alongside the rest of the world to achieve what it truly means to be wholly justifiable with all the suffering that could be cured with this element they’ve kept for so long out of selfish tradition. They’re too paranoid with it falling into the wrong hands than seeing what true good it could do to the point where monsters like Erik are made as a result. Erik’s overwhelming experiences of discrimination as a marine combined with his father’s unjustifiable death from trying to finally take a stand for using vibranium to try and help the outside world lead him to finally calling out T’Challa’s bs of huddling in policies of honour and culture to hide the feeling of being too scared of what could happen with any change and instead choosing to live the high life while letting the outside world struggle, which is completely understandable, despite his unacceptable extremism. He is a product of the honourable people’s inevitable sins of insularity and selfishness. Would the true Black Panther stop at simply united 5 tribes with all this increasing opportunity of connection?
This is what drives the main character development as T’Challa starts off as a king who puts the memory of his father’s honour over his own self confidence and possibly original, changeful ways of rule. After learning of a great sin his father conducted of killing his cousin for taking a stand for the outside world and trying to break the fragile glass box of tradition, his true lack of original ways of ruling due to thinking his father was perfect is shown in its true colours here, leading to him immensely doubting his role as a king when his role model is shattered and not knowing which ways are right anymore. After Killmonger slaps him in the face with realism and learning of the true decency of the old ‘rival’ tribe, he ends up deciding his own ways and going against history by agreeing to share Wakanda’s resources and truly cooperate with the rest of the world, showing amazing character development as a king learns to stand for his own when his pillow of comforting role-modeling is yanked off.
Black Panther is without a doubt a unique twist of a film, arms open to any superhero-movie fan but ends up growing a pair and soars from its source material, with a message of adapting to new responsibilities being brilliantly presented with a science-fictional presentation of old African culture as well as intriguing new superhero elements and cinematography. Despite a few unnecessarily cheesy moments and some superhero cliches, Black Panther succeeds as a new identity to the MCU.
84/100