Reviewed by Ramona Prioleau
Widely anticipated, Black Panther is the first Marvel movie to feature a predominantly Black cast and black director. Directed by Ryan Coogler and starring Chadwick Boseman in the titular role, Black Panther tells the story of T’Challa, an African prince with incredible physical prowess and strength, and his attempt to follow in his recently deceased father’s footsteps.
Wakanda, the fictional nation in which the film takes place, feels alive and grounded in a way that few other settings in the MCU do, and everything—from the set design to the costumes to the languages the natives speak—contribute to this. Wakanda is a fully realized world, a celebration of black and indigenous cultures. The color and vibrancy that jumps off the screen makes Black Panther immediately stand out among its cookie cutter Marvel contemporaries. Watching T’Challa fight on the edge of a roaring waterfall is certainly more interesting that watching him fight in an airport.
Another aspect that sets Black Panther apart is Michael B. Jordan’s performance as N’Jadaka, or Erik “Killmonger” Stevens, a near mirror image of T’Challa. If T’Challa stands for maintaining tradition though, then N’Jadaka stands for revolution and for the breaking of boundaries. Neither of these are intrinsically negative things though. In fact, much of Killmonger’s drive comes as much from the desire to right wrongs as it does anything else, and this makes for an incredibly captivating set of motives. It establishes Kilmonger as an antagonist that audiences can fully understand. Killmonger is one of the best the MCU has seen to date, and Jordan’s performance rivals Boseman’s for the best in the film.
It’s really hard to overstate how much firepower there is in Black Panther’s cast and crew however. The film’s three kick-ass women—Letitia Wright (Shuri), Danai Gurira (Okoye), and Lupita Nyong’o (Nakia)—each steal every scene they’re in, and established actors Andy Serkis and Martin Freeman both nail their supporting roles. Then you have celebrated performers like Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker and Daniel Kaluuya receiving sixth or seventh billing, a sure sign that your movie is chock full of top-tier talent. Coogler, behind the camera, also shoots a near perfect film. Black Panther’s action and fight sequences are nothing to scoff at, but the manner in which Coogler threads these moments with tender, thought-provoking scenes is nothing short of masterful.
Black Panther dips its toes in a number of themes, with colonialism, social justice, and the pitfalls of revenge as just a few examples. But watching the film after Chadwick Boseman’s untimely death in August 2020, one realizes that Black Panther is just as much a film about grief and legacy as it is anything else. So much T’Challa’s journey revolves around his reckoning with his father’s death and his trepidation about following in his footsteps. Seeing T’Challa in the Wakandan afterlife reads far differently now than it did when the film was released, and it’s hard not to think about the legacy that the young actor left behind.
Black Panther has a little bit of everything. Impeccable worldbuilding, stellar performances, and a heart more resonant than most of its comic book peers all combine together to make a film that transcends its genre. It’s not only one of the best movies in the Marvel canon, but one of the best action-adventure films of the last decade. M
February 2018
