Was the Black Panther Even THAT Good?

*WARNING: There are spoilers in this post. This post is intended for people who have already seen Black Panther. If you have yet to see it, we absolutely think this is a must-see as it is a marvel in filmmaking. 

If you follow me on social media, you’d know that we saw the Black Panther later than intended due to a wedding in Mexico this past weekend. I couldn’t help but get even more excited seeing the Pantera Negra posters all over Mexico City, since this film is being hailed as a major opportunity to realize that the inequality in Hollywood should be addressed in a way where action is taken. By the time we walked into the famous Auditorium 7 at Hollywood’s Historic Chinese Theatre, the pot was about to boil. 

Now, if you saw the movie, you know that this movie needs no assistance when it comes to the audio and video components, but it definitely didn’t hurt to see it on the largest IMAX screen in the world. The movie is as visually stunning as anything you’ll see. I couldn’t help but compare it to Justice League, a movie with an even bigger budget, that constantly looked like it needed a few more rounds of editing before the CGI looked acceptable enough. Black Panther was, in every sense of the word, polished. I couldn’t help but try to read every name in the credits, since everyone that worked on that film clearly did an exceptional job. It was, in a very technical sense, a masterpiece. 

If you follow me on social media, you might have noticed that I told everyone my “1200 word thought” on this film was completed last night… and it was, but I didn’t love it. I talked too much about DC’s failures, their creative mis-direction with Klaw/Klaue (Andy Serkis’s character) and the changes to Erik Killmonger’s origin story, but let’s ignore that because for once (possibly) we have a superhero film that deserves to be allowed its creative differences in order to push its social narrative. Ryan Coogler’s small changes, like moving Killmonger’s “hometown” from Harlem to Oakland, in the end, doesn’t make a huge difference. His decision to make Killmonger the “villain” instead of Klaw, does however, allow him the opportunity to really make a statement, as we saw near the film’s conclusion. 

So, since it is essentially pointless to argue the merit of the movie’s technical aspects (it should receive A LOT of Oscar nominations), let’s focus more on what made this film so unique. Yes, everyone should know by now that this is the first large-budget superhero production to really focus on individuals of color, specifically those from the fictional African country in the Marvel Universe, known as Wakanda. Without barraging you with too much Marvel lore, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created Wakanda in 1966, as a location in Fantastic Four and introduced the Black Panther as a supporting character at that time. Black Panther is, essentially, an even more impressive version of Batman; Marvel was notorious for stealing DC characters and, arguably, making them better than their original DC counterpart.

The Black Panther, and his nation, were (to a certain degree) the representation of the possibility that a part of Africa wasn’t impacted by colonialism/imperial oppression. The fictional x-factor there, of course, is the presence of an infinitely valuable (think 90+ trillion dollars) resource, but in the end, this origin story provided the basis for the plot of the film. Now, if you’ve been on social media, you’ve surely seen a huge response as a result of this movie. It has elicited many emotions, one of which would be a sense of empowerment. Strong emotions can be evoked from things that are seen. Coogler and his team did an amazing job using juxtaposition: alien-grade weapons vs ancient hand to hand combat, futuristic battle suits vs traditional African clothing, ancient spiritual rituals vs unfathomable technological medical innovations. It was mind-blowing and beautiful. 

You have the wealthiest and most technologically advanced nation/people in the world choosing to live relatively simple lives with traditional clothing. They lived, for the most part, by ancient traditions and respected where they came from, yet at the same time, you have complexity ensue as a product of that environment and our modern society (the “villain”) is, arguably, the most important character in the film. I’ve seen people online and even other publications questioning whether Killmonger was even the villain, and the beauty of that situation is, I think, that Ryan Coogler was hoping to create this exact dialogue.

Despite the whispers on the web, I think that Michael B Jordan absolutely owned that role. He and Coogler turned Killmonger from a product of the 60s to a product of today, integrating his African heritage with his upbringing in the United States. From his hair-style and gold teeth, to his slang and overpowering confidence, he was the “villain” that this film needed, and we saw that clearly in the movie. His presence triggered other Wakandans into a revolution, which was exactly what T’Challa (the Black Panther and King of Wakanda) needed in order to find the balance that his father was unable to find, the courage that his father was unable to find. 

Sure, I personally think that Killmonger went far enough (murdering his friends/family/etc) to be considered a villain, but he was absolutely necessary and his sacrifice–or even martyrdom–has triggered a revolution in this fictional universe. We saw that in the first end-credits scene when T’Challa to the UN. If it wasn’t for the actions of Killmonger, T’Challa probably never would have made it there, and I think that Ryan Coogler was hoping to make everyone who saw his film really think about the way we look at one another every single day. 

Killmonger’s death scene included a line that, I think, will go down as one of the most powerful in any film: “bury me in the ocean with my ancestors who jumped from ships, cause they knew death was better than bondage.” You don’t often see that kind of darkness in superhero movies and a great story is created when the villain has so much controversy surrounding them. This movie had a few small plot holes that could probably be thrown out the window because the tech in Wakanda is so incredible, but aside from that, it was a masterpiece. From the necessary origin story in the intro to the finely-detailed graphics in the first end credits, Coogler and his incredible team/cast stirred up every emotion and balanced them on your fingertip throughout the perfect storm. 

So now, the question is, how will the world really respond to this? I didn’t love how they took away two of T’Challa’s biggest enemies in Klaw and Killmonger for sequels, but surely after its success, we’ll see more than just his appearance in Infinity War. Sure… Jordan, Lupita, Chadwick and the rest of the cast will most likely see their careers skyrocket even further, but will there be even more significant changes in our world as a result, and if there are, will they come soon enough? Thanks for reading and stay hungry and fit.