This weekend, my husband and I visited my in-laws up at Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia. It's a bit of a touristy spot in the Blue Ridge Mountains of rural Southwestern Virginia, so it's nice and quiet in February. My mother-in-law loves quality time with her grandbabies, so we were able to sneak away for a few hours in the afternoon to see Black Panther at a local cinema -- where it was not difficult to get tickets. We walked up about 20 minutes before an afternoon showing and had walked right in. There were...maybe 20 people in the theater?
But it was fascinating -- it was wonderful -- to overhear the conversations of the people sitting around us. There was an African-American couple sitting a few seats down from us who frankly admitted that they didn't know anything about comic book characters or the other Marvel movies -- but they'd been to see this movie Friday night, were here again on Saturday afternoon, and couldn't wait to take their grandbabies on Sunday after church.
That's the power of this movie, y'all.
I'm going to try and post non-spoilery thoughts, because this is a movie that shouldn't be spoiled.There are cultural cinematic events that happen every so often. “Jaws” broke open the tentpole. “Star Wars” redefined the blockbuster. “Wonder Woman” gave us a heroine 4 the ages. And something tells me #BlackPanther is about to carry the torch & set the whole thing on fire again— Josh Gad (@joshgad) February 12, 2018
My husband and I were talking after the movie, and he said that, while he enjoyed it, it wasn't his favorite Marvel movie. (Which he later clarified saying that "not-your-favorite-Marvel-movie" is like saying "not-your-favorite-Harry-Potter-book" -- you enjoy them all, and even your least favorite is still better than a majority of other movies/books.) But I disagreed. I think the Thor movies might be my favorite -- at least the first and third -- and I will admit that a large part of that is the shallow reason of liking Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston and Idris Elba, but I also love mythological stories. The first Captain America is also up there (a period piece film with Stanley Tucci and Haley Atwell? Yes, please.) as well as the first Guardians of the Galaxy. But I actually think that Black Panther is up there -- for completely different reasons, of course.
I was hesitant at first -- not because I doubted that it would be a good movie; Marvel hasn't had a miss yet -- but because several of the headlines I read said that it was a different Marvel movie, that it departed from the Marvel formula.
I shouldn't have worried. Here are some of the reasons why:
1. Letitia Wright as Princess Shuri.
No, really. Please put Letitia Wright in ALL THE THINGS. She is an amazing, enchanting, charming actress who just makes you love her and who steals every scene she's in. (And if you don't love her, IDK what's wrong with you. She is A TREASURE.) But the character of Shuri? Revolutionary. She's a smart, witty, funny, beautiful princess of color who excels in STEM. She invents and she creates and she's the furthest thing from a damsel-in-distress -- she wields blasters and remote-drives cars and...I'm gushing. I feel like I'm gushing.
She also has some of the best lines in the movie: from her humorous disdain for her ceremonial corset to her mocking T'Challa for his shoes, to her "sneakers" pun....gold.
It's a toss-up as to what's my absolute favorite: "Just because something works, doesn't mean it can't be improved" or "Don't scare me like that, Colonizer" or "When you told me you would take me to California for the first time, I thought you meant Coachella or Disneyland"...her delivery is fantastic.
 |
| PC: The Mary Sue |
Honestly? This one surprised me. But when I think about the best parts of this movie, M'Baku is one of the first things that comes to mind. And it doesn't hurt that he. is. pretty. (I am not the only one who thinks so.)
First, he's a complex character -- and a relatively minor one, all things considered, given his relative screen time -- but I don't know if it's a testament to Duke's handling of the role or Coogler's directing (probably both) but he brings depth to that role and makes you understand him. He starts out as this intimidating character, who you're rooting against, to...well. I said this would be non-spoilery.
And he's funny. Like, laugh out loud, and then laugh again a minute later when you think of the delivery. He has, in my opinion, the funniest line in the movie. And it's textbook Marvel humor.
Between Black Panther and Wonder Woman, I am HERE for the superhero girl power. I love -- love, love, love -- that both Themyscira and Wakanda are these successful societies with strong female characters -- and not only that, but ass-kicking female warriors who don't need guns to show what's what.
This article from The Mary Sue was written before the release of the movie, but really articulates the importance of these three characters:
"The bios for Nakia, Okoye, and Shuri give each woman a full, realized character with motivations of her own, outside of T’Challa."And they do -- each of the three primary characters does have a separate identity that's independent of T'Challa -- they interact with him, of course, as the movie is titled Black Panther, but they aren't dependent on him. They are fully realized and not vilified -- which is an amazing feat for any movie featuring women, let alone a movie with a primarily black cast.
What I would actually refute though, is the concluding comment:
"It’s no great secret that the Marvel Cinematic Universe doesn’t have a stellar track record when it comes to the inclusion of women of color, so I’m delighted that Black Panther will introduce so many powerful black female characters. However, if Marvel’s previous treatment of women is any indicator, they’ll likely still be confined to supporting roles."I would seriously debate this -- and I'm curious if MaryKate Jasper would change her thoughts...I would argue that Black Panther has 4 main characters -- T'Challa, Killmonger, Nakia and Okoye -- and that Nakia and Okoye are given just as prominent a role as the male leads. There are very few scenes in the film where Okoye and Nakia aren't both present -- until the end when the storylines diverge and, even then, you are following three separate storylines -- Nakia's, Okoye's, and T'Challa's and Killmonger's. I actually think Marvel did right by these female characters.
4. Michael B. Jordan as Killmonger
So...I actually know him first from All My Children (I KNOW. MY MOM WATCHED THE ABC SOAPS AND I GOT SUCKED IN, MMKAY?! Don't judge.) but also from Parenthood. And he's just one of those actors that, when you watch them in a bit role (like on a soap opera), you just know that they're going to make it. They have something that just transcends the screen.
But the thing with Killmonger is that he's the villain, sure, but he's a understandable villain. You can imagine flipping the narrative and telling the story from his point of view and having him be the hero. Because this is where the powerful social commentary of the film comes in -- and he and Nakia have parallel storylines in this regard. They both want to see Wakanda come out of the shadows -- to use it's wealth and technology and power to help the disenfranchised -- because Wakanda is a shining beacon of what might have been.
And to me, the most powerful line of the movie -- that one that stuck with me after the credits -- was the one that Jordan/Killmonger delivers at the end of the film. (Slight spoilers, but...it's a Disney comic book movie. You have to know what happens to the bad guy.):
No comments:
Post a Comment