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Review : Black Panther Shakes Up theMarvelUniverse

ByManohla Dargis Feb . 6 , 2018A hook other movies

A of a movie Black Panther " creates wonder with great flair

feeling partly through somethingHollywoodrarely dreamsof

by myth.Mostbigstudio fantasies take you out for a joyride only to hit the same exhausted story and franchise- expanding

Notthis one. Its axis point is the fantastical nation of, an African Eden where verdant-green landscapesmeet

blue-sky science fiction. There, spaceships with undercarriages

resemblingtribalmasks soar overmajesticwaterfalls, touching

downin a story thathas far moregoing for it than branding

Coruspourpose (fstatementhing

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

Boseman), thelatest Marvelhero to leap off the comic-book pageand into his ownmovie. in by Stan Lee script) and

Kirby ( art), the originalBlack Panthera in a slinky

suitwith claws and ears — debutedalongside the Fantastic Four in

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

vibranium . It was a splashy timely entrance the revolutionary

group that shareshis nameofficially formed that sameyear) , and

by the end of his first escapade, the Fourhad assured T Challa

“ there ' s no reason for the Black Panther' s career to cometo an

end !”Backgroundhistory

transition intro

In thedecades since Panther has undergonea variety of

costumealterationsand adventures in the comics, someunder the

direction of the filmmaker Reginald Hudlin and,more recently, the

author Ta -NehisiCoates. To direct the first Panthermovie, Marveltapped Ryan Coogler, who with his last outing, “Creed, shook the

dust offtheRocky seriesby giving it an African -American

champion played by Michael B. Jordan. For Black Panther,” Mr.Coogler brought back both Mr. Jordan and some former crew

members including RachelMorrison, the director of

photography on his first feature “Fruitvale Station continuity

thatmay help account for thismovie' s intimacy and fluidity

As with 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 that makes for forgettable stories and

Phrase

parellismstrenuously overinflated running times. Written by Mr. Coogler

and Joe Robert Cole, “ Black Panther brings T Challa s storyup to

the present, sketches inhis past and looksto his future, allwhile

clearingroom for the MarvelCinematic Universe and its other

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

forgettable “ Captain America: CivilWar." ) The movie also rather

too breezily establishesWakanda as amilitaristicmonarchythat is

nevertheless fair anddemocratic.

othe

enthic

Critique

The story initially involves a satisfying ifobvious cartoonish

villain, Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis, having a conspicuously verygood time), an underworld arms dealer with a weaponized arm , an

Afrikaans sneer and a rampaging cohort that includes Erik

Killmonger (Mr. Jordan ). Ashis nameannounces, Killmonger has,

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

evildoing ways attract theattention of the Black Panther and an

internationallawman in the person of a friendly C .I . A agent (the

customarily cuddly Martin Freeman ), whose good- guy status is

just one reminder that Panther adheres to at least some

dubiousHollywood conventions.

For a while , as the 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 of Spidey shenanigans. The Black Panther even slinksinto a swank casino with somebackup and before long the place

has erupted with the kind ofchoreographed mayhem that — as

legs and gowns twirl liftoff . There ' s also the inevitable

chaotic car chase that turns Busan into a video gameand,

dispiritingly , a carcommercial, an egregious tie- in that is 9

somewhat alleviated by the amusing image of a woman warrior ' s

bare foot putting pedal to the .

transitionsFlourishes like this (along with an amusingly airbornewig and,

later, rampaging rhinos) and the Wakandan backdrop give the

action sceneskick and actualpersonality, butMr. Coogler s

directing strengthsare more intimate. There are sequences in

Black Panther thatmaymakeyou cry because ofwhere they go

and what they say, butalso because of the sensitivityhebrings to

them . Hemakes somesavvy story choices too . And so, beforeMr

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

Killmonger and pushes themovie in another direction, away from

a white villain wronging black people to black people living their

lives.

and'

f/p

settingdefies

typicalsuper

escamplespointedly blurs

Partof the movie' s pleasure and its ethos = wends through

its visuals — ishow itdispenseswith familiar either/or divides,

including thebinaryopposition that tends to shape ourdiscourseon race Life in Wakanda isat once urban andrural, futuristic and han

traditional, technological andmystical. Spaceships zoom over

soaringbuildings with thatched tops; hover train zips over a

marketwith hanging woven baskets. In one of themoststriking

locales, an open -air throneroom is horizontally lined with

suspended tree limbs, creating a loosepattern thatpointedly blurs

the divide between the interiorand exterior worlds and is echoed

by the fretwork in costumes and other sets.

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

emotional , fraught back story gives the moviemoreheft and realworld friction than any of Marvel s other superhero blowouts. Likea lot of adventures , “Black Panther” turns on a familiar father-andson drama - ' s an assassination , a power vacuum andasomewhat reluctantheir a patrilineal intrigue that is filled inhere with intense face-offs involving questions of ancestryidentity , the African diaspora , the new world and the old . One

particularly moving narrative thread features K . Brown,atremulous, vibrantly sensitive actor who conveys entire chapters of Phrasegrief. (He could out-weep Juliette Binoche.

=characters

defy

typicalsuperhero

charactersMr. Jordan is a terrifically charismatic presenceand there are times

when you wonder ifhemight havemadea better Black Panther.

Mr. Boseman smagnetism is more slow -burning and his

performance ismore physically restrained than Mr. Jordan , even

deliberate, though hehas his splashier, freewheelingmoments,

includingsomehand-to -hand grappling. (Wrestling is big in

Wakanda, hence smackdowns featuringacresofbare

s�in and jumpingmuscle. Likemany other Wakandans, he speaks

in English with a South African lilt, an accentthat vividlysummonsup NelsonMandela and suggests that T ' Challa will soonbe assumingthe roleof internationaldiplomat.

allusion

12

evidnce

(

fle female important to the movie s politics andmyth-building that he issurrounded by a phalanx ofwomen , among them a battalion of

women warriors called the DoraMilaje. These aren ' t moviedom stupical super hero irritatingly token strong chicks, the tough babes with sizable bicepsmovies

and skills but no real roles. For allhis father issues, T Challa is

enveloped bywomen who cushion him inmaternal, military,sisterly and scientific support. A female general (DanaiGurira)

seperat standsbyhis side; his baby sister(a vivacious Letitia Wright)

provides gadgets and witheringasides à la Bond' s gadgetguy.

Angela Bassett swans in as the royalmother, while LupitaNyong' o , as a spy,makes the case forher own spinoff

transition

Buoyed by its groovy women Afrofuturist flourishes,

Wakanda itself is finally themovie' s strength , its rallying cry andstate ofmind. Early on a white character carelessly describesitas

third world country , shepherds, cool outfits.” Partof

the joke, which themovie wittily engages, is thatWakanda

certainly fits thatprofile except that its shepherds patrolthe border

with techno-wizardry , and its textiles and costumesdazzle becauseof the country ' s secret vibranium sauce. More critically, having

never been conquered Wakanda has evaded the historicaltraumas

endured by much of the restof Africa, freeing it from the ravages

ofboth colonialism andpostcolonialism .

acharacter

whodifiestypical

f/

Racematters in “Black Panther and itmattersdeeply, not in terms

ofManichaean good guys bad butas a means to explore larger

human concerns aboutthe past, the presentand the uses and abuses

of power. That alonemakes itmore thoughtful abouthow the

world worksthan a lotofmainstream movies, even if those ideas

are interspersed with plenty of comic-book posturing. Itwouldn' t

be a Marvelproduction withoutmanly skirmishes and digitallists

avatars its emphasis on black imagination, creation and

liberation themoviebecomesan emblem of a past that wasdenied

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

world, andyours, beautifully. Micdrope

Closing