Black Panther is a 2018 action political drama movie directed by Ryan Coogler, and upon its release was celebrated as one of the best superhero films ever made. It was even the first of the genre to be nominated for best picture. I am still trying to find out why it got such praise, other than the obvious political hype surrounding it. When I first saw the film, I was appalled by how flat and bland the cinematography was, feeling cheated that my big blockbuster fight for the throne drama was having its story told in mostly medium shots that just showed us actors talking. I also was not able to connect with Black Panther as a character or superhero, and found the true villain reveal that everyone says elevated the film to be interesting but also arrived far too late into the story to have a real impact on me. I watched the film a second time when it was released on Blu-Ray, and tried to ignore my problems with the cinematography, and just focus on the story. I still found many of the same problems, but also found I had missed out on some of the nuances that the film was being celebrated for. I still could not get over how standard the film-making was, and it continually hindered my ability to become invested in the story and characters. I also still found our main character T’Challa, played by Chadwick Boseman, to be far too understated in the role. When I watched it for a third time recently, I almost went from dislike to appreciate for what it was, but the part where people say it actually gets good, when Michael B Jordan as Erik Stevens, AKA N’Jadaka, AKA Killmonger, is when it nose dived for me.

The main thing that put me off during my first viewing was the film-making on display here. I want to keep comparisons to other Marvel films to a minimum, because one compliment is the story and characters do not feel like our typical Marvel movie fair. When I watch the so called “Stand Alone” Marvel films such as Thor or Doctor Strange, they constantly have to pull me out of the movies immediate story to be remind me that I am watching a movie that is meant to build up to Infinity War. When I watch Black Panther, even with little references here and there to the other films, I am only thinking about the story being told at hand, which is rare for a Marvel film to do. Unfortunately, I still have not been able to appreciate the cinematography and camera movements in the film after three viewings. Does Disney/Marvel mandate their directors not move the camera during 90% of the filming, because most of the shots are locked down, medium close ups. It is as if they are worried about showing the sets/green screen work in greater detail because maybe they did not spend as much money and time as the effects would have needed. This could be due to the fact that they are trying to crank out three films a year. As a result, the whole film has a very small in scale feel to it, I am never convinced that what I am looking at are real environments, but that goes for most of the films in Marvel Studios catalogue. The color grading is also something that has insulted me in most of the Marvel films since Iron Man 3, the only exceptions being Thor: The Dark World and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. All of Marvels movies have a low contrast film image that seems as if they want to choose a neutral color pallet to either: give the movies a sense of realism, or the more likely reason: to give all of the movies a sense of esthetic continuity between them. Black Panther has one of the better color grading jobs for all it is worth. The image does not pop as much as I would like a Comic Book Blockbuster to pop, but it at least looks as bland as an average modern Blockbuster such as Jurassic World, and not as flat and bad as a daytime scene in Thor Ragnarok.

Fortunately, I have been able to see all three of director Ryan Coogler’s feature films, the previous two being Fruitvale Station, and Rocky Spin-Off Creed. Fruitvale Station was an effective tragedy, and Creed had a lot of impressive technical film-making, but failed to land emotionally for me because the protagonists’ motivation was never quite clear. I primarily bring these films up because they both have distinct (different from each other) visual styles. Fruitvale Station went for a highly saturated gritty film look to portray the harshness of the situation, but also to give the film a dream like quality to put the audience in the shoes of the people involved who were not able to process the tragic events as they were happening. Creed had a more classic restrained Hollywood look that was broken up by up close fight sequences done in one take in order to give it a more modern technically sophisticated look to show how much film has changed since Sylvester Stallone and John Avildsen made the first Rocky, which was mostly relied on wide shots in montage to show their fight sequences. Both movies show that this director has the ability to make a film on both sides of the style spectrum, so why does he show such little style here. If this were a stand-alone film, such as Ang-Lee’s Hulk or even a Christopher Nolan Batman movie, one that only existed in its own contained continuity, I would put the blame on the director. I have seen most of Marvel Studios filmography though, and since they constantly turn in films with the most dull color grading tones possible, as well as this neutral cinematography style that I am accusing Black Panther of having, I think Coogler is off the hook here. It must be the studio mandating the films have a safe look, and unfortunately, box office wise, it seems to be working.

The first two times I watched this movie, I said one of its major failings is the Black Panther himself, T’Challa, was one of the most boring characters I had ever seen. Watching it this time, that is an exaggeration, but he is still far from being a compelling protagonist. Do not get me wrong, I appreciate that they are going for a more low key performance rather than the big personalities of the other films released by Marvel Studios, but he really has no emotional investment other than a little apprehension about being king for the first hour of the film. Looking at his entire career as this character, he was great in the film that introduced him into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain America: Civil War. In that film, he had to deal with wanting revenge for the death of his father T’Chaka, played by John Kani in both films, and the passion he felt for that made him engaging to watch, but it was also satisfying to see him realize he was being manipulated and learn to think before he acted. Now that that exciting, albeit simplistic character arc is resolved, when we find him in his stand-alone film, his character journey seems to be about his apprehension for becoming King of Wakanda, but then when he discovers his father was not a perfect king, and that maybe he does not need to be a king that lives up to his father, but instead be one that addresses problems his father and previous kings refused to address, which is why the film ends with him opening up Wakanda to the rest of the world. All of these problems do sound very dramatic, but the film never stops to brood with T’Challa on these issues, with the exception of the third act when he talks to his father about all of his misdeeds as King. However, that should be the emotional climax after ninety minutes of build up, instead it is the first time we get to see T’Challa really emote in the entire film.

Now let us get into the part of the film where I will probably get the most hate for my thoughts, the handling of the character Killmonger, AKA Erik Stevens, AKA N’Jadaka. (Which is a really cool scene when he announces his name in the throne room.) I know this is the part of the movie where everyone says it gets great, where everyone says it is really digging into serious issues that resonate with them and have something important to say, but its not. Unless you came into this film already aware and sensitive about the issues Erik is fighting for, this will not change an actual racists mind, and it does a pretty poor job teaching anyone with a sheltered world view about why they should care. Halfway through the film, Erik arrives in Wakanda offering the corpse of Klaue, a terrorist played by Andy Serkis who stole Vibranium from Wakanada 20 years ago; Vibranium is a rare metal that is responsible for all of Wakandas futuristic tech. We get verbal explanations of Eriks backstory, that he grew up without parents, that he joined the army after graduating from Annapolis, and earned the nickname Killmonger due to his high kill count. He tells the leaders of Wakanda he is here to take the throne and turn Wakanda’s technology over to the rest of the African groups in the world that have been oppressed throughout history so they can finally have the weapons to fight back against their oppressors. We also learn that the man we saw killed in the beginning of the film was Eriks’ father, which is why he was without a parent for most of his childhood. This is all very provocative stuff, and Michael B. Jordan is killing it in this role, but the movies final edit does not do this character or actor justice. This is so late into the film that has left me pretty neutral thus far in terms of my emotional engagement, because we have spent so much of the first half meandering around with T’Challa’s low key apprehensions about being king, and hunting down Klaue. The fact that Erik and Martin Freemans’ character Everet Ross are just going to explain his backstory deflates all of the films emotional investment. The key here is that we are supposed to come into this film already feeling sorry for Erik because of the real life struggles of inner city kids. I am not saying we should not care about those kids, of course we should. What I find so sickening in this films portrayal of this character and his situation is that we never get to see a younger Erik growing up under these circumstances so we can sympathize with him as a person in pain. The problem with this, is people who are sensitive to this situation will probably go along with it, pat themselves on the back for being sensitive about it, but they will not get to see a portrayal of the real sadness of the situation, just the result of how angry it made him in adulthood, so that audience is not being challenged or learning anything. The other kind of audience are the people who will respond to this character saying, “Oh great, another angry violent black man who wants power to fight the people he thinks are oppressing him.” It is terrible that there are people who would think that, but my point is, on either side of the audience, no one is learning anything. One side is just patting themselves on the back for thinking they are sensitive to this movies cause, and the other will just use it as another reason to ignore these issues once again. This all makes me very upset and distressed that Eriks motivation and character is treated as a shorthand villain. It is as if the filmmakers are saying, “Of course Erik would be like this, he grew up in a ghetto without a parent, now feel sad or you are a racist.” The problem is Disney would never release a mainstream superhero movie that portrayed inner city kids suffering, but if that is the case, just do not go here. If you are not going to do the issue justice, then just make a fun movie that the whole family can enjoy with a predominantly African American cast, pushing for wider representation in blockbuster films, that sounds good enough to me.

The scene that killed any goodwill I was building during my third viewing is the one when Erik and T’Challa are fighting in ritualistic combat for the Throne. When Zuri, Forest Whitaker’s character, who is basically the referee for these fights, interrupts the fight to save T’Challa from Eriks killing blow, he begs Erik to take his life and spare T’Challa’s, and Erik kills Zuri, but still throws T’Challa over the edge of the waterfall. This was already kind of silly that what they want us to accept as this enlightened society decides who will be the king through ritualistic combat, but when one of the Champions kills the referee and no one seems to care, it is hard for me to respect this nation and its customs. Erik had the right to kill T’Challa in this competition, but I cannot imagine killing the referee because you were angry is a legal thing to do, and there are no consequences for this. Even the countries delegates who disagree with Eriks plans just let him sit on the throne and start calling the shots. Did T’Challa have the right to kill one of his subjects if he got mad at them? This is not a society that is going to lead us into a new age of enlightenment, they are the ones who are going to encourage us to be more violent. That is part of Eriks plan, to arm the helpless with the means to defend themselves, and again, I understand why he is doing it, but it is one of those villains that I need to be sympathizing with and almost rooting for, even as he does awful things. I have seen plenty of movies where a sympathetic villain is out for revenge that will only make the situation worse, but you also enjoy seeing them work towards getting their revenge, even if they do not ultimately go through with it. In Deadpool 2, the kid character in that film, Russell, while not exactly a villain, is out for revenge against a religious extremist who tortured him because he was born a mutant, and while we know murdering him would only make Russell’s life worse, you still want to see him kill the man who caused him so much pain. In that movie, we had flashbacks that gave us a glimpse into the torture Russell suffered, which gives the audience the empathy needed for a character like him or Erik to work. Fruitvale Station spends the first thirty minutes with the main character just going through his daily routine. We see him spend time his friends, his mother, and his daughter, so when things take a turn for the worst for the next hour, we know him as just a regular guy, so we can feel bad for him.

2:40: He not only killed Zuri, he killed the film.

These are the issues that will probably keep me from ever becoming a fan of this film, but I am not going to act like there is nothing I enjoy in this film. As underwhelmed as I am by T’Challa as a protagonist, two of the women backing him up are pretty great, and also Lupita Nyong’o was there. T’Challa’s sister Shuri, played by Letitia Wright, might be my favorite female character Marvel Studios has brought us. I just adore her enthusiasm about her tech, not to mention all the cool gadgets she brings to the action scenes. She also has a great camaraderie with her brother, which gives me some of the few scenes where I start being won over by Bosemen’s performance as T’Challa. Okoye, played by Danai Gurira, is also pretty great as Wakanda’s military General, and I enjoyed her struggle after Erik showed up when she was unsure about whether her loyalties lie with the Throne itself or a King she actually respects.

This movie feels they had all of the right pieces but then decided not to make the puzzle. It spends its first hour meandering around on a spy plot that does not mean very much by the third act, and then it spends its second half boasting about being about serious issues without having the courage to go all the way with it and really challenge the audience and make them feel something other than the feelings they had already brought with them into the theater. There are still positives: I am hoping this movies box office will lead to more tent pole movies with predominantly African American casts, or just movies with other groups who have not gotten this level of representation and attention in blockbuster movies, that would be awesome to see. It gave us an entire toy line of predominantly African American characters, that is really great. There are one or two characters in here that are fun to watch in a movie I mostly find very dull – Andy Serkis is freaking hilarious in this, he is electric when he is on screen here. – and this next one will sound like a back handed compliment, but I like that this is just a bad movie, and not another pointless, empty, future film tease Marvel movie like most of the stand-alones are. This was just a stand alone story, but I do not think it worked.

3/10

Check out this wonderful video about why Marvel’s movies look so ugly.