BLACK PANTHER (2018)
Directed by Ryan
Coogler
Walt Disney Studios
Motion Pictures
PG-13, 135 minutes
★★★ ½
I had a bad back when Black
Panther was in theaters and finally caught up with it on DVD. If you’ve not
done so already, you should definitely see this film, though a few caution
flags might deter you from jumping onto the critical acclaim bandwagon.
In brief, this black superhero movie postulates a hidden
African empire, Wakanda, which formed when four of five warring tribes—the
warrior-like Jabari are holdouts—united and agreed to share vibranium, a metal
deposited by a meteorite. Vibranium has qualities that allowed Wakanda to
develop a civilization and level of technology far in advance of anywhere else
on earth. Our tale opens when T’Challa (Chadwick Boswick) ascends to the
Wakanda throne, endures challenges, and seeks advice from Queen Mother Ramonda
(Angela Bassett). Think Joseph Campbell's hero's journey cycle. T'Challa also
puts up with his meddlesome sister/tech wiz Shuri (Letitia Walker), and good-natured
needling from all for his obvious infatuation with his ex-lover Nakia (Lupita
Nyong’o).
No Marvel Comic franchise—especially one released as a
summer blockbuster—is going to be a romantic comedy, so lets first address just
this much of the film. It’s a very good thing to see Africans and African
Americans cast as heroes and heroines instead of modern-day Stepin Fetchits or
worse: pimps, whores, drug dealers, gangbangers, or goofy sidekicks to white
stars. Lest anyone be tempted to label Wakanda a black fairy tale, know that
the Kingdom of Greater Zimbabwe (11th-15th century) was
indeed far in advance of any European society of the time. Take away Wakanda’s
futuristic trappings and replace the high tech with advanced Iron Age
knowledge, and a Wakanda-like civilization is historically accurate.
In like fashion, the idea of a cloaked superior civilization
is a common comic book and fantasy trope. Think of Wonder Woman’s Amazonia, Uganda in Ignatius Donnelly’s Caesar’s Column, Charlotte Perkins-Gilman’s
Herland, Atlantis, some of the lands
in Gulliver’s Travels, even Brigadoon. There are literally scores of
examples found within utopian literature and science fiction. Once again, it’s
refreshing to populate such worlds with black faces.
Black Panther is
strongest in constructing Wakanda. Director Ryan Coogler deftly and succinctly
gives us just enough information about beliefs, rituals, family structure,
power structures, everyday life, and challenges to bring his fictive world to
life. He does so on par with the backdrop Patty Jenkins developed in Wonder Woman; Coogler's is also a world
in which women have important roles. T’Challa is the Black Panther, but the
film’s women are well-developed personalities with the ability to advise, assist,
even humble T’Challa.
The central story also intrigues. As it transpires, some
very nasty folks also know about vibranium, including Ulysses Klare (Andy
Serkis), who is essentially an arms dealer on steroids. He masterminds the
theft of an ancient museum object whose vibranium is mislabeled as iron, and
intends to sell it to the highest bidder. Obstacles in his way include T’Challa—posing
as the chief of a backward African nation, the Wakanda seen by outsiders—his
regimental commander Okoye (Danai Gurira), a CIA agent named Everett Ross
(Martin Freeman), and Erik Stevens (Michael B. Jordan), a former agent with
lots of issues, including megalomaniacal dreams of creating a global black
empire the way Alexander the Great built his: by conquest.
This sets the stage for the film’s central drama, but it’s
also where Coogler’s imagination wanes. A film director doesn’t have to follow
comic book conventions. Wonder Woman
took on a look that transgressed its World War II time period, even though it
anachronistically blended the past and the future. Coogler resorts more to
standard cloak-and-dagger techniques as prelude to a potentially apocalyptic
battle. In that struggle, he too liberally borrows from what has already been
done. Just change a few costumes and props, and you’ve seen these battles in Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, Star Trek, and Star Wars, especially the last of these. When Everett Ross takes
command of an advanced fighter craft he’s never piloted, he must intuit its
operation and trust his instincts. He is essentially Luke Skywalker tapping
into the Force. In similar fashion, the giant rhinos in Black Panther are analogous to the AT-AT Walkers of Star Wars or the wargs in Lord of the Rings.
Some have criticized Martin Freeman’s role in the film, and
I suppose it depends upon how you wish to spin it. You could see his presence
as a sop thrown to white audiences; on the other hand, you could argue Coogler
is making snide comment upon black sidekick roles by casting a white actor in
that position. (Freeman is definitely not
the superior intellect.) Mostly, though, the last third of Black Panther loses both the sociology and the humor that made the
first two-thirds so compelling. It goes for easy thrills and hyper-sensationalism;
in doing so, the film becomes ordinary instead of distinct.
It is clear, though, that there is great global desire on
the part of audiences to see something other than white heroes on the screen. Black Panther has already grossed more
than $1.3 billion worldwide and that
number is climbing daily. In this
sense, Black Panther might well touch
off a trend that will overwhelm any artistic shortcomings. That deserves
applause.
Rob Weir
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