Black Panther follows T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman), who has ascended to be the new king of the reclusive African nation of Wakanda following the tragic death of his father T’Chaka (John Kani). As T’Challa struggles to find the confidence to move on without his father, he must also contend with deciding his nation’s path forward in an ever-changing world amidst differing viewpoints within his inner circle and challenges from outside his kingdom.
Black Panther is a film about identity, tradition, and lineage. The film’s three themes all intertwine into asking one large question. Where should our loyalties lie and for whom are we most responsible; our people, as in the community or country we belong to, or our “people,” a larger group, like one race or the world at large? This is main conflict T’Challa faces as the new King in an ever connected world. Two people in his inner circle, spy and ex-girlfriend Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) and W’Kabi (Daniel Kaluuya), leader of the one of Wakanda’s four tribes and T’Challa’s closest confidant, urge T’Challa to use Wakanda’s knowledge and technology to assist in rectifying the world’s ills, especially for those of African descent. Okoye (Danai Gurira) urges him to stay within Wakandan traditions and only venture outside of its borders in protection of their own interests.
This conundrum is a cinematic parallel to a sort of survivor’s guilt felt in reality by many in the black community who become successful at a level enjoyed by few of their peers. What responsibility do you hold to pull up others alongside you? Can you save everyone? Is it worth it to try? And if it is, how far should you go to achieve this and at what cost to yourself and your own life?
In the film’s flashback scene, T’Challa’s uncle N’Jobu (Sterling K. Brown) decides that saving those in the African diaspora from discrimination and hatred is worth going against his brother T’Chaka and betraying Wakanda in an attempt to distribute its weapons worldwide and spark an uprising. For this, T’Chaka ends up taking his brother’s life and abandoning his half American son, Erik “Killmonger” Stephens (Michael B. Jordan) in Oakland, California. The philosophy of liberating the colonized and downtrodden becomes Erik’s driving cause alongside revenge for his father. Unlike his uncle and cousin, Erik and his father experience life as non-royal black men and it drives them to thirst for change and revolution. Witnessing and experiencing life without the protection of elevated social status, a homogeneous society, and advanced weaponry for protection colors what N’Jobu and Erik feel their responsibility to the world is. Black Panther sparks a conversation on which path is best to take and which side holds the moral high ground, a question not easily answered.
The film’s second major theme is the exploration of the effects of our familial trees and their past stories, and how we see and react to this in our world. The history of Erik and T’Challa’s family and the conflict between their fathers is what fueled their own confrontation. Erik was driven not only to avenge his father, but prove that he was worthy of more consideration and care than he was given, abandoned in a nation that was not part of his bloodline and offered treatment beneath his royal lineage. The burden of our parents’ experiences is also what drives W’Kabi to betray T’Challa as he craves vengeance for their deaths at the hands of Ulysses Klaw (Andy Serkis), something T’Challa cannot provide but Erik can. I found real world parallels to this theme in the wounds of the transatlantic slave trade, which are still fresh and the pain still real. The part played African tribes and nations in providing the supply of human capital in the trade is one still debated today and the conversation closely aligns with this film’s theme. What responsibility did these tribes hold to those they sold as fellow Africans, despite any tribal conflict and differences? Although numerous kings fought back against the slave trade once finding out what European style slavery entailed, should they have done more to combat the trade sooner? And what responsibility to those of the African diaspora on both sides have to mend these wounds today in light of the mistakes made by those ancestors before us? It was fascinating to see this debate played out on screen in a major blockbuster film.
The debate over how Wakanda should help the world around it is also interwoven with the issue of traditions within societies and raises the question, how adherent should we be to them? Tradition is the other force that tugs at T’Challa in his decision on Wakanda’s future and is what forces Okoye in so many directions. As family and its inherent bonds are at the forefront of this film, the pressure to do what has always been done is appropriately explored. Thrust into a position without his lifelong advisor and parent, T’Challa is hesitant to deviate too much from what his father, and his father before him, have done and potentially risk Wakanda’s peace and tranquility in the process. As leader of the royal protectors Dora Milaje, Okoye is hesitant to abdicate her role as protector of throne, even in the face of Killmonger’s obvious threat to its stability. Balancing what we believe are our duties to the past with what we believe to be is right and changes we feel need to be made is a hard choice that every human being must make at some point in their lives, particularly during generational changes in leadership like we see in this film. Young people carving a new path away from their elders is always a fraught experience. Black Panther deftly explores this and integrates it into its plot.
As a harsher critic of the Marvel Cinematic Universe than most, Black Panther is the film I’ve been waiting for Marvel Studios to produce during its recent run. The film stands out from most of its previous fare in all the right ways. The first major difference is that Black Panther doesn’t suffer from the over-reliance on quips and out of place humor. The film’s emotional scenes are allowed to breathe and linger without immediately having the drama undercut by a joke. The humor in the film was natural and arose organically within the moment rather than feeling forced. Black Panther’s cinematography is also much improved, although the CGI is spotty at times but fine overall. Gone is the television-level quality and feel, replaced by rich, contrasted color. The costume design in the film should also garner immediate conversation for awards recognition. The integration of numerous authentic garb and cultural pieces from various African nations and cultures into the film was magnificently done. The same applies to the film’s score that integrated African rhythms and sounds while also sounding modern and fitting an action film. The respect for African culture and avoidance of any caricatures and inauthentic representation was obvious and well executed.
As described in detail earlier in this review, Black Panther’s themes have something to say and carry weight; the film is more than just a simple action comedy like previous Marvel fare. This is most obviously displayed through Jordan’s Erik Killmonger whose motivations make viewers consider his viewpoint fully and question whether or not it has merit rather just dismissing him as a black and white evil presence. Antagonists that present gray areas are the hallmarks of great films and Black Panther hits a home run in this area. The action is serviceable, although in the film’s early action scenes the hand-to-hand combat choreography leave a lot to be desired. The first act also drags on slightly too long and affects the film’s pacing, but the story threads that are established result in payoffs later in the film that make the setup a little more understandable.
Black Panther is a film that both provokes thought and provides plenty of entertainment in a genre that has been resistant to those that attempt to do both. Even looking past what it means to have a majority black major blockbuster film production, it’s just a genuinely good film no matter its backstory or circumstances surrounding it. The themes it presents are timely and relevant and should spark substantive discussion and debate. Black Panther immediately thrusts itself to the top of the genre’s best.
Image: Walt Disney Studios
