Bland Panther

Rating: 4/10 (26 March 2018)

Black Panther is now the 18th instalment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the last before what was envisioned as the "End Game" when the first launched, in Infinity War later this year. Having debuted in 2016's Avengers: Civil War, Chadwick Boseman brought a grace to the future King of Wakanda as well as an interesting opportunity to show a unique setting in the Marvel Universe - Wakanda is an African land that has isolated itself from the wider world for thousands of years to preserve its unique technological advances brought on by a Vibranium meteor crashing there. In the soil atop the meteor a seemingly magic plant grows that gives those that drink it the power of the mystical Black Panther - protector of the realm. Boseman's T'Challa is to take up the crown upon his return following his father's death in Civil War, which the film happens only weeks after.
Disney/Marvel have, as do most big budget franchises, a bad history of letting directors follow their visions without constraint or interference. In recent times they did permit Rian Johnson free reign all over Star Wars and James Gunn was able to operate almost in isolation with the second Guardians, with both perhaps displaying why they had been so reluctant. This happened in the wake of the Edgar Wright / Antman situation that disappointed most of everyone, Wright most of all after nearly a decade trying to bring it to the big screen. For the job of helming Black Panther Marvel inlisted Creed director Ryan Coogler which leads to talk about the politics of the film. Briefly.
Black Panther is being toted, wrongly, as the first black superhero (Blade, Hancock, Spawn, Steel) and is also the first wilfully racially segregated production in decades by having an all black cast and crew, with very few exceptions. Discussing the aim of the films political messaging is not the objective here, though I will simply say that prohibiting a person from working on a film for being born in the wrong skin should be unacceptable. Yes, it takes place in Africa so there would be an overwhelming majority of black people, though realities racial dispersion doesn't ordinarily prohibit achieving a "diverse" on screen group. Any further reading of the political elements will be put aside unless relevant to the film making choices or some other significant role.
Coogler brought in his Creed leading star, Michael B. Jordan, to play nemesis Killmonger mirroring T'Challa's calm with a burning rage. Returning to the MCU after a brief cameo in Age of Ultron is Andy Serkis as arms dealer and Vibranium extraordinaire Ulysses Klaue, now complete with a lethal limb. Other notable additions are Dania Gurira and Lupita Nyong'o as one of the Kings key advisors/ generals and love interest respectively, Forrest Whitaker as spiritual leader and former spy, Angela Basset as mother of the king, Sterling K. Brown lining up as leader of a Wakandan tribe and Martin Freeman as the token - I mean - CIA operative Everett Ross.
Narratively, the opening is choppy, jumping through essentially three different openings back to back. It does occasionally settle in to a pattern only to just as soon forget about it, as such certain elements or plots end up being rushed through when others seemed overlong. This then takes away the punch of certain arcs conclusions, removing the resonance or significance Coogler tried to dictate. There is also a deal of continent hopping through the first half that adds to the choppy feeling before we really touch down in Wakanda. Once there, T'Challa must earn his throne through ritual combat before beginning his first real kingly duties - tracking down Ulysses Klaue, the only man to steal Vibranium from Wakanda. In doing so, he crosses paths with Everett Ross who is also pursuing Klaue. During the pursuit of Klaue, Killmonger begins to assert himself against T'Challa and challenge his right to rule, questioning the isolationism and hording of advanced technology.
It is in dealing with these topics the film does occasionally get distracted trying to preach to its audience and score modern day political points, that the actual debate being played out fails to go deeper than the surface. Other conflicts emerge when the film tries to frame historical issues in a negative manner, even having enemies agree about its awfulness, before the ending sets up Wakanda taking the action the film had been decrying. This not done in a "now I understand history a little better" but more of a "it was wrong when they did it, but its okay for us" fashion.
As is tradition with Marvel films we do get an opening action scene which exposed one weakness in Coogler's directing. Much of the action is filmed too close to follow, with the near pitch black of the setting only exacerbating the problem. The later, more grounded action elements fair better, highlighting the more athletic nature of Boseman, as well as displaying some of Coogler's flair for style. Jordan's physicality is equally well performed, no doubt thanks to time spent boxing in recent years, continuing to tell the story in his actions. The biggest flaw with the larger set-piece action scenes is that they are undermined by the low-quality CGI on display, an issue that plagues the film. Larger creations, such as the animals, stick out like a sore thumb, never once creating a sense of tangibility. When we do get to Black Panther leaping around the screen, he looks very rubbery, reminiscent of Neo in the Matrix Reloaded. Even simpler computer enhancements are poor; a scene that only required the generation of a small crowd on a cliffside ends up looking like the creator just copied and pasted the same 4 small groups to pad out the shot. Similarly, some of the rendered backdrops look like the back projections from Goldfinger. This issue is not solely the effects failing but the look of the real elements also, as everything - from rocks, to garments to buildings and people - is pristine. No scene takes place in a setting that you would describe as weathered-looking or worn, with every surface looking polished or whole rooms seeming sterile. These choices end up making the sets the feel very much like sets and the spotless costumes feel like costumes. Compounded with scenes being lit very flat and uniformly, the world never feels real enough to fall in to. Wakanda's place as the battlefield with Thanos was given a skeleton crew dress rehearsal in the final act, as Wakanda's forces combat an insurgency. Hopefully, the all-round computer effects will be at least average, which would be several steps improved than what was on display here. Given that the showdown takes place away from a major metropolitan centre unlike almost all its fellow comic movies, it is possible the strong flat lighting in the open fields made the effect less, well, effective. When the compositing was shaky, the problem was compounded by the pure CG additions, like the war Rhinos. Looking more like they belong in the stampede from the original Jumanji, begs the question where all the money went in the 200-million-dollar budget. At no point do they seem real, which in a sense means the Rhinos are at least consistent with the rest of the effects. Perhaps the effects here were undercooked to allow more work on the Infinity War renderings and effects.
Marvel's other significant element is its comedy which Coogler deploys more ably and more sparingly than some of his recent counterparts. Most of the best laughs come from either Serkis's manic performance or Boseman's flat composure as king momentarily lifting. When Boseman appeared in Civil War he was a fresh lively element, here Coogler has him playing it too stoically, turning him in to a blank slate. Beyond flashing his perfect grin, there is little emotion for him to work with, no real intensity to tap in to. Boseman, as does practically every member of the cast, performs solidly with what's given, it's just that what's given to them is often uninspired. Letitia Wright, playing T'Challa's little sister Shuri, plays the role closet to a comedic relief as a stand in Q - creating new tech, weapons and armour. Not all of it lands but there's nothing particularly egregious about it either - minus her one or two racist remarks. Given the highly promoted segregation of the production it is perhaps unsurprising that there are direct, actual racist moments in the films political messaging. These range from claiming that history museums are, essentially, active crime scenes full of stolen possessions (such as 7th century farm equipment) or to a chamber full of African people silencing Martin Freeman as his whiteness prohibits him from speaking. It is played off with a joke, but he never gets to actually speak. If inclusivity is the message you want to broadcast, moments like these run counter to it.
Certain character motivations towards to the third act become wafer thin, bordering on illogical. Particularly when T'Challa is accused of a failing without ever explaining his view of what actually happened, causing the accuser to betray his friend of decades in an instant. Another major illogical choice is regarding the means of the Black Panthers powers - on the site of the meteor impact a flower grows which, when ground up and drank, gives the consumer the powers of the Black Panther. The issue comes in that only one person ever drank it at any one time. Surely a war faring people, as the entire world was thousands of years ago, would have dispensed this drink amongst the ranks and conquered the world. Perhaps just dispense it to the Wakanda Guard to ensure the borders are truly impenetrable. The situation is partially resolved by the films end but the with Infinity War seemingly staging a decent time in Wakanda (if not the films finale) the existence of a dispensable superpower potion should logically play in to that.
All in all, Black Panther is an averagely written, mostly well directed, well-acted, horribl