Black Panther Film Analysis

1044 Words5 Pages
Despite a February release date, absurdly early for a blockbuster like this, hype has been building incessantly for “Black Panther,” the first Marvel film to star a black superhero. I was onboard with the idea too, as Black Panther is one of my favorite Marvel characters and I liked his incarnation in “Captain America: Civil War.” Having seen the film, I’m certainly glad the studio made the movie, even though it’s not a top tier Marvel movie for me. “Black Panther” picks up shortly after the events of “Civil War.” T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) is returning back to his home nation of Wakanda to become king after his father was assassinated. The picture follows T’Challa as he struggles to decide what kind of king he wants to be for the secretive,…show more content…
Marvel continued its trend of making better villains, as Michael B. Jordan’s Killmonger represents an impressive antagonist. Jordan conveys the anger and convictions of his character quite well, as screenwriters Ryan Coogler and Joe Robert Cole make the excellent choice to have his character represent black anger and desires for militancy (more on that soon). Coogler, who also directed, brings one of the most noteworthy visual styles yet seen in the MCU to the film. Everything from the bright and exotic color palette to the traditionally African-influenced production design by Hannah Beachler and costuming by Ruth Cart makes this film stand out among its compatriots. Coogler and cinematographer Rachel Morrison also show off some flashy camera tricks here and there. The best example of this is a shot about halfway through the movie where we see the Wakandan throne room upside down before the camera rotates so we are properly oriented. This isn’t all style, however, as it helps reinforce what’s going on in the film at the time because the country has literally been turned upside down by recent…show more content…
The movie is fully embedded in black culture, as seen in its dialogue, cast, visuals and soundtrack. Given how underrepresented and unsympathetically portrayed black people have been in cinema in general, I applaud the filmmakers for taking this step. The themes of the movie are even concerned with things that most white people don’t have to worry about. By making Killmonger an advocate for militancy and anger, while T’Challa symbolizes love and peace-making efforts, “Black Panther” is about how black people should respond to years of oppression. This adds another layer to their conflict. The filmmakers aren’t afraid to get political in another regard, as the picture also capably tackles the pros and cons of isolationism, a sentiment some would extol in this country. As much as I appreciated those elements of the screenplay, I did not like two others that represent the major problems with the film in my book. First, I would describe the characters here as two-dimensional. They’re not caricatures, but nor are they fully fleshed out. Coogler and Cole do good work making these relatively complex people, but I wish they would have gone farther. I never became incredibly invested in any of them precisely because they felt a bit
Open Document