The Dark Year: Black Panther

2018, Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station) -- Disney

Because we never have enough projects in this Blog, I am creating one of my own, wherein I indulge my desire to rewatch a movie (because sometimes a rewatch is easier than absorbing a new movie) but also fill in a blank left by the Great Hiatus of 2018. It will be more interesting to me to see what I will be willing to rewatch, than see what I missed writing about.

I have a feeling that many of the posts in this "project" are going to begin with a, "Wait, I didn't write about that one yet? I distinctly remember talking about it."

By this point in the MCU we had only a handful of prominent black characters: Rhodey (Terrence Howard/Don Cheadle), Heimdall (Idris Elba), Falcon (Anthony Mackie) and of course, super-spy Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson). But, really, only Mackie played a character that would likely end up as a cheaply made costume that black kids could wear on Halloween. Until now, MCU superhero-ing had been an American white man's game.

This movie hoped to change that. I hope it did. I hope kids saw in this African hero, this noble warrior, this leader of a powerful nation, something to strive to be.

The thing about rewatching is that it strips away all the expectations, lets the elements of the movie stand out. So many of the characters shine for me. The presence that Boseman had on screen, only supplanted whenever Winston Duke grunted. And the utterly effortless power that Michael B Jordan carries -- as an anti-hero, you almost almost root for him. Conversely to all this machismo, my favourite character is Letitia Wright's Shuri. She is Tony Stark (in the MCU, that is the first comparison for smarts) level intelligent, but playful and clever. And behind her are the breath-taking beauties Lupita Nyong'o, and Angela Bassett. And lest we not forget our token white guys: Andy Serkis as the unhinged but so easily manipulated Klaue is a joy to watch, and Martin Freeman -- we always need a tie back to the regular MCU.

If anything kind of bugs me, its the Disney-fication of Africa, of Wakanda. Much of the movie, visually, makes me think of the Broadway shows built around Disney's The Lion King. I mean, I know I cannot expect the megacorp to do anything other than what megacorps do, but I was hoping to see ... something not so familiar?

As a superhero movie, its barely that. This is the establishing movie, where we see these characters act out in their world, not ours of Saving the World. We already got Black Panther doing that in his introduction to the MCU, and later, even better in this MCU Phase closer.

Like Kent said, that this movie was made, the way it was made, the choices it made, is important. I still wonder did we really, truly get the character that an American kid will look up at with wonder, and want to wear his costume? I think, once we go all the way back to the beginning and "reboot" Iron Man with the Iron Heart series in 2025, we will give kids the cheesy costume to wear.

Also, my Wakanda Forever writeup.