Review - The Black Panther
Feb. 16th, 2018 09:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatSo today is the official opening day for The Black Panther. I saw it the day before. There's only been a handful of films that I've seen prior to opening day or before the rest of the world gets to see them -- Back to the Future, Gross Point Blank, Parenthood, and now The Black Panther. The other three were in cleaner and far nicer movie theaters. This one was in a theater that was in a desperate need of updating. AMC 25 Empire -- if you want to do assigned seating for a big fan event -- do it in one of your nicer theaters. Seriously.
But.
It was by far the most innovative, ground-breaking and the best of the bunch. Granted they are all vastly different movies. As stated in previous post, I got a bag of popcorn (which I ate roughly half of), a coin (that I haven't examined), 3D Glasses (it was in 3D), and the movie was free because my friend was treating me. I hadn't seen her in a month and had actually made plans to see it with someone else -- but saw this as an opportunity to make a new friend. (She highly recommended the film "Call Me By Your Name" - said it was the best she'd seen all of last year, and she saw Shape of Water.) The movie theater itself was disappointing. No recliner seats (these are actually really difficult to find in NYC, believe it or not), skinny seats that were had to get out of. Did have plenty of leg room at least. And for a moment we worried about the facility's ability to show the film. Which, ahem, would have been embarrassing, since there were AP News Cameras in the theater showing the event. Also people had come in full costume.
But they fixed it. It had happened during the "Deadpool" trailer, people were upset. So the theater management re-ran the Deadpool trailer. As a result, a two hour movie turned into three hours. It started at 6PM, we got out of there by 8:30PM. I was home by 10PM. Lots of time spent writing on mass transit, because my muse woke up and decided it wanted me to write a story now. (And I spent at least three hours yesterday on Mass Transit.)
Anyhow, enough boring stuff.
This film blew me away. I went in with rather low expectations. I go into all superhero films with low expectations. They are after-all superhero films. There's a formula -- lots of white guys, a few token female characters in supporting roles playing either wives, mothers, siblings, all damsels that need to be saved. Sometimes they break that mold but often, no, the girl gets herself into trouble. Token black characters who are either the villains, the awkward helper/fish out of water role that Sam Jackson and Forrest Whittaker play in most of these films. Usually the white guy starts out weak and gets stronger, or he is strong and has to embrace his inner vulnerability. Also it's often about the United States and how great the US or Britain are -- promoting the English way of life.
That's most if not all superhero flicks. That was even Wonder Woman. I mean you sort of know this going in. It's hardly a surprise. Wonder Woman gets co-opted to join the white guy cause, and is surrounded by white guys throughout, falls for the lead white guy, and saves the world because of his sacrifice. In the end the movie was less about "Wonder Woman" and more about Steve Trevor, the white American guy who inspired her. While she came from a race of backwards Amazon Women, who lacked the technological innovations, science and knowledge of the white male world. Wonder Woman didn't change the formula, it didn't say anything new about the art form, it just pushed the old tropes forward a bit more. Re-establishing them in a new way. It was a comfortable white guy film about a hot and extremely strong white woman, who had featured in many of their fantasies. Don't get me wrong, I loved Wonder Woman. But I wasn't blind to its failings. It disappointed me. I thought it would change the genre, bring something new to it -- all it did was provide a movie with a female superhero and an anti-war message.
The other side, or what I normally expect from the counter-culture flicks, is a re-establishment of old tropes and racial/sexist bias. Buffy surprised me a little because it tried to break away from that and subvert many of those tropes, but in the end, I felt it stopped short of truly accomplishing that goal. Same with Wonder Woman. Also, with Luke Cage and Black Lightening, which both seem to re-emphasize the stereotypes. Black Lightening, as a co-worker stated, is basically the film version "Lean on Me" with superheros and Luke Cage is well, Shaft with superheroes. I've seen both done in cinema countless times. I was disappointed by both.
The Black Panther -- surprised me. It flipped every superhero flick I'd seen upside down and shot arrows through it -- and it did it subtly without any telling, all showing, and no descents into obvious parody or satire.
From the trailers, I thought, okay this looks like a busy movie with one too many chase scenes and no character development. I couldn't have been more wrong. Oh sure, there are plenty of explosions, fight scenes and chase scenes -- very long ones in fact.
But there's a lot more going on. This is a film that surprise, surprise actually has something to say, it goes above and beyond what superhero flicks do, and comments heavily on how we view race -- and our world, taking Wonder Woman's anti-violence message and exploding it in a way that the Wonder Woman flick never quite accomplishes.
Based heavily on Ta-Nesie Coates version of the comics, the story focuses on the aftermath of the death of the King of Wakanda, which occurred in Captain America: Civil War. T'Challa, the King's son is about to take his place, but he is challenged. By two different people, one is the King from the mountains, who believes in the old ways, the traditions, the other is his cousin, from America, who has become an American Warrior, portrayed by Michael Jordan, from Friday Night Lights, Fruitvale Station and Creed. Despite that brief synopsis, there are a lot of female characters in this movie.
The King's Guard and his General, are Warrior Women, not men. (It's always men in these films.) So, we have a warrior woman, a woman who eschews violence and is a spy, a woman who is a scientist and creates high-tech devices, a woman who helps her boyfriend rob places, women who are on the council, and a woman who is a care-giver. In fact, at least 65% of the lead speaking and action roles are black women, with a male lead. That's the most female roles in any superhero film to date, including Wonder Woman. Also, these women are mostly interested in saving their country. They are bright and clever, and shown beating the crap out of the men. (Very cathartic film.)
Another ground-breaking bit? 98% of the cast is African or African-American. There are only two major white speaking roles -- and here's the thing? They are the same token roles that we see POC or African-Americans playing in all the other superhero films from Iron Man to the Avengers. One is Martin Freeman, who plays a CIA operative, who can't fight, and basically serves as the, gee, I guess I'm not in Kansas any more, often played by blacks in white super-hero films. At one point, the hero's sister, a high-tech scientist, tells him, "What did you think this was Colonizer? Kansas?"
The theater erupted in applause and laughter. The other is Andy Serkis, who plays the token bad guy, or rather the one everyone thinks is the bad guy. A low-rent robber, who isn't all that bright.
That's it.
That has never been done in a superhero film like this before. NEVER. Or at least not that I can recall. I've seen parody films, or black exploitation films that did it. But in those, the African-Americans were in the stereotypes.
Then, they create on film a technologically advanced, civilized, peaceful, utopia in Africa. That is far more advanced than anywhere else in the world. Hidden from view. And fueled with technology.
Marvel in some respects has been a bit more advanced in how it tackled race and sexism than DC has been. It was what I always liked about Marvel comics and why I sort of preferred it to DC, because it addressed the disenfranchised and oppressed so heavily. (As long as you steered clear of the Avengers, you pretty much could find it. The Avengers were very similar to DC, except even there, Marvel commented on how people abused privilege -- Captain America isn't necessarily always a hero nor is Iron Man.)
On top of all this? They embrace fully the African culture, the rituals, the songs, the body markings...all of it. And show it with beauty and respect, demonstrating how the traditional ways can exist hand-in-hand with the new ones. Not only that, the film's message is one of inclusion, of how countries who have more than others need to share their wealth and knowledge with the rest of the world and break down the barriers, and see we have more similarities than differences. That we are in truth one tribe instead of many.
I loved this film so much. I'd be willing to see it again. There are so many layers. So much there.
Best superhero film ever, and considering the fact that I've seen practically all of them...
A+
But.
It was by far the most innovative, ground-breaking and the best of the bunch. Granted they are all vastly different movies. As stated in previous post, I got a bag of popcorn (which I ate roughly half of), a coin (that I haven't examined), 3D Glasses (it was in 3D), and the movie was free because my friend was treating me. I hadn't seen her in a month and had actually made plans to see it with someone else -- but saw this as an opportunity to make a new friend. (She highly recommended the film "Call Me By Your Name" - said it was the best she'd seen all of last year, and she saw Shape of Water.) The movie theater itself was disappointing. No recliner seats (these are actually really difficult to find in NYC, believe it or not), skinny seats that were had to get out of. Did have plenty of leg room at least. And for a moment we worried about the facility's ability to show the film. Which, ahem, would have been embarrassing, since there were AP News Cameras in the theater showing the event. Also people had come in full costume.
But they fixed it. It had happened during the "Deadpool" trailer, people were upset. So the theater management re-ran the Deadpool trailer. As a result, a two hour movie turned into three hours. It started at 6PM, we got out of there by 8:30PM. I was home by 10PM. Lots of time spent writing on mass transit, because my muse woke up and decided it wanted me to write a story now. (And I spent at least three hours yesterday on Mass Transit.)
Anyhow, enough boring stuff.
This film blew me away. I went in with rather low expectations. I go into all superhero films with low expectations. They are after-all superhero films. There's a formula -- lots of white guys, a few token female characters in supporting roles playing either wives, mothers, siblings, all damsels that need to be saved. Sometimes they break that mold but often, no, the girl gets herself into trouble. Token black characters who are either the villains, the awkward helper/fish out of water role that Sam Jackson and Forrest Whittaker play in most of these films. Usually the white guy starts out weak and gets stronger, or he is strong and has to embrace his inner vulnerability. Also it's often about the United States and how great the US or Britain are -- promoting the English way of life.
That's most if not all superhero flicks. That was even Wonder Woman. I mean you sort of know this going in. It's hardly a surprise. Wonder Woman gets co-opted to join the white guy cause, and is surrounded by white guys throughout, falls for the lead white guy, and saves the world because of his sacrifice. In the end the movie was less about "Wonder Woman" and more about Steve Trevor, the white American guy who inspired her. While she came from a race of backwards Amazon Women, who lacked the technological innovations, science and knowledge of the white male world. Wonder Woman didn't change the formula, it didn't say anything new about the art form, it just pushed the old tropes forward a bit more. Re-establishing them in a new way. It was a comfortable white guy film about a hot and extremely strong white woman, who had featured in many of their fantasies. Don't get me wrong, I loved Wonder Woman. But I wasn't blind to its failings. It disappointed me. I thought it would change the genre, bring something new to it -- all it did was provide a movie with a female superhero and an anti-war message.
The other side, or what I normally expect from the counter-culture flicks, is a re-establishment of old tropes and racial/sexist bias. Buffy surprised me a little because it tried to break away from that and subvert many of those tropes, but in the end, I felt it stopped short of truly accomplishing that goal. Same with Wonder Woman. Also, with Luke Cage and Black Lightening, which both seem to re-emphasize the stereotypes. Black Lightening, as a co-worker stated, is basically the film version "Lean on Me" with superheros and Luke Cage is well, Shaft with superheroes. I've seen both done in cinema countless times. I was disappointed by both.
The Black Panther -- surprised me. It flipped every superhero flick I'd seen upside down and shot arrows through it -- and it did it subtly without any telling, all showing, and no descents into obvious parody or satire.
From the trailers, I thought, okay this looks like a busy movie with one too many chase scenes and no character development. I couldn't have been more wrong. Oh sure, there are plenty of explosions, fight scenes and chase scenes -- very long ones in fact.
But there's a lot more going on. This is a film that surprise, surprise actually has something to say, it goes above and beyond what superhero flicks do, and comments heavily on how we view race -- and our world, taking Wonder Woman's anti-violence message and exploding it in a way that the Wonder Woman flick never quite accomplishes.
Based heavily on Ta-Nesie Coates version of the comics, the story focuses on the aftermath of the death of the King of Wakanda, which occurred in Captain America: Civil War. T'Challa, the King's son is about to take his place, but he is challenged. By two different people, one is the King from the mountains, who believes in the old ways, the traditions, the other is his cousin, from America, who has become an American Warrior, portrayed by Michael Jordan, from Friday Night Lights, Fruitvale Station and Creed. Despite that brief synopsis, there are a lot of female characters in this movie.
The King's Guard and his General, are Warrior Women, not men. (It's always men in these films.) So, we have a warrior woman, a woman who eschews violence and is a spy, a woman who is a scientist and creates high-tech devices, a woman who helps her boyfriend rob places, women who are on the council, and a woman who is a care-giver. In fact, at least 65% of the lead speaking and action roles are black women, with a male lead. That's the most female roles in any superhero film to date, including Wonder Woman. Also, these women are mostly interested in saving their country. They are bright and clever, and shown beating the crap out of the men. (Very cathartic film.)
Another ground-breaking bit? 98% of the cast is African or African-American. There are only two major white speaking roles -- and here's the thing? They are the same token roles that we see POC or African-Americans playing in all the other superhero films from Iron Man to the Avengers. One is Martin Freeman, who plays a CIA operative, who can't fight, and basically serves as the, gee, I guess I'm not in Kansas any more, often played by blacks in white super-hero films. At one point, the hero's sister, a high-tech scientist, tells him, "What did you think this was Colonizer? Kansas?"
The theater erupted in applause and laughter. The other is Andy Serkis, who plays the token bad guy, or rather the one everyone thinks is the bad guy. A low-rent robber, who isn't all that bright.
That's it.
That has never been done in a superhero film like this before. NEVER. Or at least not that I can recall. I've seen parody films, or black exploitation films that did it. But in those, the African-Americans were in the stereotypes.
Then, they create on film a technologically advanced, civilized, peaceful, utopia in Africa. That is far more advanced than anywhere else in the world. Hidden from view. And fueled with technology.
Marvel in some respects has been a bit more advanced in how it tackled race and sexism than DC has been. It was what I always liked about Marvel comics and why I sort of preferred it to DC, because it addressed the disenfranchised and oppressed so heavily. (As long as you steered clear of the Avengers, you pretty much could find it. The Avengers were very similar to DC, except even there, Marvel commented on how people abused privilege -- Captain America isn't necessarily always a hero nor is Iron Man.)
On top of all this? They embrace fully the African culture, the rituals, the songs, the body markings...all of it. And show it with beauty and respect, demonstrating how the traditional ways can exist hand-in-hand with the new ones. Not only that, the film's message is one of inclusion, of how countries who have more than others need to share their wealth and knowledge with the rest of the world and break down the barriers, and see we have more similarities than differences. That we are in truth one tribe instead of many.
I loved this film so much. I'd be willing to see it again. There are so many layers. So much there.
Best superhero film ever, and considering the fact that I've seen practically all of them...
A+
no subject
Date: 2018-02-16 07:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-02-16 08:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-02-16 09:21 pm (UTC)It's more than a movie -- it's a movement and it will change movies forever.