Allow me to set the stage. Back in 2013, my first year as a blogger, I stumbled upon a film called Fruitvale Station made by a man named Ryan Coogler in his directorial debut. I loved Fruitvale Station and declared it my favorite film of 2013—a sentiment I retain today. Coogler’s next film Creed is a wonderful film that breathed new life into the Rocky franchise—taking it in new, innovative directions it had never gone before. Like Fruitvale Station, Creed stars Michael B. Jordon in the lead role and ranks in my top five of the year. So here comes Black Panther. It’s part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)—a franchise I near-universally enjoy and strongly support—has its main character previously set up in Captain America: Civil War (meaning minimal hindrances from first installment limitations), is directed by Ryan Coogler and has Michael B. Jordon as its main antagonist. If there were ever a film where the stars seemed all aligned to make greatness, it was Black Panther—and you can bet your butt I was hyped as hell for the film.
Black Panther, is a decent superhero film. Decent, by definition, means “of an acceptable standard.” By calling Black Panther decent, I am giving the film a thumbs up—saying it is a passable feature…to an extent. See, when you have so much anticipation for a film, such high expectations for a great director making an installment for a great franchise, decent ends up feeling like a strong kick to the groin.
Black Panther primarily takes place in the fictional African country Wakanda. Long ago, part of Africa was struck by a meteor made of vibranium. Five native tribes fought over the metal until a leader, empowered by a vibranium-infused herb, rose and united all but one of the tribes into one. The leader became known as the Black Panther and the country Wakanda was born from such uniting—growing into a thriving utopia more advanced than any other country on Earth. As its surrounding nations descended into war and destruction, Wakanda chose to hide from the world—using its advanced technology to disguise itself as a meager Third World country.
Black Panther’s plot follows prince T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman)—aka the latest Black Panther—returning to Wakanda to assume his late father’s throne and be crowned king. Expectedly, things do not go as expected when it is discovered that arms dealer Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis) has stolen a Wakandan artifact along with the help of the mysterious Erik Stevens (Michael B. Jordon). T’Challa leaves for Busan, South Korea—the place where Klaue plans to sell the artifact—to retrieve the item and capture Klaue. Along for the ride is Okoye (Danai Gurira), leader of an all-female Wakandan special force team, Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o), T’Challa’s ex-lover, Shuri (Letitia Wright), T’Challa’s younger sister and essentially his “Q”, and CIA member Everett Ross (Martin Freeman) who is also there to subdue Klaue.
MAJOR SPOILERS BEGIN:
My driving question is, what went wrong? Where did such collaboration go sour? Looking at Black Panther externally, the most prominent issue is that the MCU’s key winning formula has been unhinged. For starters, the comedy feels stifled—stumbling to find its place among the action and drama. At times the action is entertaining and distinct. There’s a cool battle between T’Challa and Stevens as they fall down a chasm and battle on futuristic train tracks, as well as the awesome inclusion of VIBRANIUM-COATED RHINOS! Yet there are also scenes where the fighting is blurry and nauseous to the point where it’s confusing to follow what’s going on.
The plot is all kinds of predictable. Oh, T’Challa and Stevens are having a one-on-one death match in the middle of the film? Well, of course T’Challa is going to lose, of course T’Challa’s elderly spiritual mentor is killed by Stevens, and of course T’Challa is presumed dead only to pop up later in the film. The rebel tribe states they won’t help T’Challa in the final battle, well guess who shows up at the most pivotal moment to help. It’s worth noting the previous sentence was written in my notes directly after the rebel tribe states they won’t help, long before they "unexpectedly" assist in the film.
Characterization is messy and incomplete. Agent Ross finds out Wakanda—which he believed to be a Third World country—is actually a utopia far more advanced than any modern country. What’s Ross’ response to such a mind-blowing discovery? He immediately accepts it and tries assisting in the country’s current conflict with hardly a hint of bafflement or rational questioning (I know there are gods in this universe, but he could have been shown, at least fazed and/or curious about Wakanda’s status).
While Klaue is a fun, entertaining villain, Stevens is not—guess which one of the two dies prematurely. Now, I don’t blame Michael B. Jordon as the cause of Stevens’ blandness—he’s previously shown himself to be a very potent actor—nor do I necessarily blame Ryan Coogler. Stevens’ backstory and ancestral visions give potential for the character to be a three-dimensional antagonist. Unfortunately, this doesn’t happen, and the antagonist ends up suffering badly from the MCU’s most persistent fault: bland, cliché baddies that get killed off rather than saved for future development/usage in later installments. Stevens simply does not hold up to be anything interesting or memorable—even his promising themes about fighting racism turn into a run-of-the-mill well-intentioned extremist scheme—and it's made worse by the blatant potential he could have possessed.
MAJOR SPOILERS END
I have a gut feeling here that the limitations of a pre-determined storyline stifled Coogler’s directing ability. Unlike with The Last Jedi where director Rian Johnson was allowed creative freedom in shaping the story and its direction, Coogler here is restricted in what he can and cannot do since the film’s sequels have already been made. Stevens is an ideal example where the potential is all set up by Coogler, yet the execution is predictable and disappointing. Coogler feels restrained by the connected universe, and despite claiming Black Panther to be his most personal film to date, such collaboration ends up being his film that lacks the most heart.
Black Panther’s most defining feature is its scope of progressiveness. While it is not the first film to feature a black superhero protagonist, its almost entirely black major and supporting cast is noteworthy. It’s not every day you see a mainstream blockbuster film with a primarily black cast and a token supporting white character. Black Panther also boasts a large cast of prominent female characters that, for the first time in a mainstream superhero film, rival its male counterparts in numbers. Yet while its ambitious progressiveness is admirable, Black Panther loses sight of what ultimately makes a superhero film work—a potent story with well-written characters.
I praise Wonder Woman for its major steps in progressiveness for female superhero films, but that is not what makes it a really good film. Wonder Woman is a really good film because it’s a well-made origin story with witty humor, entertaining action, solid characterization, an insightful outlook on morality, and a great coming-of-age aspect. Black Panther, on the other hand, has uneven comedy, blurry action, and a messy outlook on morality due to its stock characterization. Progressive themes without effective storytelling, are just words without potency—and Black Panther is too average a film to give its themes any resounding impact.
Yet that is just this lonely reviewer’s opinion. It’s quite evident I’m in the minority regarding Black Panther’s quality (trust me, I wish I loved this film as much as others do) and its soaring box office sales suggest anything but that it's doing poorly (though only time will tell how impactful Black Panther truly is in mainstream culture). Black Panther honestly makes me sad. I had so much anticipation for the film and what it could do, and it ends up being a decent, yet unremarkable film in almost all areas. Black Panther is Coogler’s least impressive film to date, as well as one of the MCU’s weakest installments.
