Hollywood finally made the movie America was waiting on for decades. The first major super hero franchise featuring a black hero is a blockbusting hit. Also a major milestone not because of the boundaries it crosses rather because it makes history defying Hollywood common sense. The secret to the success is it is actually a well done story thoughtfully told, it’s not a black Tony Stark, Thor, or any of the other pampered white heroes you would care to name, this is a story unique to this hero. People of African heritage have a good reasons to go out a support this movie. Ordinarily I would shy away from supporting a monolithic studio like Disney, however this is a breaking of the rut of Hollywood thinking. Over 100 years of Hollywood film and these good progressives never saw fit to allow anyone of ethnic origins their own super hero franchise, yeah we were good enough to be the sidekick but Hollywood would be damned if Tonto or Keye Luke took the lead.
Review to follow with spoilers below.
Two White Guys Wearing Masks
Black Panther is more or less the origins story of the current Black Panther T’Challa after his father T’Chaka, the previous Panther (who let himself go) died in Captain America: Civil War. To begin his odyssey T’Challa has to go though a ceremony to officially become anointed the leader of the fictitious country of Towanda. No, wait, that was Fired Green Tomatoes, a movie so bad it is regarded as cruel and unusual punishment. Wakanda! T’Challa is prince of Wakanda. And so the brave prince starts his journey by stalking his Ex and guilting her into attending his coronation. As part of the ceremony he drinks the detoxifying green tea of Kryptonite so the super human catsuit wearing fighter is rendered powerless allowing him to be challenged for the throne. Which nobody wants to do because the prince is so deserving. Although I would have throw in with Shuri (T’Challa’s sister) if she had wanted the throne, she didn’t as it turns out. Thankfully M’Baku the leader of the Jabari tribe did want the job, so much so he challenged the prince to a fight to the death for it. Here I was routing for M’Baku just because he was so damn cool, he goes on to prove how cool he is later in the movie because T’Challa spared his life during the contentious primary run off in Puerto Idaho. I’m pretty sure there was Russian interference throwing the fight to T’Challa however T’Challa secure the nomination going on to becoming the first black king of Wakanda. He then goes to another special ceremony regain his pantherness consisting of a dream quest not at all stolen from any other culture where he seeks wisdom from a ghost and conformation of his calling. As you do.
The Whole point of T’Challa’s quest was to clue the audience into how the power structures work in Wakanda, why the Black Panther is a king and how the powers were bestowed upon him. We need this understanding because Hillary B. Killmonger the prodigal son of a lost prince of Wakanda is coming back after the fact to challenge the election results. This is where I start to have problems with the movie, Michael B. Jordan’s portrayal of Killmonger, it’s just not good. He is easily the weakest cast member of the hundreds that grace the screen. Well Bilbo Baggins did show up as the token good white guy.
Killmonger is nothing more than a bad characterization of black ops mercenary. When he shows up seeking the throne offering as a token of peace the corpse of a man he and his father colluded with to steal from and caused harm to Wakanda, he should have been turned away for so many reasons regardless of his pedigree. He is a CIA stereotype who missed the deadline to file for the election, boom, story done. Sadly it wasn’t, not for the filmmakers, they bet heavily on Michael B. Jordan’s Killmonger. Who’s story I felt made Wakanda look worse than it already did isolating themselves from the rest of the world for the last few millennia. By empowering Killmonger the people of Wakanda easily turn their back on their heritage and embrace values counter to their existence for no explicable reason.
Killmonger and Black Panther are meant to flip sides of the same coin. In this movie they are not. One is a stereotype of a “bad guy” the other has depth, emotion, and a drive to protect his people. Even in Killmonger’s rendition of a dream quest he is shallow and empty. You could see disappointment all over his ghost daddy’s face. But I guess this vacuous story telling was an easy call for the movie industry to make.
However much more of the movie works than doesn’t, Killmonger may be a weak point but so many of the other characters take up the slack and beautifully fill in the mosaic. So many great leading women in this movie you might be forgive for mistaking this for a Wonder Woman sequel. Shuri‘s enthusiasm is so infectious, just incredible. She is a better Q than the James Bond franchise has seen since Desmond Llewelyn died 19 years ago in a traffic accident on the A27. Nakia the bleeding heart activist and kick ass Wakandian spy is also the main candidate for future Queen, tryouts ought to be interesting. The current Queen Ramonda was the very visage of a monarch. Dora Milaje a team of such kick ass warrior women makes you wonder who actually gives damn about Themyscira. It is also clear where Muammar Gaddafi got the inspiration for his all female tactical team who guarded him day and night. Okoye in particular is so awesome it seems like some mistake was made, she should be the lead character of her own movie not the sidekick to a man who would never stare down a charging rhinoceros. Finally if you a looking for good leadership look no farther than M’Baku, while not a woman, women love him. This character was the only one of the tribal chieftains to show good judgment and took balanced approach to leadership.
The beauty and respect the Africa is treated with is refreshing. In the movie Africa feels like a place you would want to belong to as well. The Wakandan people are people you would love to be accepted by, even if as a immigrant you would be required to live in the (more beautiful) rural areas of Wakanda away from the internet superhighway capital of Wakanda the movie never shows us much of. This is a nice message, especially for a people who were oppressed by this country’s policies for centuries. Trying to get it right for a few decades does not absolve the nation of the sins of the past. Neither does it necessarily entitle anyone to special citizen status, not when so many of us huddles masses were trampled over in the name of national progress because of our race, creed, religion or social status. Although it is probably still all right to make fun of Mitt Romney because of his magic underwear. While arguably he is a member of a religious minatory (Mitt was shocked as anyone to hear he was a monitory), there certainly is nobody whiter (except for maybe Elizabeth “Trail of Tears” Warren), however there is definitely nobody more privileged.
The politicization of this movie is a shame. Certainly in the context of the movie there are political trappings contained in the script, but for the most part it is more honestly challenging the social narrative than any who will try to talk about these topics in the wake of the movie. In the end the story’s message is a positive one recognizing the hardships and mistreatment while advocating for equal treatment of all people. Sadly parties on the right and left want to use this movie to charge up their political base. The left would like to “Wakanda the Vote” to use the tidal wave of enthusiasm for the film to translate in to democratic victories for the next four years. Because, well the Democrats for all their long history have only thought of the black population as personal property. A population to be motivated not by personal options, experiences, and situations but rather by brand loyalty. This is why I think the “Wakanda the Vote” memes will fail, if the billionaires funding these kind of movements actually cared about the communities they could openly spend the same amount of money used for this kabuki theater to improve the lives of a great many people. The fact these billionaires would never consider doing this is not lost on anybody, least of all the people targeted.
The republican for their part have their heads buried deep up their own… um..strike that…rather…I meant to say.. their heads buried deeply in the sand, when they do sheepishly peek above the surface to take in the sounding environment all they can feebly plead is “but… we fought a war to free you.”, “but… we created the fourteenth amendment to give you citizenship and the right to vote. ” (and nobody else *for reference lookup Native American citizenship), “but… we founded all these progressive movements to fight for equal rights.”. Sure those are all true facts but what have the Republicans done for anybody alive today? Not a whole hellofalot. In fairness I think they would like to do more but are too afraid of the scathing social narrative they are likely to trigger with their hamfisted attempts. However I am tired of the right trying to undermine the success of this movie saying it owes credit to some left wing shadow cabal. Sure some of what they allege is occurring, what they ought to do is rejoice because because a movie like Black Panther finding major success in America is the result of people of all races and political leanings having no predetermined ideological objection to going to their local theaters to see a good movie. This is a movie America was ready for a very long time ago and Hollywood bigotry held it back. Now that it is a success we are bound to be inundated by copycats, “us too” studios rushing out a flood of minority heroes, possibly with politically charged themes as well. Predictably many of the movies will be no good and will fail because of it. Just as predictably Hollywood will soon forget that the Black Panther found success because at its core it is a good movie. To continue the success success found with Black Panther Marvel has to follow up with a worthy story, which I think they can do. (sequel tentatively titled Black Widow).
