The following review is a SPOILER review. If you haven’t seen Black Panther, you can check out our spoiler free review here.
Synopsis: After the death of his father, T’Challa returns home to the African nation of Wakanda to take his rightful place as king. When a powerful enemy suddenly reappears, T’Challa’s mettle as king — and as Black Panther — gets tested when he’s drawn into a conflict that puts the fate of Wakanda and the entire world at risk. Faced with treachery and danger, the young king must rally his allies and release the full power of Black Panther to defeat his foes and secure the safety of his people.
Director: Ryan Coogler
Starring: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o and Danai Gurira
Released: 2018
There is so much to love about Black Panther, so I want to expand on the problems I have with the film first, so that I can gush about it later. There are some smaller problems that don’t really change my view of the film, some minor issues, and one larger problem in the construction of the film. The most notable of the small problems was Stan Lee’s cameo. More often than not, I enjoy seeing Stan Lee pop in and deliver a comic line, but here, the moment felt awkward and even cringeworthy. There was no actual joke: the joke was literally look, it’s Stan Lee! In Civil War, the cameo worked, because it created a moment of levity between Rhodey and Tony Stark/Stank. Here, it’s clear that no one knew what to do, but were obliged to shoehorn in this drawn out clunk fest. But, as I said, we move on quickly, so it doesn’t hurt the film at all, aside from killing the scene’s momentum for a moment.
Turning to a minor issue, the relationship between Daniel Kaluuya’s W’Kabi and Dania Gurira’s Okoye is seriously undercooked. The pair refer to each other as lovers only once, so when the pair square off in the final battle, on initial viewing, I had forgotten all about their relationship. It felt like this storyline was more developed in an earlier draft of the script, but was dropped as the film was developed, and that we saw the shadow of their relationship, which was painted as thinly as possible so as to avoid cluttering the setup, while still allowing for the moment in which Okoye stops the Rhino from charging. The problem is that the fact that the two lovers are fighting on opposite sides at the end isn’t properly addressed. Black Panther needed to either commit to this potentially interesting storyline, or drop it altogether.
One more negative, and then we can move on to the far more exciting positive section of this review. As I mentioned in my spoiler free review, the third act is less effective than the first two, and this is because Martin Freeman’s storyline gets in the way. The end battle is just too busy: we spend long periods of time away from T’Challa’s fight with Killmonger, and every time we cut to Ross, momentum is lost. Simply put, he’s unnecessary. The planes leaving Wakanda feel like a non-issue that was invented to give the character something to do, and worse, his scenes are investing, and as such feel low-stakes. Ross is a good addition to the initial skirmish with Klaue, but once he gets to Wakanda, his only function is to spout exposition in a bad American accent. There’s really no narrative reason for him to be there. Having said this, for the majority of Black Panther, the pacing is excellent and varied, and having said that, we’re onto positives, of which there are many!
The most impressive thing about Black Panther is definitely the narrative. While the first act of the film feels somewhat clichéd, this is something of a misdirection. We are treated to Andy Serkis’ Klaue, a fantastic, scenery chomping villain. However, when Killmonger kills him, revealing himself as our primary antagonist, Coogler pulls back the curtain (much like Wakanda’s perception cloaking device), and reveals that this is a political film with important things to say. T’Challa is challenged by a villain who makes good points, and is able to convince many of T’Challa’s people to follow him. By the time we reach Killmonger’s heartbreaking death scene, T’Challa is changed. I’ve heard many say of Black Panther that T’Challa is the least interesting character, and that’s because this is Killmonger’s story. The best villains get their own film, and by the end, the hero is changed by what they have learnt from the villain. T’Challa witnesses Killmonger’s story, and this is the Black Panther’s arc. The one-two punches of the inspiring closing scene and the fantastic first post credits scene (which really should have been part of the main body of the film) complete this arc.
Boseman is great throughout, and while B. Jordan’s is the headline stealer, Boseman still gets the most dramatic scenes. The crux of Black Panther, I felt, was T’Challa’s return to the ancestral plane and confronts his father about his mistakes. It’s really well acted, and loaded with emotion and meaning. I could rave about just about every member of the cast, but special mention should go to Winston Duke, who plays M’Baka. I didn’t mention him in my spoiler free review, and he definitely got the biggest laughs each time I saw Black Panther (although I seem to be the only one that laughs hysterically at the WHAT ARE THOSE?!? joke). Despite the fact that the audience knows he and his tribe will appear at the end to help save the day, there is something about the way in which Coogler constructs moments like this that means that it still felt fresh, despite being a trope that we’ve all seen countless times before. Another example of this would be when Killmonger kills one of the Dora Milaje: there’s no particular reason to care about this character, but Coogler treats the moment as important, and so powerful are the reactions of the surrounding characters, that it really hits home. Coogler’s ability to put together moments like these are why he’s such a fantastic director.
While I’m on the subject of Coogler’s direction, he remains the king of shot composition and choreography. The way that the camera moves through some of these scenes is really impressive, without being noticeable. We are allowed space to really take in the large battle scenes, and while nothing here tops his incredible one-take fight scene in Creed, there is a ton of subtle and unobtrusive work that heightens the overall experience.
To collect a few more random points about the film, I felt that the second post credit scene could have had more weight. We knew that Bucky is in Wakanda, and while the suggestion is that he is now free of mind control, this is the film before Infinity War, so I would have appreciated something a little more substantial. Speaking of the Avengers, I wonder if Rhodie will be paying a trip to Wakanda to fix his paralysis? Finally, while on first viewing I loved Shuri for being both really funny and also totally kick-ass, it took a second viewing to notice how much she loves her brother. I think I was just distracted by the jokes the first time, but I really loved their relationship.
Best scene: T’Challa’s first confrontation with Killmonger in the throne room. The scene bristles with tension, which, when Killmonger reveals his true identity, is powerfully released. Boseman and B. Jordan are on sizzling form here, and Boseman’s quietness in the scene is telling: he knows that his father made a mistake, but doesn’t want a public spectacle. T’Challa’s acceptance of the challenge is also an acceptance of guilt and responsibility. The pace slowly ramps up as we reach the outburst, with cuts becoming slowly more frequent as the scene moves from quiet to loud. It’s here that Black Panther is at its most Shakespearean too, and, in this scene, the film transcends the Comic Book genre. Dramatic and tense, this scene is a great example of why Black Panther works so well: when we reach the later action scenes, the viewer understands each point of view, every motivation. We are invested, and this means that each punch is more than a punch: it’s a strike for a character’s cause, their viewpoint. It gives us a reason to root for these characters while complicating our ability to simply pick a side. It is, in short, why Black Panther works.
This is a fantastic film, and one that I have found to be easily rewatchable. While the third act is not as perfect as the first two, Black Panther never really drags: it is constructed in such a way that we have multiple set pieces, broken up by moments of tension, emotion and/or drama. The film is both a blistering good ride and an investing and emotional character piece. I stand by my original grade: A-
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