Black Panther Review · 1:46am Feb 18th, 2018
Just came home from it after an hour long bus ride I spent pondering it more and more.
TL;DR opinion - it's fine. It's not amazing but it's fine. It's kinda like Spider-Man Homecoming, this movie did not need to exist but for the obligation to give the guy a solo film before Infinity War, and it sustains well enough until then. Anyone wondering about the Soul Gem, have that plot element here - it isn't here, the Soul Gem doesn't appear, is not name dropped, and nothing even hints to it being in Wakanda in any way. I'm sorry, fanboys, but your princes is in another castle.
Long review... well, it's really hard to discuss this film without discussing the racial elements that are interlaced with things more and more the deeper you analyze things. Know that I went into this film as a privelaged middle-class white young adult living in Southern Ontario, and all of my views and opinions on this film are filtered through that lens.
So, there's nothing objectively bad in this movie. There's just nothing really amazing, either. All the Wakandan tech is cool, the main character is nice and they examine the social and political conflicts of being a king well. I think the major flaw in the movie is that the titular hero is kinda bland. T'Challa himself is a good character, but the Black Panther as a superhero is meh, he has superhuman physical abilities and his suit can unleash a kinetic shockwave. That's about it. He does have gadgets, which are shown off in a very James Bond-esque sequence with his sister as Q, but most of those gadgets are used by other characters or out of the costume, in the costume he just hits people hard.
The racial elements of the film, well let's jump into it with the villain. Killmonger is a jackass through and through, but I can't hate him too bad. Because he IS that suburban US black kid growing up on the streets. To put it as tactfully as I can, I don't think it's unfair to say that racism is something that some black people, especially in the US, wear on their sleeve, and Killmonger is very much one of them. He wants to use Wakanda's resources to take over the world in the name of, let's just call it what it is, black supremacy. He wants to arm his "brothers and sisters" so they can rise up against their oppressors. And in this I have to say the movie is NOT a black power fantasy or any nonsense like that, because Killmonger is definitely the villain and in the wrong for wanting these things, and they directly call attention to the fact that he has become exactly the kind of person he hates, the only difference is that he's black.
As I examined the dynamic with Killmonger and T'Challa, I really began to appreciate the more subtle racial themes they examined. T'Challa is black, Wakanda is an African nation, all its citizens are black. But they aren't the same kind of black that Killmonger is. T'Challa and his ancestors have no history of racism or slavery or oppression among them, Wakanda is a first world country, hell it's better than first world countries. So, much like a middle-class privelaged white boy like me, T'Challa can't really understand the racism and prejudice that have shaped Killmonger. He may sympathetic and not necessarily disagree, but he can't fully understand it, because it's not who he is.
Then on the flip side of that is Killmonger. They don't explicitly say so but I think it's meant to be inferred that his mother was an Africa-American and she was the one who raised him when his father died. Killmonger identifies much more with his African-American heritage than his Wakandan heritage. He obviously does not give a shit about Wakanda's people or traditions, the country is a means to an end, he wants a black revolution and sees Wakanda's technology as the way to do it. Even his self-scarring to mark all his kills is a twisted reflection of the Wakandan tattooing and scarring, Killmonger emulates them without really caring about the meaning of it. His final lines are to ask to be buried at sea, "like his ancestors" that leaped off of their slave trade ships rather than live as slaves - he identifies as an African-American and with that history, not as a Wakandan.
What we really have here is a flip on colonialism and manifest destiny. Wakanda is the most technologically advanced country on earth. They could revolutionize the world overnight if they showed us what they could do. But do they have the right to take over us, to conquer us and rule us by right of force? No. That's what Killmonger wants to do and it is wrong. Should they open their doors and give us some of their tech? I would say yes, but there's good arguments for why not that deserve consideration. The Wakandans as individuals variably want to keep to themselves or open themselves to the world and become the major players on the world stage they know they can be. Again, Killmonger is basically trying to intiate a new form of colonialism, invade the world and take it over with Wakanda's advance technology and kill anyone in their way. The film's conflict of if Wakanda should stay isolated or not is demonstrated in the clash of culture and views between Killmonger and T'Challa, between African-American heritage and Wakandan heritage. Killmonger's actor apparently said their relationship is like Magneto and Professor X, and that's pretty apt.
So, that's the major racial elements that I took in the film. Beyond that there's nothing overtly offensive in this movie, at least to me. But the "culture" they enforce repeatedly does get a bit uncomfortable sometimes. Wakanda is a fictional nation, so I know all the "culture" we see of it is an ersatz mashup of other African cultures. And it can seem a bit stereotypical at times. But nothing about it was offensive or groan inducing. Well, one thing. Wakanda consists of five tribes, four of which serve the King, and the elders of the tribes form a council. And one of the guys has a jade disk in his lip. Yes I know this is something that real African cultures did, and I don't mean to offend by saying this, but just, no, dude, no. Lose the disk. Every time this guy is on-screen my eyes zero in on that disk. Oh, and there are two other lines. T'Challa's sister is the tech genius and she has two lines. "Another broken white boy for us to fix up?" and "Don't scare me like that, colonizer!" Really? Come on, really? Even if she's just having fun on her end, no.
Final note, another subtle theme in the film is the juxtaposition between the past and the future, and attempting to honor the former while moving toward the latter. This is seen more prominently in how so much of Wakanda's advanced technology is done up in stereotypical African trappings, like beaded bracelets that activate their tech, or vibranium-weave tribal armor and spears, chakrams that can fire energy blasts, and of course the Black Panther suit itself. And again it plays into the idea of Wakanda remaining isolated or not, and Killmonger being defined by his heritage of racism and using that to dictate his future.
So, again, overall just kinda "okay". It does explore a lot of themes of race and racism and does them well imho, but as a supehero movie it's just kinda here to be here. T'Challa is great, Wakanda is fantastic, but Black Panter is rather underwhelming.
PS - M'Baku steals every scene he's in. I hope he's in Infinity War.
Spoilers: M'Baku does come to kick alien ass.
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This pleases me.
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Sadly Andy Serkis is perma-dead..... yet again.
I was a little disappointed that at no point do the characters seem to question the idea that Wakanda should be ruled by whoever A)is of royal blood and B)is better at fighting with a spear, even though half the movie is about proving what a stupid idea this is.
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Hey, if Arnim Zola can come back as an 80s computer, Thanos can resurrect Klaue as a being of living sound.
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Hm.... that is true.