Now and then I’ll pop in with a quick review for a movie that I’d like to write an in-depth article on later, but just giving my initial thoughts on for the moment. Very minor spoilers.
Just saw Black Panther. In short, it was good. It was a little different from the standard Marvel flick- which is a good thing- but very much in the vein of the “standard MCU formula” they always seem to churn out, ie, everyone gets an interchangeable origin story, everyone gets a hi-tech Iron Man suit, etc. It was definitely a Joseph Campbell-ian Epic Hero’s Journey, and I could swear I’ve seen the story beats in a dozen other Marvel movies by this point. But it was good, I liked it. The parts that you’ve seen before were presented in very unique ways as to make everything seem new again, somehow. I still could’ve done without the magic suit that uncoils to reveal his face every two seconds, but that’s a minor quibble. I enjoyed it more than Thor Ragnarok I think, but then, I always liked the Marvel movies from the last decade all of you guys hated, like Daredevil and the Hulk films, so I’m pretty easy to please as long as they don’t go overboard with the jokes (which they often do).
Chadwick Boseman is good, largely the same as he was in Civil War, but like the best cast heroes, strikes exactly the right note. His T’Challa is vulnerable and kind-hearted, and almost too much of a softie compared to the hardass he’s often portrayed as in the comics. But just like Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, I thought giving him a lighter touch was absolutely the right call. My favorite of the supporting cast was Letitia Wright as Panther’s sister/”Q”/Wakanda’s Gyro Gearloose-ian weapons builder. She was great, and quite beautiful, tough and funny all at once. Forest Whitaker makes essentially a cameo as a Wakandan Elder, but does good work. Angela Bassett turns in her usual grumpy performance as T’Challa’s mother and the Queen of Wakanda. Martin Freeman is a hoot as audience surrogate/State Department agent Everett K. Ross; he essentially reprises his role as Lester Nygaard from Fargo here. I half expected him to say, “Aw, heck,” in any given situation. Andy Serkis shows up briefly as sinister South Afrikaan villain Ulysses Klaue (“Klaw”), although I couldn’t help wondering why his head looked so small and squished. Stan Lee gives one of his best cameos as a greedy gambler; the way he sarcastically delivers his line as he tries to blatantly pilfer the poker chips got the biggest laugh by far.
Michael B. Jordan is a standout as our villain, Erik Killmonger. Normally a bit annoying in his cockiness, Jordan uses that to his advantage here by leaning into that aspect of the character. Definitely a better fit for him than the Human Torch- Marvel heroes need to be devoid of ego; that’s for the villains. I liked how they didn’t try to make him too sympathetic (unlike, say, Michael Keaton’s world’s-tiniest-violin Vulture) and made him a complete monster. Yet, he was unique in how he goes about trying to steal the throne legitimately, then wants to use that power in an indiscriminately insane way just for the hell of it. That was what made him frightening. We understand why he’s doing what he is, and that’s exactly where I’ve felt they messed up in past Marvel movies- how cool would it have been if Howard Stark really DID steal the arc reactor from Ivan Vanko’s father, and then we totally get where he’s coming from? Tertiary villain/rival tribal leader M’Baku was great as well, although everyone must’ve seen his story turn in the third act coming a mile away. I liked the giant Rhino bots; and the variations on the Panther suit were cool.
The special effects are great, though they went almost TOO far in decking out Wakanda as the most advanced city of the future you’ve ever seen, complete with flying cars, etc. But it was only distracting in that we never got to partake in too much of the city, other than Panther’s gadgets. My first thought was that this was how the world of the first X-Men movie should’ve looked, even if we didn’t explore it too much, to suggest the richness and alienness of the universe. But it looked really nice; the MCU is finally starting to become more of a classic Marvel Universe than what the actual comic universe is now. When you’ve added Black Panther and all the cosmic characters, it really becomes that world that you saw in the comics from the 20th century. Still needs more Fantastic Four though dammit- how cool would it have been if at the UN assembly, there was a placard for a representative from Latveria? Fox can keep on doing their nonsense X-Men spinoffs, just let FF loose a little early!
Not too much else to get into without spoilers, but it was good. I will say I have a hard time seeing it making $200 million as the theater was almost empty on a Thursday night preview, but who knows, maybe it was an off night. (Edit: It was most definitely an off night, as the film went on to gross $240 million in its first four days) I understand what this movie means to people, and I think it’s great something can mean different things to different people, the way the first wave of Marvel movies made me feel something very special. Whereas others who were too old or jaded just turned their noses up, not getting it. Not the best Marvel Studios movie ever, but actually much less pretentious than most everything else they’ve put out. Perhaps less White Privilege and wall-to-wall lame humor helped, and it was one of the less quippy MCU outings to date. Go see it.