The Box Office:
The only question to ask is just how big of a hit Black Panther will be. Like Wonder Woman last summer, this big-budget superhero movie is both a high-quality piece of popcorn entertainment and a watershed moment for onscreen/offscreen representation that be a moviegoing event to underrepresented demographics. So, without setting the bar too high, there is little doubt that Ryan Coogler’s action drama is going to be the year’s first mega-hit.
And with anticipation running unusually high and the buzz only likely to grow louder in the next 10 days, the sky is truly the limit for this one. Sure, it is possible that online excitement won’t translate into ticket purchases. I’m always wary of a box office variation of the Bradley Effect. But that just means Disney shouldn’t panic if the movie opens with a mere $85 million-$95 million like Logan, Doctor Strange or Amazing Spider-Man 2.
The goal is the $132 million Fri-Sun/$152m Fri-Mon debut of Deadpool over this same weekend two years ago. That would make the movie the biggest solo/non-sequel superhero debut of all time, while a Fri-Sun opening above $152m (not to get too crazy here) would make it the biggest opening for a non-sequel of any kind. Sure, numbers like this risk playing with hyperbole, but this does feel like a cultural event on par with It, which means our most optimistic predictions may be closer to fact than fantasy.
The Review:
One of Black Panther’s biggest flaws is also one of its greatest strengths. It is odd to see a new MCU movie that deals with many of the same themes and ideas explored in Thor: Ragnarok just three months ago. But if part of the point of Black Panther is, like Wonder Woman, which also told a pretty standard superhero origin story, to debunk conventional wisdom about whose stories can be told in mega-budget fantasy pictures, then there is great value in a primal and universal story told about a man who looks like Chadwick Boseman as opposed to Chris Hemsworth.
Black Panther is a triumph of universal appeal and demographic specificity. It is an engrossing action drama about a young prince who becomes a king after the death of his father, and how he deals with a usurper to the throne. Set in the fictional African country of Wakanda, with a 95% black cast this tale is very much about being a black man or woman in a world that has thrived on their exploitation. It eventually becomes a poignant (and personal) drama about helping those who look like you who suffer around the world even as you personally have avoided the tip of the oppressor’s sword.
If I’m making the Ryan Coogler-directed picture feel like oatmeal or “good for you” cinema, I assure you it’s also a rousing popcorn entertainment that’s going to make a lot of folks (of all demographics) very happy. The film is comparatively light on action, and the pacing occasionally stumbles in the back half, but the sharp character work and rich production design makes up for nitpicks here and there. And when the action does arrive, it is brutal and to the point, with a second-act car chase combining real-world action with Wakandian technology that I could watch on a loop for hours on end.
T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) is a suitably charismatic hero, looser than he was in Civil War but still a bit noble. His supporting cast makes up for his upper lip. Lupita Nyong’o’s Nakia (an idealistic spy) and Danai Gurira’s Okoye (the head of the royal guard) deliver charm offenses and terrific action beats. Letitia Wright almost steals the movie as the king’s sister who is both a brilliant inventor and a good-natured asshole. If there isn’t at least one scene in Avengers: Infinity War with Shuri and Tony Stark giving each other hell, then call in the reshoots right now.
You’re going to hear a lot about the “strong, bad-ass, fierce, insert cliché HERE” female characters in Black Panther. But I will merely add that it is to the film’s credit that at no point is the deluge of kick-ass (and often quite funny) female supporting characters (including Angela Bassett as the royal mum) treated as anything out of the ordinary. Martin Freeman is quite well-used here as well as an audience surrogate who asks all of the right questions, while recent Oscar nominee Daniel Kaluuya offers a subtle read on one of the film’s most challenging roles.
Black Panther employs both a by-the-book story as well as one of the least formal structures of any MCU movie since the first two Iron Man movies. The first act is dedicated to setting up the world of Wakanda (an isolated nation shielded from the outside world and powered by otherworldly technology and arguably a “What if Africa had never been colonized?” fantasy) and T’Challa’s “from prince to king” coronation process. So the first 45 minutes or so are essentially plotless, with only a cryptic past-tense prologue and a violent introduction for our villains (Michael B. Jordan and Andy Serkis) offering any long-game plotting.
If the first third of the film is a loose play on The Godfather, then act two gets the movie out of Wakanda into a pretty thrilling 007-type action thriller. But, it’s after we get a real introduction to our key villain (Michael B. Jordan) that we really get down to business. The third act, which to be honest feels a bit rushed (Eric “Killmonger” Stevens essentially just shows up in Wakanda one day, even if to him it’s the end game of a very long process), plays out like a more morally grey take on The Lion King or Thor: Ragnarok.
Like the Disney toon, we have a royal contender making a play for the newly vacated throne. Like the last Thor picture, this would-be relative has a connection to some dark secrets concerning the recently deceased ruler, revelations which cast a new light on seemingly benevolent rulers. Like that last movie, it is a visual delight from start to finish (a tip of the hat to cinematographer Rachel Morrison). The film’s relationship to very real and very cruel not-so-ancient history gives it an extra punch while making Jordan’s righteously angry antagonist closer in spirit to Magneto than the Joker.
The movie asks knotty questions about reaching out to help those like you who have been persecuted, even if you yourself have escaped the world’s subjugation and thrived by virtue of your invisibility. In a time of great social and political upheaval, the question of how much allies should be expected to sacrifice even if the rot hasn’t personally affected them yet may be the defining moral question of our time. And, in a way that blends larger-than-life heroics of Blade with the grounded likes of Meteor Man or Black Dynamite, Black Panther also dares to argue that for a young black man, growing up in America is the equivalent of purgatory.
There is something courageous about how Coogler’s film views the American black experience, an experience which almost cannot help but mold a child into a villain, however sadly accurate it may be for too many. Sure, movies like this tend to make most of their money overseas, where daggers thrown at American societal ills won’t exactly cause a controversy (the post-9/11 self-reflection was a boon to global blockbusters). But it is still refreshing to see a Walt Disney superhero movie taking for granted that America is intrinsically detrimental to the black lives.
The film keeps its righteous anger mostly in the hands of its villain, and it works as a rousing superhero adventure for kids (of all stripes, as long as they are old enough to read subtitles) who want to see a black superhero doing the superhero thing. But this $170 million-$200 million tentpole flick cares not one bit what white audiences think about it. That’s something to keep in mind if the Rotten Tomatoes user scores end up at 11% come the Monday after its release. It won’t be because Justice League got lousy reviews…
Black Panther is a fine stand-alone action drama that deals with the consequences of a modern civilization made possible by widespread colonization and apartheid. It is also another Phase Three MCU chapter dealing with family melodrama brought about by the sins of the father. It is filled with memorable characters, a truly remarkable Afrofuturistic world that, yes, earns comparisons to Pandora (production designer Hanna Beachler may have to practice her Oscar speech), and at least one action set piece (kudos to editor Michael Shawver among others) that belongs in the MCU archives.
I can nitpick the loose first act and the rather rushed third act, as well as wonder out loud why Jordan doesn’t have more screen time in the first half of the movie. Yet overall, both as a major studio action flick, a part of an ever-expanding cinematic universe and a potent antidote to 17 years of very specific post-9/11 blockbusters, Black Panther is about as good as fans of Creed and Fruitvale Station might hope. Like Chris Nolan, Ryan Coogler has followed up an acclaimed indie and a solid studio programmer with a terrific superhero blockbuster that, yes, deserves comparison to Batman Begins. As a piece of pop art, Black Panther is a real marvel.
