4 stars out of 5
I’d heard of Black Panther during my comic-book reading days, but he wasn’t really a big deal back then. Besides, Luke Cage was my black superhero — come on, the guy had a belt made out of a chain! But with everybody in the world saying how great this movie is, and with another little hospital stay staring me in the face, I decided to check it out. Even outside the theater, seeing the poster for Annihilation, I thought, “Oh, that’s the one I really want to see,” but then I’d have to wait another 45 minutes, and that wasn’t going to happen. Black Panther it would be.
Hey, it is as great as everybody says! Not that I’d expect much less from director/co-writer Ryan Coogler, whose two other features — Fruitvale Station and Creed — were both really good. And he loves working with the reliably terrific Michael B. Jordan, one of our best young actors.
In fact, the cast is stacked with top-shelf actors each turning in really strong performances. The title role is played by Chadwick Boseman, who I was first impressed with as Jackie Robinson in 42. (I think I DVR’d Get On Up at some point, but it vanished in The Great Cable-Box Meltdown of 2017.) You don’t doubt for a second that he’s the deserving king of Wakanda. Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o is his love interest but definitely has her own thing going outside the kingdom as a champion of the downtrodden. Letitia Wright, fresh off a starring role in the recent run of Black Mirror episodes, delivers a positively joyous performance as the king’s sister, who is the Q of Wakanda. Danai Gurira is totally fierce as the Wakanda’s top warrior, ever loyal to the crown. Daniel Kaluuya, so good as the lead in Get Out, is the friendly boyfriend of the fierce warrior, as well as best buds with the king — though he is soon swayed by Michael B.’s challenge to the throne. (What are the odds of a guy being son of Apollo Creed and son of N’Jobu?) Angela Bassett, king’s mom, is appropriately regal. Martin Freeman kind of phones it in as a Token White Guy, but does another pretty decent American accent. Forest Whitaker reluctantly agrees to train down-on-his luck boxer Billy “The Great” Hope… oh wait, that was Southpaw which I also just saw, and quite good I might add. But as in that movie, Whitaker is a wise elder here. And Andy Serkis is so happy he doesn’t have to wear an ape suit that he has a lot of fun as a baddie.
The setting is cool — Coogler and crew have created an awe-inspiring Wakanda where anyone would want to live. The fights are well-staged and smartly filmed — making Creed likely helped — and the action is thrilling throughout. But raising this movie above the ranks of standard comic-book genre exercises is a compelling, mature storyline with a topical, shifting moral center. Is Michael B. Jordan a real villain, or is it just his methods that are questionable? (Young audiences may want to look up Malcolm X’s “Ballot or the Bullet” speech.) Is isolationism acceptable in a world in need? The script even gives lip service to the refugee crisis, though this could’ve been developed more.
My only real problem with this movie is that it exists within the Marvel Universe. Did we genuinely need another Stan Lee cameo? How about not having those little bonus bits during the end credits? It would be so wonderful if this could be a stand-alone, no-sequels film. But no, the character had already showed up in a Captain America movie, and we’re promised he’s in the next Avengers flick, and the box office has been gangbusters so there will definitely be future BP installments, and Coogler is too good a filmmaker to stick around for many — if any — of them, so they’ll turn to shit because that’s what happens. Entropy, we call it.
For the moment, though, let’s just enjoy this excellent film. Black Panther is rightfully being celebrated for its celebration of African culture and spotlight on American black culture — but it’s the grey areas that truly make this movie special.
Jack Silbert, curator