anymore Most big studio fantasies take you out for a joy ride only … · ride only to hit the sameexhausted story and franchise-expanding beats. Notthis one. Its axis point is the

Review : Black Panther Shakes Up theMarvelUniverse

ByManohla Dargis Feb . 6 , 2018

of a movie, Black Panther” createswonder with great flair

and feeling partly through something Hollywood rarely dreams ofto anymore Most big studio fantasies take you out for a joy

ride only to hit the sameexhausted story and franchise-expanding

beats. Not this one. Its axis point is the fantasticalnation of

Wakanda , an African Eden where verdant - green landscapes meet

blue-sky science fiction . There , spaceships with undercarriages

resembling tribalmasks soar over majestic waterfalls , touching

down in a story thathas farmore going for it than branding.

Wakanda is hometo Black Panther, a. k .a . T ' Challa (Chadwick

Boseman), the latestMarvelhero to leap off the comic book page

and into hisownmovie. Created in 1966 by Stan Lee script) and

Jack Kirby (art), the originalBlack Panther hepcat in a slinky

suit with claws and ears — debuted alongsidethe Fantastic Four in

an adventure in Wakanda, which is powered by a mysterymetal,

vibranium . Itwas a splashy, timely entrance (the revolutionarygroup that shareshis nameofficially formed that sameyear), and

by the end ofhis first escapade, the Four had assured T Challa

" there s no reason for the Black Panther's career to come to an

end!”

In the decadessince, Black Pantherhas undergonea variety of

costumealterationsand adventuresin the comics, someunder the

directionofthe filmmaker ReginaldHudlin and,morerecently, theauthor Ta - Coates. To direct the first Panthermovie,Marvel

tapped Ryan Coogler,who with his lastouting, “ Creed,” shook the

dustoff the Rocky seriesby giving it an African-American

champion played by MichaelB . Jordan. For“ Black Panther,” Mr.

Cooglerbroughtback both Mr. Jordan and someformer crew

members includingRachelMortison, the directorof

photographyon his first feature “FruitvaleStation” continuity

thatmay help account for thismovie's intimacy and fluidity.

Aswith allMarvel screen ventures, the story has a lot ofmoving

parts, but in general the results don 't register as the same-old

superhero busywork , the kind thatmakes for forgettable stories and

strenuously overinflated running times. Written by Mr. Coogler 7and Joe Robert Cole , “ Black Panther brings T Challa s story up to

the present, sketches in hispast and looksto his future , allwhile

clearing room for theMarvel Cinematic Universe and its other

unitard-wearing warriors. (Black Panther was first wedged into the

forgettable Captain America: CivilWar." ) The also rather

too breezily establishesWakanda as a militaristic monarchy that isnevertheless fair and democratic.

The story initially involves a satisfying ifobvious cartoonish

villain , UlyssesKlaue(Andy having a conspicuously verygood time), an underworld armsdealerwith a weaponized arm , an

Afrikaans sneer and a rampaging cohortthat includes Erik

Killmonger (Mr. Jordan ). Ashisnameannounces, Killmonger has,

well, issues to go with his striking body ornamentation. Theband s

evildoingways attracttheattention of the Black Pantherand an

international lawman in the person of a friendly C . . A agent ( thecustomarily cuddly Martin Freeman), whose good-guy status is

justonereminder that Black Panther” adheres to at least some

dubious Hollywoodconventions.

For while, story and the Black Panther veer here and there ,jumping from Wakanda to Busan, South Korea, the filmmakers

seem as if they re simply going to deliver a remix of James Bond

with a touch ofSpidey shenanigans. The Black Panther even slinks

into a swank casino with somebackup and before long the place

has erupted with the kindofchoreographed mayhem that

legs and gowns twirl — achieves liftoff. There s also the inevitable

chaotic car chase that turns Busaninto a video gameand,

dispiritingly , a car commercial, an egregious tie- in that is

somewhat alleviated by the amusing image ofa woman warrior' s

bare footputtingpedal to themetal.

Flourishes like this along with an amusingly airborne wig and

later, rampaging rhinos) and the Wakandan backdrop give the

action scenes kick and actualpersonality , butMr. Coogler s

directing strengths are more intimate . There are sequences in

Black Panther thatmay make you cry because ofwhere they goand what they say, butalso because of the sensitivity he brings to

.Hemakes some savvy story choices too . And so , beforeMr.

Serkis can steal too many scenes, Mr. Coogler turns his attention to

Killmongerand pushesthemovie in another direction, away from

a white villain wrongingblack peopleto black people living their

lives.

Partof themovie' s pleasure and its ethos — which wendsthrough

itsvisuals — ishow it dispenses with familiar either/or divides,

includingthebinary opposition thattends to shape our discourse

on race. Life in Wakanda is at once urban andrural, and

traditional, technological and mystical Spaceships zoom over

soaring buildings with thatched tops, a hover train zips over a

market with hanging woven baskets. In one of themost striking

locales, an open -air throne room is horizontally lined with

suspended tree limbs , creating a loose pattern that pointedly blurs

the divide between the interior and exterior worlds and is echoed

by the fretwork in costumes and other sets .

transitionThe rejection of the either/or divide extends to Killmonger, whose

emotional, fraught back story gives themoviemore heft and realworld friction than any ofMarvel' s other superhero blowouts. Likea lotof adventures, “Black Panther” turnson a familiar father-and

son drama + there 's an assassination, a power vacuum and asomewhat reluctantheir a patrilinealintrigue that is filled inhere with intense face-offs involving questions of ancestry,identity, the African diaspora, the new world and the old. One

particularly moving narrative thread features Sterling K . , atremulous, vibrantly sensitive actor who conveys entire chapters ofgrief. (Hecould out-weep Juliette Binoche.)

defy

characters

Binoche.

Mr. Jordan isa terrifically charismatic presence and there are times

when you wonder ifhemighthavemade a betterBlack Panther.

Mr. Boseman' smagnetism ismore slow -burningand his

performanceismorephysically restrainedthan Mr. Jordan , even

deliberate, though hehashis splashier, freewheeling ,

including somehand-to -hand grappling (Wrestlingisbig in

Wakanda, hence a few sexy smackdowns featuringacresofbare

skin andjumpingmuscle.) Likemany other Wakandans, he speaks

in English with a South African lilt, an accent thatvividly

summonsupNelsonMandelaand suggeststhat T Challa willsoon

be assuming the role ofinternationaldiplomat.

It s importantto themovie' s politics andmyth-building that he is

surrounded by a phalanx ofwomen, among them a battalion of

women warriors called the DoraMilaje. These aren t moviedom s

irritatingly token strongchicks, the tough babeswith sizable bicepsand skills butno real roles. For allhis father issues, T Challa is

enveloped by women who cushion him in maternal,military,

sisterly andscientific support. A female general(DanaiGurira)

standsbyhis side hisbaby sister ( a vivacious LetitiaWright)

provides gadgets andwithering asides à la Bond' s gadget guy.

Angela Bassett swansin as the royalmother, whileLupita

Nyong' o , as a spy,makes the case for herown spinoff.

Buoyed by its groovy women and Afrofuturist flourishes,

Wakanda itself is finally themovie' s strength , its rallying cry and

state of . Early on, a character carelessly describes it as

world country , shepherds, cool outfits.” Partof

the joke , which themovie wittily engages, is that Wakanda

certainly fits that profile except that its shepherds patrolthe borderwith techno-wizardry , and its textiles and costumes dazzle becauseof the country 's secret vibranium sauce. More critically , having

never been conquered , Wakanda has evaded the historical traumas

endured bymuch of the rest of Africa , freeing it from the ravagesof both colonialism and postcolonialism .

ravages

closing

Racematters in Panther and itmatters deeply , not in terms

of Manichaean good guys and bad butas ameans to explore larger

human concerns about the past, the present and the uses and abuses

of power. That alonemakes it more thoughtful about how theworld works than a lot ofmainstream movies, even if those ideas

are interspersed with plenty ofcomic- book posturing. It wouldn' t

be a Marvelproduction withoutmanly skirmishes and digital

avatars. Yet in its emphasis on black imagination, creation and

liberation, the movie becomes an emblem of a past thatwas denied

and a future that feels very present And in doing so opensup its

world , and yours, beautifully.