Sunday, May 27, 2018
Black Panther
- Commentary: Well. Folks. Yes. I own a copy of this movie. It's certainly not the best super-hero movie in my collection, in fact I would venture that it's probably the worst. It's beautiful to look at and a lot of the ideas, especially the technological state of Wakanda and a few of the political ideas, are interesting to contemplate. When I first watched the movie, immediately upon its DVD release (I checked it out of the library), I kept waiting for the story to start until, about half way through the movie, I realized, oh, this movie is not going to be story driven! How peculiar! The actors were given nothing with which to work, thus some amazing talents are little more than props for the cgi and none of the characters appear to have discernible, well, character, including, amazingly, Black Panther. The cgi, while breathtaking in parts, often seems little more than a confused mish-mash, like someone threw a graphics program at the script, picked up the pieces and declared them "a movie". Yes, the costuming is glorious. Yes, the hints of what Wakanda really is as a country and a political entity are intriguing. Some of the characters have real promise, which, unfortunately, none of them fulfill: Shuri, for instance, as a science genius and strong-willed princess, is treated like little more than the comical sidekick dragon in Mulan, even though, at one point, which piqued my interest, someone suggests, after the assumed death of Black Panther, her brother, that she ingest the panther-making potion, but, for some reason never explained, she doesn't; Ramonda, the glorious queen, is never assumed to be the rightful heir to her dead husband's throne, even though woman-power seems something Wakanda values, as its cadre of woman warriors attests; Killmonger, the alluring villain who seems less like a villain and more like someone who would make a more lively and engaging Black Panther than the Black Panther he supposedly killed; the entire Jabari tribe, who appear to have adopted the silver-backed gorilla as their god, evidenced by the light colored, shortened fur capes they wear, and whose leader seems charismatic and worthy of a movie, himself; and, last but not least, Okoye, a fearsome, luminous presence who certainly deserves her own story line. As well, while watching the movie last night for the second time, I suddenly became obsessed with the concept of city building in Wakanda. You'd think that such an innovative culture (or, at least, what appears to be an innovative culture but, in the movie, doesn't really live up to this promise) might have innovative city structures, following, say, the structure of the the tree that is featured in the landscape scenery throughout the movie. One group, I can't remember which one, although I think it might be the Jabari, has some structural idiosyncracies but, otherwise, African city structure, including that of Wakanda, in the movie, mimics sky-scraper city structure.
Something else that bothered me quite a bit is that the super hero is a monarch. Why? The super heroes I like the best are people-of-the-people like David Dunn of Unbreakable, or those who are transformed by encounters with people-of-the-people, like Tony Stark of Iron Man. If there had been something in the film to humanize T'Challa I don't think I would have given his royal status a second thought. But there wasn't. So, I did. Perhaps, in the comics (which I've not read, although I'm intrigued enough to consider reading, at this point, especially Ta Nehisi Coates' and Roxanne Gay's versions) Black Panther is not a wooden statue. In this movie, he is.
So. It seems, this movie impressed me about about as much as La La Land (my discussion of it is embedded in a write-up for another movie) and failed me as a viewer for many of the same reasons. So, why did I buy it, considering that I venerate musicals but could not bring myself to own a copy of La La Land? It is, after all, one thing to create a movie that is little more than a plastic toy of the main character. It's quite another to create a movie that inspires a plastic toy that is venerated as a true idol of the main character. Also, the disc versions are not yet in their "cheap phase".
Simply put, I saw it at Costco when I was shopping, yesterday, initially bypassed it, remembering my initial reaction to it, then, as I was headed toward the coffee section, I entertained a second consideration: I don't think this will be the end of the Black Panther MCU franchise. At least, I hope it won't. There is so much unfulfilled promise in this movie and the legendary character of Black Panther. I mean, didn't you ever in your childhood imagine yourself as a fearsome cat of some kind, especially a jaguar? Such an exotic creature-name! I'm sure, as well, that the creators have become aware of the cogent, helpful criticism (not much, but all I've read is on point) this movie has generated [as an example, take a look at this review, which hits on all the unsatisfying points I mention above, a few more, including the problem of critic agreement, and is the fairest "bad" review I could find, considering that there are almost no bad reviews of this film] and will do better, much, much better, next time. I wait with bated breath.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Chadwick Boseman T'Challa/Black Panther Michael B. Jordan N'Jadaka/Erik Killmonger Stevens Lupita Nyong'o Nakia Danai Gurira Okoye Martin Freeman Everett K. Ross Daniel Kaluuya W'Kabi Letitia Wright Shuri Winston Duke M'Baku Angela Bassett Ramonda Forest Whitaker Zuri Andy Serkis Ulysses Klaue Sterling K. Brown N'Jobu
Release Date: 2018
Directed by Ryan Coogler.
Labels: action1, adventure1, drama4, fantasy1, forest-whitaker, pseudo-cgi-animation, science-fiction1, super-hero1, violence2
