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Black Panther

Reading Cinemas Belmont with Merv, Roly and Bryony. Busiest screening I've been to in a while, I reckon. This may have been because Black Panther had only opened a few days before. The general consensus among the group was positive. Now, I'll try to include fewer spoilers than in the podcast at the bottom of the entry. If you want to hear more spoilery details, have a listen.

Black Panther is astutely directed by Ryan Coogler, who's proven himself with a couple of decent-sized films prior to this. I thought the film buzzed with energy and it really revelled in its own world building (the country of Wakanda, in this case). For me though, it took a little while to get going, perhaps due to the relative 'newness' of the players, people we kind of needed to get to know. At the time of watching, I thought the ceremonial challenges to King T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) were a bit naff but I'm starting to think they act as a kind of bluff for the film to change up a gear (the second challenge sits nicely as a mid-point of the film). Narratively, I have a problem regarding the actions of the antagonist, Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) but as this gives away a bit, I'd point you to the pod below.

The overriding theme of the film is peaceful inclusion and engagement as opposed to isolationism and almost everyone in the film pushes T'Challa towards this in one way or 'tother. It's first proposed by Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o), moderately encouraged by W'Kabi (Daniel Kaluuya) and exemplified by M'Baku (Winston Duke), first in rejecting T'Challa's request for help and then by joining in the battle in the nick of time. And Killmonger's idea is obviously the WRONG way to handle Wakanda's entry into the world. It's a pretty clear message to the current US administration about engaging with the world rather than backing away and becoming a pariah state. It's almost WW2 propaganda on that front. T'Challa is, in a strange kind of way, a Rick Blaine for the 21st Century.

There are some nice touches with Everett Ross (Martin Freeman) being the sole white man in Wakanda (except of course, for the Winter Soldier). T'Challa's sister, Shuri (Letitia Wright) calls him 'coloniser' and M'Baku basically gorilla hoots at him when he starts to speak with assumed privilege. There's a great climactic battle sequence (even the armoured rhinos) which is reminiscent of the Battle of the Bastards from series 6 of Game of Thrones. The slow encircling of the heroes until ~~Littlefinger~~ M'Baku rides to the rescue. Slightly less muddy, though.

The cast are all top-notch save for one. Michael B. Jordan is a weak link - he's fairly irritating, all faux-smouldering and cocky posturing, but his jarring style did juxtapose well with the more dignified, serene Wakandans, especially Boseman's classy T'Challa. The film is pinched, acting-wise, by Danai Gurira as Okoye, T'Challa's general of the army. I'd probably line up for a stand-alone Okoye film. Come to think of it, she may be a better character than the Panther himself.

So, Black Panther - fun AND worthy. Delivers a message of hope and togetherness AND looks set to hit one billion at the box office. All this with a primarily black cast and strong female characters. Have a bit of that, rednecks!

See also:

Game of Thrones, series 6 (2016), for eerie battle similarities and just because it's excellent. Casablanca (1942) for a thematic link and just because it's excellent.

SPOILERS WITHIN PODCAST!

Listen to "Black Panther" on Spreaker.

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