A unique, beautifully rendered adventure
Black Panther, Marvel’s best movie till date
Black Panther is the 18th movie in the Marvel Universe canon and one of the best — likely to entertain and thrill the hardcore geeks who waited breathlessly for months for this story to take centrestage, as well as the more casual but still enthusiastic and massive global fan base for superhero movies.
Even if you’re not normally into this genre, consider this: If you appreciate finely honed storytelling with a Shakespearean core; winning performances from an enormously talented ensemble; provocative premises touching on isolationism, revolution and cultures of oppression; and oh yeah, tonnes of whiz-bang action sequences and good humour, then you should see Black Panther.
Director and co-writer Ryan Coogler adheres to the basic framework of the classic superhero origins story, from the flashback prelude all the way to the CGI-charged climactic battle sequences, but so much of the journey is a unique and smart and beautifully rendered adventure.
This is of course primarily the story of T’Challa/Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), but rarely have we seen a comic book movie with such a wonderful bounty of supporting characters. The main story in Black
Panther takes place just after the events of Captain America:
Civil War, with T’Challa ascending to the throne of the independent African nation of Wakanda.
To the outside world, Wakanda is a seemingly insignificant, Third World land of farmers, but the mountains and the rainforest are merely cover for a thriving, wealthy and technologically advanced metropolis.
“This never gets old,” says T’Challa as his badass spaceship swoops in on Wakanda, and we readily understand the sentiment. Little wonder Wakanda’s leaders have a centuries-deep policy of keeping its magnificence to itself.
This becomes the major conflict in Black Panther, when the revenge-minded killing machine actually known as Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) makes the case Wakanda is ignoring the plight of hundreds of millions of people of colour all over the world and can no longer turn its back on its brothers and sisters. Killmonger aims to take the throne from T’Challa by any means necessary and use all of Wakanda’s resources to turn the tables worldwide.
Soon after T’Challa is crowned king in an exciting ceremony, he sets off for South Korea to take down a cackling madman arms merchant named Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis), who has stolen an ancient Wakandan weapon.
T’Challa is accompanied by a great warrior, Gen. Okoye (Danai Gurira), and the superspy Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o), who happens to be his ex-girlfriend, and it’s clear T’Challa would like to remove that “ex” from the label. Let’s just say the mission doesn’t go exactly as planned.
The support team back home includes T’Challa’s mother, Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett); his uncle, the wise and learned Zuri (Forest Whitaker); his best friend, W’Kabi (Daniel Kaluuya); and his little sister, Shuri (Letitia Wright).
You are going to hear again and again how Letitia Wright steals every scene she’s in as the brilliant, hilarious, fiercely loyal Shuri. She is like the “Q” to T’Challa’s James Bond.
The Black Panther has become something of a cultural touchstone even before its release. We have seen and heard countless stories and opinion pieces about the significance of a black superhero leading a franchise, and the fact there’s a primarily African-American cast.
In short time, this will become the most successful film in a number of categories.
All well and great. But on a pure pop level, as a piece of bigtime mainstream entertainment, let us also celebrate this:
Black Panther is one of the best superhero movies of the century. By arrangement with Asia Features
Some film critics are calling superhero movie Black Panther the best Marvel movie so far; others say it’s a correction after years of neglecting minority talent in Hollywood. With a predominantly black cast, the makers hope its combination of African pride, beauty and kick-ass adventure will also mark a cultural shift in the movie industry and beyond.
“Hopefully it changes the general idea of what being an African is. Too often times we see Africa as a place that is wanting, and here it’s a place that you want to go,” said Lupita Nyong’o, who plays the warrior spy, Nakia.
Black Panther is eyeing for one of the biggest box office opening of all time. It is estimated that the film will open north of $200 million during the four-day opening weekend at US and Canada box office. Meanwhile, the movie has burst onto the screen in Africa, handing a powerful response to the unfortunate remarks about the continent by President Donald Trump. Cast member John Kani even laughed at the US President’s views, which several African nations have openly scorned.