Sunday, February 18, 2018

Review of BLACK PANTHER: Empowered Ebony

February 18, 2018



This newest Marvel film told the legend about one of the new heroes I first met in "Captain America: Civil War" (2016) -- the prince, later king, of Wakanda, T'Challa, and his superhero persona, the Black Panther. I never knew about this character before, and Chadwick Boseman gave this black superhero an electrifying debut. It was apparent from that point that the Black Panther was going to get a proper origins movie of its own, and now here it is -- a critical and commercial success in its first week out. 

Following the assassination of his father T'Chaka, T'Challa returned to his home in Wakanda to be crowned king in the presence of his family, significant other Nakia and the rest of his country. However, when a serious threat to the throne was posed by Eric "Killmonger" Stevens, a cocky American challenger with royal Wakandan blood in his veins, a long-kept secret about the former king is revealed, and the call for sharing Wakanda's secret wealth and technology with the world is renewed.

The whole look of imaginary country Wakanda is a result of meticulous visual effects work, a result of the fertile imaginations of its artistic creators. From the cliffs and waterfalls of its ritual arena, to its wide open fields where the giant rhinoceroses roam, to its modern city skyline with its sophisticated train system and its futuristic interior designs (yet fully retaining its ethnic flavor), the special effects to create all those diverse landscapes of the country "hidden in plain sight" looked very realistic and inviting to go visit.  

Another very remarkable aspect of the film is the role of women. Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o) was an undercover spy sent by Wakanda to international missions. T'Challa's younger sister Shuri (Letitia Wright) is already quite the technical wizard at 16 years of age, in the same fashion as Q was for James Bond. Even though her gadgets are very high-tech, she makes sure it carried a distinctly African design. The Secret Service bodyguards of T'Challa is an all-female group called the Dora Milaje, led by the amazonic Okoye (Danai Gurira). Of course, the former queen and T'Challa's mother Remonda is impressive just because she is played by ever-elegant Angela Bassett.

I may be in the minority but I found the supporting male actors and their characters more interesting than lead actor Chadwick Boseman and his portrayal of T'Challa. Boseman was not in anyway bad, mind you, but the others seemed to have better screen presence. There was the magnetic Michael B. Jordan and his powerful portrayal of the main antagonist, Killmonger. Jordan had been the star of director Ryan Coogler's two previous films before this, "Fruitvale Station" (2013) and "Creed" (2015), so they know each other very well indeed.  Oscar winner Forest Whitaker (as spiritual leader Zuri), Oscar nominee (for "Get Out") Daniel Kaluuya (as T'Challa's warrior friend W'kabi) and Winston Duke (as rival Jabari warlord M'baku) also made very strong impressions. 

This film was a gloriously rich celebration of African culture, with several tribal influences seen in the costume design (by 2-time Oscar nominee Ruth E. Carter), production design (by Hannah Beachler), musical score (by Ludwig Göransson, with a soundtrack featuring songs by hip-hop star Kendrick Lamarr!) and choreography (by percussionist Jabari Exum). This resplendent cultural color and pride brought about by all these potential award winning technical artists were what made this film stand out above all Marvel Cinematic Universe films, not really its superhero aspects. 8/10. 


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