A Strong but Imperfect Addition to the MCU

Rating: 7/10 (24 February 2018)

What's it about?
Black Panther is the latest addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe - the eighteenth movie in this grand experiment in an expanded universe. Directed by Hollywood up-and-comer Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station, Creed), the story follows T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman), the titular Black Panther, as he ascends to the throne of Wakanda following the death of his father in 2016's Captain America: Civil War. But things become more complicated when enemies appear, revealing dark family secrets and throwing the nation into turmoil.
Much of the early part of the film is devoted largely to world-building; Wakanda is a place quite unlike any of the rest of the Marvel universe (or the real world, for that matter). Ostensibly a poor, backward African nation (of the sort often described by Western stereotypes), Wakanda is in reality a wealthy technologically-advanced nation thriving in secret due to a rich supply of vibranium fallen centuries past from a meteor. As it has developed in isolation, its technology is fairly dissimilar from even the comics-style depictions of Western technology, and its rich culture, drawn from many real-world African sources, necessitates an exposition-heavy first act.
The conflict begins when Ulysses Klaue, played by a scenery-chewing Andy Serkis, steals, then attempts to sell a chunk of Wakandan vibranium, and escalates when Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan), an associate of Klaue, attempts to seize the throne for himself. This plunges T'Challa and his entourage, including a charmingly out-of-his depth Martin Freeman as CIA agent Everett Ross, into a violent power struggle marked by betrayal, sacrifice, and difficult questions concerning power, race, and global geopolitical dynamics.
What works?
While Chadwick Boseman makes an excellent lead, capturing simultaneously the dignity of a king and the ferocity of the Black Panther, the character has since its comics debut in 1966 been best defined by his supporting cast and the world-building around him. Clearly the creative forces behind Black Panther-writer Joe Robert Cole and writer-director Ryan Coogler-understood this point because the supporting cast is excellent and the world-building is as rich and compelling as any put to film. Among the supporting characters it is difficult to choose a single standout, but Black Panther's irreverant tech-genius sister Shuri, played by breakout star Letitia Wright, is hilarious and memorable. The Walking Dead's Danai Gurira too is incredibly compelling as the fierce Okoye, leader of the Dora Milaje, the elite squad of Wakandan women who serve as personal bodyguards to the king. Lupita Nyong'o is also quite good as T'Challa's friend and sometime love interest Nakia, while Daniel Kaluuya, Winston Duke, Angela Basset, Forest Whitaker, John Kani, and several others do excellent work in smaller roles. One climactic scene in particular showcases several of the supporting actors at their best in a complex and engrossing emotional tableau, making the scene all the more powerful.
Michael B. Jordan's performance is also excellent as Killmonger. Deliberately written to be incongruous as compared to the reserved, dignified Wakandan characters, he embraces the challenge while not ever going overboard (something that unfortunately cannot be said for co-villain actor Andy Serkis). The character himself is good, combing powerful motivations with a compelling and threatening on-screen presence.
The world-building too is extremely compelling. Wakanda's culture is fleshed out enough that the viewer gets a sense of the rich, deep history defining the nation, and much of the technology is unique and interesting, though occasionally straying too far into comic-book unreality, testing the limits of suspension of disbelief. But the visual landscape of the Wakandan world is intricately designed and incredibly beautiful, and this reviewer for one expects it to garner some well-deserved Oscar attention in the Costume Design, Production Design, and Makeup and Hairstyling categories come next winter.
Ludwig GÃ¶ransson's (Get Out, Creed) score is also rich and detailed, largely combining elements of both typical (though beautiful) Hollywood orchestral writing with the vibrant soundscape of traditional African song and drums, though it also incorporates hip-hop elements to great effect, as well as the occasional out-and-out pop or rap song. Between this and last year's Thor: Ragnarok, it seems that Marvel has recognized an oft-leveled criticism that its films' music is typically mediocre orchestral or electronic fare, and allowed its composers to express more individuality and build much more interesting scores (this is the first time I can recall coming out of a Marvel movie humming one of the themes).
It would be horribly remiss to praise this film without acknowledging Ryan Coogler's superb direction. He showed with Creed that he could stage and orchestrate a fight scene as well as anyone in Hollywood, and with Black Panther he only proved that Creed was no fluke. One beautiful early fight is done mostly in long, smooth takes reminiscent of the one-shot fight from Creed, while a later one is broken and choppy (though always entirely comprehensible) in a way that helps simulate the emotional tone of the scene. The lone car chase in the film too is strong, though occasionally almost tentative, not milking its most exciting ideas for all they could be worth.
But Coogler's action directing is not the only technical aspect worthy of praise. He and cinematographer Rachel Morrison use a camera like Joshua Bell uses a violin-with a deep understanding of the content at play and a laser-like focus on communicating it to the viewer in the most powerful, visually exciting way. Marvel has had good success in the past with lesser-known directors like the Russo brothers, but with Coogler's success here and Taika Waititi's excellent work on Thor: Ragnarok, it seems like Marvel may be changing its modus operandi somewhat and allowing more-established directors to make films with more of their personal style, and it seems like an effective formula.
What doesn't?
Unfortunately, one of the greatest strengths of Black Panther-its rich supporting cast and deep world-building-is ultimately the consequence of one of its greatest downfalls; too many ideas are present for one two-hour film, and some have to suffer for it. The attention to detail devoted to the world of Wakanda and to the characters who populate it comes at the cost of a promising but ultimately flawed villain in Killmonger. Without giving away too much, Killmonger's motivations need a fair amount of exposition and development, plus a well-established, unified, ideologically-developed Wakanda. The latter is largely done, but the former is somewhat lacking. Perhaps the filmmakers would have been better served by saving the Killmonger story for a sequel-Klaue is the original main villain from the Black Panther comics, and would have served perfectly well as a villain for the standalone movie, especially with his role as a directly-opposed outsider reinforcing Wakanda's unity and isolationism, common themes from the comics. Then, with an already-built Wakanda, it would have been much easier to create a deeper thematic challenge with Killmonger. Combining all of the world-building plus two villains leads to an overstuffed plot which ultimately hinders the power of Killmonger as his own villain, though it does also result in a few excellent moments.
Some of the other characters and threads also suffer from this plot density. Daniel Kaluuya's W'Kabi in particular stands out as a wasted opportunity. Kaluuya has been proving the past few years that he deserves more attention as an actor, and his limited screen time and underdeveloped character are disappointing. Nakia and T'Challa's relationship too is perhaps somewhat underdeveloped when it deserved more.
The humor too is lacking. While the serious tone is a refreshing change after a year of humorous MCU entries, the attempts to interject jokes and humorous moments fall flat far too often; Klaue is much less funny than the writers seemed to think he would be, and there are a couple of jokes which fall depressingly flat-a "What are thoooose?!" joke feels dated already and the awkward way in which it's included in the scene feels uncomfortably forced. There are some good humorous moments-Winston Duke's M'Baku stands out in a few funny moments-but overall the humor does little to help the film as a whole.
But is it any good?
Yes! Marvel has a great track record, especially over the past couple years, and Black Panther is an entirely worthy addition to the MCU canon. As a film, it is probably not among the highest echelon of superhero movies, but its flaws do not prevent it from being a well-made, entertaining, and thematically-serious movie. It stands on its own too, and there's certainly no need for a potential viewer to have been caught up on the MCU, so if you like a good superhero movie, good action movie, or good movie in general, this will be right up your alley.
But the merits of Black Panther do not lie only in its successes as a film. Its cultural impact too deserves mention. Between Creed, Moonlight, and Get Out Hollywood has had a strong run of success the past few years from black writers, directors, and actors, and Black Panther represents a breaking-out of this trend into the mainstream. As of this writing, Black Panther has had one of the best Thursday previews of all time, and word-of-mouth certainly seems likely to help rather than hurt it, so it should go on to make a lot of money and good attention for Marvel. It seems that black filmmaking talent is finally coming into its own in Hollywood, and Black Panther should only serve to further this trend.
So all-in-all, Black Panther is a strong addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and a successful, if imperfect, standalone movie.