Fun zoology fact for you all to
start this one out. As some of you may know, Black Panthers aren’t really a
thing. They are actually any species of big cat, though typically Jaguars or
Leopards, that has Melanism. Basically, their bodies produce more Melanin then
normal, making their fur much darker. If you look closely, you can still see
the spots on these cats. It’s the polar opposite of being an albino. Weird,
right? But hey, can’t expect people to just get that just by looking at the
animals, right? Enough zoology, let’s get to it.
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| It's a good group. |
We open on a brief history of
Wakanda, as illustrated by little Vibranium beads. Millions of years ago, a
Vibranium meteor struck the continent of Africa, seeding the area around it
with the alien metal. It altered the land, the vegetation, and the animals
around it. Fast forward to when humans are a thing, and five tribes discover
this bizarre bit of land. The five tribes did battle until one, lead on by his
Panther God, ingested a heart-shaped herb. This herb gave him super powers, the
strength, speed and agility of the mighty Black Panther. The first Panther
united his and three of the other tribes, while the fifth, the Jabari,
preferred to stay isolated in their mountain home. Over the centuries, Wakanda
used the alien metal and its bizarre properties to accelerate their development.
Basically, before the rest of the world had planes, they were about a hairs
breadth from that Arthur C. Clarke quote. You know “Any sufficiently advanced
technology is indistinguishable from magic.” They decided to keep their
advancement hidden from prying eyes, and in the modern age Wakanda is viewed as
an isolationist, third world country.
We jump farther forward, to Oakland
in the early 90s. There, King T’Chaka of Wakanda visits his brother N’Jobu.
N’Jobu is one of the War Dogs, a group of spies that Wakanda has sent around
the world to keep an eye on things. T’Chaka informs N’Jobu about an arms dealer
named Ulysses Klaue attacking Wakanda and stealing their precious Vibranium. He
accuses his brother of helping Klaue, as Klaue would have needed insider help
to figure out where to hit. N’Jobu denies it, until his buddy James reveals
himself to also be a War Dog. They have these Vibranium tattoos across the
inside of their lower lip to identify themselves. James, real name Zuri, had
informed T’Chaka of the Prince’s actions. T’Chaka tells his brother that he’ll
be brought back to Wakanda to be judged for treason.
In the present day, king T’Chaka is
dead, and his son, T’Challa is expected to succeed him. To facilitate this, he
and his scary as heck body guard, General Okoye, extract another War Dog from
an undercover opt. I’m sure the fact that the agent, Nakia, is his ex has
nothing to do with his desire to collect her. And by extract, I mean that
T’Challa and Nakia end up killing most of the enemy force. They take Nakia back
to Wakanda and prepare for the ceremony. The ceremony, which takes place in a
partially dammed waterfall, involves the four tribes of Wakanda being given the
option to Challenge T’Challa for the right to rule. “But wait,” I hear someone
asking, “wouldn’t that be incredibly unfair? He has superpowers!” And you’d be
right, but the elders of Wakanda have an elixir that T’Challa is required to
take that strip him of his powers, to make it a fair fight. Obviously, as the
heir of the Panther Tribe, T’Challa gets an automatic pass from his mother,
Ramonda, and sister, Shuri. The other three Tribes also pass on the option, but
then the Jabari tribe show up. The tribe’s leader, M’Baku, challenges T’Challa.
Wait, so they didn’t want to be a part of Wakanda initially, but still get a
say in the coronation? Odd. T’Challa and M’Baku fight, and while it’s close,
T’Challa triumphs. The final part of the ceremony has T’Challa drink the
Heart-Shaped herb again, and take a spiritual walkabout. He’s greeted by his
father in the afterlife, whom gives T’Challa the advice to surround himself
with capable allies.
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| Is there any monster more terrible then one that need not been? |
Meanwhile, Klaue and a mysterious
man named Erik Stevens steal a Vibranium hammer from a museum. Which of course
gets the attention of Wakanda. T’challa, against the wishes of his council,
elects to stop Klaue, once and for all. He, Nakia, and Okoye move out. They
infiltrate a hidden casino in Busan, South Korea, and interrupt the trade that
Klaue had set up. Turns out, Klaue was going to sell the Vibranium to Agent
Everett Ross, a CIA operative that T’Challa met during that whole Civil War
fiasco. A firefight breaks out, and T’Challa’s team gives chase. After smashing
up several cars and trying out a bunch of new features in his upgraded Black
Panther suit, they capture Klaue. T’Challa wants to take Klaue back to Wakanda,
but Everett isn’t budging. Especially not after he has a few words with Klaue,
who tells Everett that Wakanda’s international image is just a façade. The fact
the country’s king runs around in a nanite cat suit, has a stealth plane,
access to highly advanced weaponry which includes a means of remote controlling
cars, and Fought. The. AVENGERS! really should have tipped him off. Just
saying. Their discussion is cut short when Erik and his crew bust out Klaue,
mortally injuring Everett in the process. As they escape, T’Challa sees that
Erik has a signet ring disturbingly identical to his own. Because Everett was
injured protecting Nakia, and has proven to be a… decent guy, T’Challa elects to
take him to Wakanda for healing rather than chasing Klaue.
While Shuri works on Everett’s
shattered spine, she can fix that in less then a day, T’Challa confronts Zuri
about what he saw. About the man with the ring like his, the ring that was
inherited from T’Challa’s grandfather. Zuri, whom is now some kind of high
priest, doesn’t wish to speak of it, as he promised the old king his silence.
To which T’Challa angrily orders him, as the New King, to speak. Well, that’s a
right pickle to be in, isn’t it? Zuri explains that, when T’Chaka went to see
his brother, he learned some disturbing things. N’Jobu had gone native while
living in the US, and helped Klaue in a bid to get Vibranium weapons and
distribute them to the ‘oppressed’ people of the world to start a revolution.
They never actually say it, but it’s
HEAVILY implied that N’Jobu is specifically talking about people of African
Descent. Not just in America, but worldwide. T’Chaka scolds his brother,
telling him that this isn’t their way. N’Jobu attacks Zuri in a fury, but
T’Chaka saves Zuri, killing his brother. T’Chaka ordered Zuri to stay silent.
When they returned home they lied and said that N’Jobu disappeared, and they
left N’Jobu’s son in America to keep the lie secret. T’Challa is rocked by his
father’s actions.
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| The King has returned. |
Meanwhile, Erik “Killmonger”
Stevens kills Klaue and brings his body back to Wakanda. He reveals himself to
T’Challa and the elders, and demands to fight his cousin for the title of Black
Panther. While highly unorthodox, apparently Erik is within his rights to
challenge for the throne. The two do battle. They begin evenly matched, but
Erik gets the upper hand and nearly kills T’Challa. Zuri begs for his king’s
life, admitting his involvement in N’Jobu’s death. Erik kills Zuri with a spear
thrust, and then chucks T’Challa from the waterfall. How does the saying go?
The King is dead, Long live the King? Nakia spirits the Queen Ramonda and Shuri
away to protect them. She tries to get Okoye to join them, but Okoye must
refuse. She’s the leader of the Dora Milaje, the Panther tribe’s elite guardswomen.
They’re loyal to the throne, not the king, so she’s honor bound to following
Erik. She’s clearly torn up about it, but choses her side. Erik ingests the
Heart-Shaped Herb, becoming the Black Panther, and then orders the grove they
grow the stuff in burned. Thankfully, Nakia snuck in and stole one of the
herbs.
While Erik prepares to distribute
the weapons, Nakia, Shuri, Ramonda, and Everett travel to the Jabari’s
mountains. They offer M’Baku the herb, in exchange they want him to fight and
kill Erik. It’s an enemy of my enemy situation. Rather than take the readily
offered superpowers, M’Baku reveals that his people had recovered a comatose
T’Challa from the river and were keeping him alive as repayment for T’Challa
sparing him. The group prepare the herb, feed him, and restore T’Challa’s
powers. Initially a little groggy, he vows to stop Erik from completing his
plan. So, it’s T’Challa and his entourage vs. Erik and the bulk of Wakanda’s
army. What could possibly go wrong?
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| The Dora Milaje, aka the most terrifying group of warriors. Ever. |
The good first, as per usual.
Everybody was perfect in their roles, from Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa to
Michael B. Jordan as Erik Killmonger. There was a lot of energy and passion to
their roles. The rivalry between these two is pretty good, especially given the
fact that they don’t even meet until about half way through it. T’Challa’s
internal dilemma, on whether to uphold the isolationist principles of his
ancestors, or to embrace the world like his contemporary allies want feels like
a really relevant plot for today. Is it better to be walled off, safe, but
unwilling to help those that you can, or open and helpful to everyone they can
but as vulnerable as everyone else. Huh, sounds like what we’re doing here in
America, doesn’t it? Danai Gurira as Okoye was also really great. She was
intimidating as heck, with her bald head and her sonic spear. Which is pretty
impressive, given the body she’s guarding. When you stand next to the Black
Panther, you have to be pretty scary in your own right to draw attention.
Letitia Wright as Shuri was also a lot of fun. She’s the energetic, scientific
genius behind most of the Black Panther tech. I especially liked her mentality
of ‘just because something works great doesn’t mean it can’t be improved.’ I
loved the look of this movie; the incorporation of the different African
clothing styles and traditions made the fictional nation of Wakanda seem very
nearly real.
The negatives are pretty minimal,
but still there. I suffered mental whiplash from this movie. It felt like a
slow burn for the firsts half, working on world building and increasing tension
as Klaue and Erik kept escaping T’Challa’s team. But then, after the casino
scene things shifted into the fast lane. Erik’s arrival in Wakanda and usurping
T’Challa’s throne, T’Challa’s family and friends traveling to the Jabari
mountains and restoring him, and stopping Erik’s plan all took place over like
a day and a half. There were also a few pointless moments. Like establishing
Erik is diddling one of his teammates, just to have him kill her while fighting
Klaue a few scenes later. Why even bring it up if you’re not going to do
anything with it? Or, when M’Baku and his people are introduced, they say that
he is kind of technophobic, but then never bring it up again. Again, why bring
it up if you’re not going to do anything with it?
Overall, this was an A movie. While
things went from… we’ll say… 10 to 60 in terms of pacing; the characters,
visuals, and overall tone was good enough to make up for that. There is one
aspect of the Black Panther mythos that I enjoy above all else, and that is the
symbiosis of mysticism and science. It’s not like with Thor or Dr. Strange
where they’ve tried to turn science and magic into two words that essentially
mean the same thing. T’Challa, and his nation, exist in symbiosis. The hold
tightly to their culture and ancient beliefs, but, at the same time, don’t let
the old taboos, superstitions and the like hold them back from moving forward.
There is a place for both aspects in this tiny African nation. In short, if
Wakanda was a real nation, you bet I’d be doing my damnedest to be part of the
first tour group there.
Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero
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