Much digital ink has already been spilled about Marvel's latest movie, Black Panther. To say it's been received well critically and commercially would be selling it woefully short. Already, the movie's nearing the $900 million box office mark, cementing its place as one of the most profitable movies ever. Perhaps even more astonishing, Black Panther has already been hailed as "one of the year's best films, and one that transcends the superhero genre to emerge as a epic of operatic proportions," and "one of the best superhero movies of the century."
I understand the need to sell clicks on the internet but it's important to remember that it's only March, so the year is still young; the current century is barely 18 years old. Hyperbole can generate interest but it can just as easily overhype. With all the praise heaped on Black Panther, I expected more. This is a tremendous film - and one that deserves to be celebrated as much for its on-screen portrayal of black characters as much as its behind-the-scenes champions - but in the end, it is regretfully limited to the superhero sandbox. It aims high and strives mightily close to reaching something transcendent. If only good intentions always yielded the same results.
Directed by Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station, Creed), one of my favorite young directors with a clear voice, Black Panther tells a story about the political and social consequences of an isolationist state. Gifted with superior technology and medicine, the country of Wakanda has kept its advancements secret from the outside world for years. But with the death of the former king, and the appointment of T'Challa, the new king and Black Panther, Wakanda's future will be tested.
In concept, this story is tremendous - poignant and challenging and relevant. It raises questions about our current political climate and how we have reacted to threats abroad. It echoes our own president's affinity to raise a wall to close off our borders. But in execution, the movie suffers from awkward pacing, a blank protagonist, and surprisingly awful CGI.
Largely a byproduct of the obligation to establish the origin, Black Panther's first half is spent on little more than introductions - to characters, to rituals, to technology - and an oddly empty chase sequence in South Korea. For an hour of screen time, the plot amounts to T'Challa failing to capture a villain who ultimately does not impact the story. This brings me to Killmonger, the true villain who aside from a brief introduction, does not show up in the movie until the halfway point. It is with Killmonger's backstory that the movie finally finds traction. Michael B. Jordan, collaborating with Coogler for the third time, simply exudes a gravity that Chadwick Boseman, the hero, lacks. Jordan plays Killmonger with a pain and vulnerability that makes me wish this were a Killmonger movie. Indeed, Killmonger's stance is not wrong; by the end of the movie, T'Challa opens up Wakanda's borders, indirectly admitting that Killmonger's cause was just.
Despite Marvel finally crafting a villain worthy of fear and sympathy, Killmonger is still ultimately defeated in a climax that both feels rushed and under-developed. It seems strange that Wakanda, a supremely developed nation that has been at peace for years, would entirely upend its values in one day. Literally, the climax may feel rushed because within the span of a few hours, all Wakandan tribes battle one another (and armored rhinos!) for a litany of reasons. For a movie that posed such rich questions about the difficulties of ruling and the shackles of lineage, the ending amounts to everything coming up roses after the bad guy dies. It also doesn't help that for the most graphics-intensive portion of the movie, the CGI looked increasingly goofy. It might be that high-noon daylight offers little in the way of hiding the digital seams, but more than most recent blockbusters, I was keenly aware of the spotty CGI.
Black Panther is one of Marvel's finest. But not unlike last year's Wonder Woman, the movie simply cannot live up to the media hype surrounding it. And like Wonder Woman, it's a great movie when graded on the superhero curve, an arena that is, in my estimation, largely mediocre and still topped by Nolan's The Dark Knight. But when evaluated as a drama - which Coogler likely is much more comfortable directing - Black Panther suffers from an unbalanced story and predictable ending. It's a shame because I believe Coogler has more to say as a storyteller than this particular movie allowed. At least part of the message comes through in the final product; it offers more to think about than watch.
