Running Time. 2 hours 14 mins
Director. Ryan Coogler
Cast. Angela Bassett, Chadwick Boseman, Winston Duke, Martin Freeman, Danai Gurira, Michael B. Jordan, Daniel Kaluuya, Lupita Nyong'o, Andy Serkis, Letitia Wright.
Rating. 72%
Cinema audiences were first introduced to Prince T'Challa (and his alter ego, Black Panther) in 2016's Captain America: Civil War. Two years later, little did we know the cultural footprint Black Panther would leave behind. The film is so much more than Marvel Studios' eighteenth addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Instead, director Ryan Coogler brought to the screen a comic book movie with substance, a film that dares to reflect challenging issues in the real world.
Black Panther offers a different origins story. A story other members of the Marvel Studios back catalogue cannot match. Here we have a character that empowers those with different skin colour, celebrates the great continent of Africa and creates a black monarchy that unbeknown to the west rules the most technologically advanced, and potentially most powerful, nation on Earth.
Black Panther tackles race and identity head-on and questions what it means to be black in the 21st century. Particularly black in Africa and black in the United States.
We witness a grieving Prince T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) returning to his home of Wakanda in order to ascend to the throne. It is apparent that a sheltered upbringing has masked the realities of systemic racism in the western world from Prince T'Challa and he struggles to reconcile his duty to the people of Wakanda with his duty, if indeed he has one, to the rest of the world. What responsibility does an all-powerful African monarch owe to the western world? How does he reconcile being ruler of potentially the most powerful country in the world with not retaliating against the very people who have plundered the natural resources of neighbouring nations and sold his ancestors into slavery?
This dilemma is central to the storyline and the film's greatest asset quickly becomes the villain set to test Prince T'Challa's resolve. Erik Killmonger, a former black ops soldier is sensationally portrayed by Michael B. Jordan. Whilst Chadwick Boseman brings an inherent regal, nobility to the role of Prince T'Challa, Michael B. Jordan is more disrespectful and uncouth, and his ominous presence dominates much of the screen time. The film's success may be attributed to the fact that both hero and villain are equally compelling. Indeed, T'Challa and Killmonger are mirror images of each other, separated only by their place of birth. Erik Killmonger is aggrieved that Wakanda hasn't asserted itself more on the world stage, particularly in the United States, to improve the lives of black people. Wakanda could have protected black people from poverty, injustice and inequality, but chose not to.
Visually, Black Panther is impressive. Whether it is the tightly choreographed confrontation in the casino and subsequent car chase through the streets of Busan or the vibrant wardrobe of the different Wakandan tribes, the film ensnares the senses. Ruth E. Carter rightly won the Academy Award for Best Achievement in Costume Design and in doing so was the first African American to win the Academy Award for Best Costume Design.
Above all, Black Panther is incredibly entertaining, especially as the film proudly stands alone, rather than serving as exposition for the next instalment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Avengers: Infinity War.
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