Movie Review: “Black Panther” (2018)

NO SPOILERS (but I can’t control the comments).

Short Version: I enjoyed Black Panther. I think it is definitely worth going to see.

Longer Version: Black Panther is a very interesting movie, dealing faithfully with the source material, satisfying the sci-fi / super-heroics and beats that one expects from a Marvel Cinematic Universe flick, but with an interesting, refreshing, and even challenging grounding in real world issues.

The first of those issues is race, and it is even more present in the film than I’d expected, but in ways I hadn’t. Systemic racism as well as the colonial past are deeply embedded in this movie — not in a “Kill Whitey” way like some trolls would have you think, but definitely with an unapologetic edge.

But for me, just as interesting is the broader world about Wakanda and their attitude toward it, and how that in turn drives the movie’s immediate and background conflicts. The question of “Who is my tribe, and what is my duty toward them?” plays at multiple levels here, and, as something that remains at the heart of geopolitics today, it gives Black Panther a more mature feel than the (still quite enjoyable) super-powered slugfest of, say, Thor: Ragnarok.

A few other notes:

1. The actors all do a fine job, hero and villain alike. No Academy Award performances here, but also nothing to complain about.

2. Indeed, the villains here are also interesting, a cut above the generic world-conquerers of too many MCU flicks. They also drift furthest from the comics canon in their role in the story (for the better, I’d say). There’s a scosh more nuance here, in some particular cases, which is a nice turn of events.

3. The plot gets a bit overly complex at times, with flashbacks and tech and magic and a lot of interesting characters that we spend a lot of time with (and could easily spend a lot more). At times, that muddies the waters around our main protagonist, to the detriment of the film.

4. Wakanda is beautifully rendered — it felt a bit like Asgard, only (again) grounded in the real world. The blend of high tech, modernism, and traditional African motifs, in everything from the architecture to the technology to the costumes was gorgeously done.

5. While the presence of so many People of Color was noteworthy, it very quickly fell off in my awareness just because of the setting. What stood out more (for me) was the high number of powerful, confident, interesting, agency-possessing, kick-ass women. It was good to see.

6. There are, of course, additional scenes once the credits start rolling — a mid-credits one (as we make the turn from animated top billing credits to the SFX house slow crawl) that serves as a nice denouement to the film as a whole. and an end-of-credits one that addressed a bit of MCU business that reasonably needed addressing for the fans.

7. We saw the movie in 2D. In retrospect, I might have wanted to see it in 3D; there are some scenes where I think that would make it even more visually stunning.

Everyone always says, “How do you rate this vs the other Marvel movies.” I’d put it in the top quartile, certainly. The action is good (if sometimes a bit too CG), the subject matter a bit more complex than “who can punch whom hardest,” and the cast, primary and supporting, were all enjoyable.

[Cross-posted on Letterboxd.]

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