Heavy Is the Head: Regarding Black Panther
Two years ago, Black Panther had first been introduced to movie audiences all over the world in Captain America: Civil War with the promise that he would he receive his own starring vehicle. Created initially as a friendly(-ish) rival for the Fantastic Four, T'Challa, king of the fictional sub-Saharan African nation of Wakanda, is one of those characters that transcends his source material and stands for something beyond mere collection of sequential art printed on paper. He represents of an afro-centric vision of a continent free of the vestiges of colonialism and neocolonialism that has cast such a devastating legacy over the entire sub-Saharan region for centuries; the idea that without outside influence, Africa could be the most advanced place on Earth yet celebrating the individuality and diversity that tribalism provides. T'Challa is Afro-futurism personified, a figure celebrating African culture while providing a glimpse at the possibility of its unfettered potential.
Not dissimilar from Iron Man 2 or the first Thor, Black Panther revolves around the contrast between two men with handling the differing legacies of their respective fathers and the fallout from their untimely deaths. For T'Challa, his relationship with his father T'Chaka was one of nurturing wisdom and mentorship; by the start of the film, he has dealt with his raw anger over his death during the events of Civil War and now has time to return home and grieve. For Erik Killmonger, he grew up listening to his father speak of his exiled home of Wakanda; what if all those fairy tales and stories you grew up with were actually real? But when Killmonger's father is killed by Black Panther for smuggling out vibranium and making an attempt on another's life, the young boy grows up used and abused by the foster care system and military-industrial complex. Every scar that marks Killmonger's body is another notch in that ax to grind for all Wakanda has taken from him and denied a suffering race existing outside its borders. The only thing more heavily scarred than Killmonger's body is his soul.
The two men are on a take-no-prisoners collision course with T'Challa looking to prove his worth as the newly coronated King of Wakanda while Killmonger wants to tip the scales in favor of those long oppressed by any means necessary; to a degree it's Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X but much more combative thus more akin to, say, Professor X and Magneto to keep it in Marvel terms. Killmonger isn't wrong, per say, but his methodologies are what puts him in conflict with others, the man has no problem in burning it all down to get what he wants. Lupita Nyong'o's Nakia similarly wants to help the outside world but her motivations come from a place of compassion and not Killmonger's fury which is what makes her such a strong character and trusted confidante to T'Challa.
Every Ryan Coogler film (Fruitvale Station, Creed) comes from such a personal place and those are the kinds of stories that I ultimately care about; the kinds that I am willing to overlook the flaws. To Coogler's credit, the flaws are really just in some of the visual design: The VFX in the final showdown between Black Panther and Killmonger in the vibranium mines are ROUGH and I'm inclined to think that the big reasons I particularly enjoy the neon dream car chase with Andy Serkis' Ulysses Klaue through the streets of Busan are the Korean locale and the fact that it's all set to Vince Staples; when Klaue announces at the start of the sequence to put some music on because it ain't a funeral, it's Coogler reminding the audience that this is still all a big popcorn flick.
All due praise to Michael B. Jordan's Killmonger and Letitia Wright's Shuri who both steal every scene they're in but I feel like not enough is said about Chadwick Boseman's T'Challa who delivers a more understated performance; there's a lot going on under the surface for him. The rest of the supporting cast does great with Serkis as a delightfully demented Klaue that revels in his villainy providing balanced antagonism to Jordan's exposed raw nerve as Killmonger. And not enough praise can be leveled on Danai Gurira's Okoye, the leader of the Dora Milaje, Wakanda's elite fighting force. She doesn't need a magic vibranium suit to kick ass and she does it left, right, and center.
Black Panther was an EVENT when it came out just a couple months ago and I remember trying to see it a couple weeks after the fact, theaters all over the DC area still packed even at late showings on weeknights. The cosplay I've seen the most working comic shows across the country is Black Panther-related. People I know that have never seen a comic book movie in their entire life went to see Black Panther. Entire families dressed in traditional African garb then taking pictures by the movie poster in the lobby because it meant so much to them. These are communities that, as Killmonger and Nakia observed, need the representation and the inspiration. Black Panther provides both because what are superheroes if not aspirational figures that we strive to, hoping for that day in the sun?
