Movie Review: Bow Down to "Black Panther", a Marvel Movie That Lives Up to the Hype

There’s plenty riding on Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther, which now takes the throne as one of the best Marvel movies ever.

Diversity is the great gift of cinema.

It’s the reason you can go to theatres right now and enjoy a gay love story from an Italian filmmaker, an American coming-of-age comedy centered on a teenage girl, an oddball rom-com-thriller set in the world of British couture, a messy European ensemble drama about Snapchat, and Guillermo Del Toro’s sexy fishman movie, depending on your taste, mood or predilection for sexy fishmen.

Having a variety of voices behind and in front of the camera gives audiences from similarly diverse backgrounds an insight into otherwise unknown worlds. It expands our capacity for empathy. And the effect of representation, particularly for lesser-depicted minorities, cannot be underestimated.

However, for the past decade, ‘diversity’ in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has just meant ‘hiring non-Chrises’.

That changes with Ryan Coogler’s vibrant Black Panther, the first Marvel feature with a predominantly black cast. Its release is a massive pop culture moment, made more burdensome for writer-director Coogler by the fact it took 17 Marvel sequels to get here. There are heavy historical weights hanging over it, along with high expectations, both culturally and financially, not to mention the alt-right backlash already in motion. Amid it all, Black Panther must fulfil its primary directive before it can be called remotely successful: Deliver the endorphin rush viewers demand from an accessible superhero flick.

And, yeah, they did it.

The picture doesn’t exactly ditch the standard Marvel template. (It’s almost a refresh of the original Thor with its Shakespearean royal family drama, long before the self-aware shenanigans of Ragnarok.) But as the MCU lumbers to something of a climax in Avengers: Infinity War and looks beyond, the solid and satisfying Black Panther is a good standard-bearer for the next era, just as Iron Man was for Phases 1 – 3. It’s earnest, regal and ready to take over the MCU mantle.

Chadwick Boseman, introduced in Captain America: Civil War, returns as T’Challa, new king of Wakanda, an African nation hiding its highly advanced technology from the world, not to mention their costumed hero known as Black Panther. That position traditionally belongs to the King too, which is a bit like Queen Elizabeth having to also act as Britain’s own cat-suited guardian. It’s silly, but hey, this is still a comic book movie, and cat-suits must be worn.

T’Challa is met with his first challenge early, after learning South African smuggler Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis, from Avengers: Age of Ultron) has been selling Wakanda’s all-powerful element Vibranium on the black market, assisted by an f-boi with usurping aspirations played by Michael B. Jordan, of Coogler’s Fruitvale Station and Creed. Jordan's character goes by the name, ahem, Killmonger. Again: this is a comic book movie.

That said, it does have larger geopolitical aspirations. There are two allusions to President Donald Trump (there’s a ‘resistance’ against an autocrat and a pledge to not ‘build barriers’ which have DJT’s influence all over them). One of the film’s few white characters is casually referred to as "coloniser", and the spectre of slavery lingers in some piercing pieces of dialogue. T’Challa is even forced to consider how his father left the Third World to suffer while Wakanda thrived. Is that too much for a Marvel movie to wrestle with? Coogler and Boseman are at least up to the task. (To quote Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s sterling soundtrack contribution "All the Stars", "Confrontation ain't nothin' new to me.")

Boseman shoulders the burden of Black Panther with Coogler, but his T’Challa is not a burden to be around, thanks to a sparkle in the eye that undercuts his posturing and self-seriousness. (When you also account for co-stars Sterling K. Brown, Daniel Kaluuya and newcomer Winston Duke, you realise there is enough charisma in this thing to power a decent-sized village.) Jordan’s villain, on the other hand, never quite intimidates, though he has better motives than most MCU villains. Nonetheless, Jordan is given a momentous final line by Coogler and co-writer Joe Robert Cole that echoes long past the closing credits.

Black Panther's most revolutionary move may actually be the way it happily cedes the spotlight to its female cast members. (Remember how Black Widow couldn't even get an action figure a couple years ago?) They include Lupita Nyong’o’s slinky and stubborn Wakandan spy Nakia; Letitia Wright’s super-intelligent kid-sister to T’Challa, Shuri; Angela Bassett’s poised Queen Mother Ramonda; and, best of all, Danai Gurira’s Okoye, stern yet soulful leader of the all-female, all-bald secret service known as the Dora Milaje. There’s a reason Gurira gets to show off her skills more often than Boseman. Give her that solo sequel, Marvel.

There are sparks of humour throughout, though Coogler is no Taika Waititi. (A “What are thoooose” joke fell on deaf ears in my screening, perhaps because it came three years too late.) He’s better at balancing dramatic beats with electrifying action sequences. The highlight is a car chase through the streets of South Korea, which is preceded by a fight inside a casino, where Gurira’s Okoye takes center stage in a striking red dress. It stands apart from Black Panther’s own showdowns, given how his suit disappears in almost all night scenes. When cinematographer Rachel Morrison pulls her camera back from the hand-to-hand combat, she better conveys the geographical scope of T’Challa’s ass-kickery.

The Black Panther suit—with its not-at-all-intimidating claws—is the only costume complaint I have for designer Ruth E. Carter, who delivers a spectacular array of opulent African outfits that deserve an Oscar in 2019 and a Yeezy Season 3-style touring fashion show as well. If we can’t go to Wakanda, maybe she could bring Wakanda to us?

4/5

In cinemas 15 February. Rated M for action violence.

Photo: Disney