Film Review - Black Panther

Cast: T'Challa / Black Panther Chadwick Boseman, Erik Killmonger Michael B. Jordan, Nakia Lupita Nyong'o, Okoye Danai Gurira, Everett K. Ross Martin Freeman

Director: Ryan Coogler

Writers: Ryan Coogler and Joe Robert Cole, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby (based on the Marvel Comics)

Running time: 134 minutes

Rated: PG-13

Black Panther is the eighteenth film in the Marvel Universe; it can also be considered independent work. It is worth noting that during the week of the international release, the film collected half a billion dollars. At the same time, critics and spectators differ so in their feedbacks that it is hard to obtain an impression without watching the movie alone. In any case, Black Panther is one of the most colorful and positively unexpected Marvel movies because of the first black superhero on the screen, black actors, and black people status question raised, beautifully showed women powers, and astonishing aboriginal culture of Africa on the background.

The film’s title inevitably relates to the main character of the movie and the first black superhero, Black Panther. After his father's death, Prince T’Challа (Chadwick Bozeman) inherits the throne of Wakanda, a small and seemingly poor African country. Wakanda is built on deposits of vibranium – the same cosmic material from which the shield of the Captain of America is made (“‘Black Panther’: Movie Details,” 2018). The film shows the formation of the new king: T’Challa learns to live without a father, continuing his work, making decisions, as well as understanding what they will lead to (Chutel 2018). Most importantly, he understands that even his beloved father is not ideal, but it is normal to be not ideal until you are a good person who makes good actions.

Almost the entire cast appears in the movie for the first time, with impressive social roles they represent. The characters that have already been shown to the spectators are T’Challa (Chadwick Bozeman), Agent Ross (Martin Freeman), Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis), and Ayo (Florence Kasumba). Female characters are interesting to the best of their ability, including a young and direct Princess Shuri (Letitia Wright), strict General Okoye (Danai Gurira), and gentle spy Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o), as they all look astonishing (IMDb, 2018). They are the real heroines of their time and country, not just some complicated young ladies with superpowers. In contrast, the antagonist, Eric Killmonger, performed by Michael B. Jordan, is one of the most normal villains of Marvel. Through his stolen childhood, his anger, resentment, stiffness, a world outlook on revolutionary ideas, one can see a real, living person (Dargis, 2018). Additionally, this is not talking about how an actor is charismatic and simply good-looking. In some scenes, he completely steals attention from Boseman.

Overall, the movie depicts a fantastic utopia about an ideal country where people have advanced technologies but feel part of nature simultaneously. The director, Ryan Coogler, decides to follow the footsteps of The First Avenger to add seriousness, politics and social drama to the comics, but simultaneously, he retains a naive, fabulous, childlike heart in the spirit of The Lion King (McMillan, 2015). Using a beautiful scenery of the African country, the film producers put main characters in the unusual environment as for a superhero movie and emphasize the glory of the aboriginal culture in details of excellent costumes, hairstyles, make-up, spectacular though not large-scale, fighting scenes which are highlighted with a great soundtrack from Ludwig Joransson.

Moreover, the questions raised in the film are significant and crucial. One of the main questions evaluates whether poor neighbors and refugees should be helped to get involved in other people’s conflicts if they do not affect them. In addition, the movie asks if there is something valuable a person has that can improve people's lives and lead to a serious military conflict. Should the person share it with the world or hide it like hundreds of generations of ancestors did? However, the main thing, probably, is that the responsibility for all the sins and mistakes comes to the descendants. In this respect, no hero is needed to unite people: it is a country that unites scattered and shattered humanity.

In general, the film subtly reflects the thoughts of modern Western society. Though most of the cast are black actors, the question of black people's status and female status is raised in the film and presented in a positive way. The movie brings a humanistic message: there is no need for a war because whatever happened there in the past can be corrected in the present. One must be kinder, think more broadly, and consider the common good and the future.

References

Chutel, L. (2018). Black Panther is now the highest-grossing film ever in East, West and Southern Africa. Quartz Africa. Retrieved from https://qz.com/1234258/black-panther-breaks-box-office-records-in-east-west-and-south-africa/

Dargis, M. (2018, February 6). Review: ‘Black Panther’ shakes up Marvel with flair and feeling. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/06/movies/black-panther-review-movie.html

IMDb.com., Inc. (2018). Black Panther: Full cast & crew. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1825683/fullcredits/