I've noticed of late that my memory is not quite as good as it used to be. It could be my rapidly increasing age or the cumulative concussive effect of a decade of smashing my skull into other human skulls for recreational purposes playing American Football. I mean, not for important things like remembering how to use a urinal or which one of my garden plants contains the long-trapped soul of an ancient woodland demon, bent on breaking free and subjugating the Earth to its sinister whims. Of course I remember those things, I just forget other stuff like I was going to watch Jurassic World this weekend and forgot to, I totally forgot to get my blog written on time today, I completely forgot to write one on Black Panther when I saw it at the cinema and I also forgot it came out on DVD today. I suppose those are more time management issues than memory problems but I guess it's just the encroaching encephalopathy turning my brain to sponge. Explains the headaches.
Still, terrifying degenerative neurological conditions aside, Black Panther arrived in his standalone movie earlier this year after a solid cameo in Civil War amongst a truly Marmite-esque reaction; there was quite rightly a celebration of the first African American Superhero in the MCU (Blade apparently doesn't count because everyone at Marvel Towers has a bad long term memory too and Luke Cage doesn't count because of... other reasons. Possibly space science) and the supporting cast was equally diverse both in terms of race and gender which is as big a deal as it should be. There was also a random backlash for exactly the same reasons, which is something I don't really understand; I'm not entirely sure how you can be upset that a film is "too black" and claim to not be a giant racist douchebag piece of shit I'll never know. Chadwick Boseman's withering and bemused glare at the inane question he got asked on The One Show about "how black the movie is" is brilliant and really needs to be seen for its full effect. Socio-political shenanigans aside, once people actually saw it, there was an equivalent split of opinion on much more cinematic grounds.
Blank Panther is another in the MCU's new philosophy of superhero movies which are actually not superhero movies but just have superheroes in them. I've now written the word superhero enough times that it's ceased to have any meaning, much like DC's two upcoming separate attempts to resurrect the Joker, including a spin off from Jared Leto's terrible turn in Suicide Squad. It's a smart move in terms of avoiding the superhero fatigue other movie production companies seem to have never quite been able to drag themselves away from. Certain weird corners of the Internet couldn't get over that fact (whilst even weirder portions of the Internet tried to deliberately sabotage the film's Rotten Tomatoes score simply because it was doing well, not full understanding that aggregate sites are pointless and bringing it down from 100% approval down to 97% has exactly zero impact) it remains the best decision Marvel made; this is part coming-of-age tale, part political thriller and part revenge plot with the first in what seems to be a new line of villains you find yourself sympathising with even if you can't quite bring yourself to root for them.
I genuinely don't understand a lot of the criticism, although in fairness it was very much outweighed by all the praise. There's a ton of action, set across the globe with enough face-punching and explosions to satisfy even the most die hard genre fan. The problem potentially is that there is a distinct lack of the type of trope we're used to seeing even from Marvel; there are no magical portals, no Infinity Stone doing cosmic stuff, no alien marauders. OK, there is a little bit of world domination but it's a bit more subtle, more understated (if understated world domination isn't a complete contradiction in terms) and ultimately for some people, less enjoyable. I've said it a hyperbolic million times before about music; the best way to get ahead is to sound like somebody else (the 'for fans of' theory) and I guess it's the same with movies for some people. Without those warm, comforting plot point blanket to rely on I guess there were people wandering the foyers of cinemas in a confused daze like Vincent Vega looking for an intercom because nobody shot a laser beam into the sky when actually that's exactly what stops the whole thing decending into tedium.
There's also the Empire Effect: there's a decent portion of the movie where the good guys are firmly on the back foot. Killmonger is a great villain not because he's a genius megalomaniac with a penchant for global annihilation, but more because he's a product of the system and just wants what he believes he's entitled to. It's hard to disagree with his motives even if his methods aren't exactly ethical plus he's basically a massive bad ass. It came as a bit of a surprise when his plan actually comes to fruition and it adds some level of tension to the third act. Don't get me wrong, you do get some of that standard action movie fare you came for, just not in the same old format you were maybe expecting. It's refreshing to see a protagonist who isn't completely invulnerable, a supporting cast that isn't just sidekicks and love interests and a film that has a message but doesn't spend the entire time ramming it down your throats. Also, I can't emphasise how good it is to not see a sky-portal to another dimension, enough of that already.
It's difficult to place the more recent MCU movies in an absolute best order, but Black Panther definitely ranks up there in the top. You could probably rattle on ad infinitum about how important this movie is for actors of colour, or for feminism because it is a great example of how to write for both those demographics really well without being twee or cringe but that's a different blog altogether. It's not perfect of course; everything wraps up nicely and you know there isn't much chance Killmonger is going to win out in the end but there's certainly not enough here to warrant the criticism some people have levelled at it. After all's said and done, it's a really fun, enjoyable movie full of great action and a worthy addition to the MCU.
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