Well, what can I say about Black Panther that hasn't already been said in the thousands of think pieces written about the boundary-breaking film? What can I say that hasn't been said by the fact that the film surpassed a billion dollars at the box office worldwide? What can I say as a white person who is so used to seeing white people on screen that I will never understand what it means to be "underrepresented"?
All I can say is that Black Panther met and surpassed my expectations.
Even though I'm not a diehard Marvel fanatic, I knew I would enjoy Black Panther. I usually go out of my way to see *certain* superhero movies: Wonder Woman, Deadpool, Logan. You know, the good ones! And I knew Black Panther would be one of the good ones because it was directed by Ryan Coogler who managed to get me invested in a movie about boxing (Creed) and because it stars a lineup of great actors, who to a one give excellent performances.
I think what I liked most about the film was its villain, Erik "Killmonger" Stevens, played with understandable rage and deep wells of sadness by the great Michael B. Jordan. Killmonger is the latest in a tradition of misunderstood villains--the best type of villain, in my opinion. Like Heath Ledger's Joker or Michael Fassbender/Ian McKellan's Magneto, Killmonger works as an antagonist because he's like, 85% right. Villains that are evil and sadistic for no reason tend to fall flat because the audience can't relate or empathize with them at all. One dimensional characters, no matter the genre of film, are just plain boring.
If you've seen the movie, you know that Killmonger is driven by righteous anger. Abandoned as a child, he grew up seeing white people dominate black people...all while knowing that his country of origin--Wakanda--had the tools the end black people's suffering around the world. While Killmonger takes his desire to help oppressed black people to a violent, if understandable, extreme--use Wakanda's vibranium to conquer white people--the root of his so-called "evil" is a desire for justice and a need to right wrongs.
And so, as I said, Killmonger is mostly right and I was very happy to see that the film treated his story--including his death--with a measure of respect and grace. I enjoy movies that blur the lines between good an evil: the troubled hero, a misunderstood antihero, etc. Why? Because that's what reality is: even our most respected and beloved heroes--Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa, Gandhi--had darkness and weakness inside them. And even though we go to the movies to be entertained and escape into fantasy, we also go to see ourselves reflected on the silver screen. There is no greater beauty than the truth, and Erik Killmonger is a truthful villain.
In addition to this great villain, Black Panther has so much more: a casino shoot-out, a thrilling car chase, Andy Serkis as a baddie with a weaponized arm, Martin Freeman as the token nice/hapless white guy...and a cadre of kick-ass warrior women who help the film pass the Bechdel test with flying colors. In particular, Letitia Wright, playing Shuri, King T'Challa's tech whiz kid sister, is a standout. I was so happy to see that roles for women weren't pushed to the side to make room for roles for men (of color)--meaning, one type of diversity doesn't need to outshine another type of diversity.
Black Panther succeeds on multiple levels--it is a great superhero movie, hands down, but it is also a Film that Matters. Following in the footsteps of Get Out, which was also a genre film (horror) that succeeded both politically and artistically, Black Panther finally gives black audiences a superhero that looks like them and puts black people in the center of the narrative. It also gives white audiences the chance to experience a movie where *we* are the minority. And that's a good thing.
Grade: A
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