'Black Panther' builds a world you'll want to return to again and again
At the end of the day, Black Panther is just another movie.
But it sure doesn't feel that way when you're watching it.
Black Panther perfects what the Marvel Cinematic Universe has always done so well: build a world so richly rendered, it's almost a letdown to reach the end of the film and realize it's time to return to our own reality.
It's a tantalizing glimpse at what might have been, in some alternate reality not defined by white society.
In this case, the world is the fictional African nation of Wakanda – the most technologically advanced country on Earth, which got that way by jealously guarding its wealth and knowledge from everyone else. The result is a land untouched by the horrors of European conquest and blessed by the bounty of the land (specifically, by a rare and valuable naturally occurring metal known as vibranium).
As imagined by production designer Hannah Beachler, Wakanda is all bright colors, contrasting textures, and jaw-dropping tech. It's fantastical enough to inspire wonder, and grounded enough to awaken yearning. It's a tantalizing glimpse at what might have been, in some alternate reality not defined by white society.
At the same time, though, Wakanda is no alienating utopia. The nation is led by T'Challa, a good man who's warned early on that "it's hard for a good man to be king." He discovers just how true that wisdom is, as various factions within and without its borders vie to impose their own influence.
As we saw in Captain America: Civil War, Chadwick Boseman brings to T'Challa a regal sort of gravitas – but his performance and the script by Joe Robert Cole make room for T'Challa's warmth and humor to shine through as well. In typical MCU fashion, he's a larger-than-life figure who is, at the end of the day, a lot like us.
He's surrounded himself with characters who'll remind him of that fact, including his genius kid sister Shuri (Letitia Wright, utterly winning), whose devotion to helping her big brother is outmatched only by her devotion to teasing him; and his spy ex-girlfriend Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o, bright and strong as vibranium), who has a way of reducing him to tongue-tied longing.
More than most superhero flicks, Black Panther feels like an ensemble piece – as if any character in this story might be the lead of their own, if only the film would shift its perspective a bit. Even the superhero's mother (Ramonda, played by Angela Bassett) gets a chance to shine. (Every other superhero's dead mom must be so jealous.)
This generosity extends even to its big bad, Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan). Black Panther marks maybe the third time in the entire 18-film MCU franchise that the villain has felt like anything approaching a real person, and Killmonger's arc is surprisingly moving – he's a man whose ache for a home he never knew has long since festered into resentment and rage.
It is Killmonger, in fact, who finally forces the question T'Challa has been dancing around since Civil War: Is Wakanda going to be part of the world or not? Will it sit silently by while its sons and daughters suffer around the globe, or will it reach out a helping hand – even if, as one isolationist character puts it, "you let the refugees in, and they bring their problems with them?"
These are existential issues for Wakanda, which has flourished as long as it has by minding its own business. (Needless to say, they're pretty relevant to our world, too.) While the film does ultimately pick a side, it doesn't gloss over the risks of the other route. There's a very real sense of what might be lost, should T'Challa go in one direction or the other.
This might seem like a lot of weighty contemplation for an action-packed four-quadrant blockbuster. But Black Panther finds plenty of time for fun and joy as well.
I swelled with pride at seeing the Dora Milaje – T'Challa's all-female special forces team – kick ass, and gasped in delight as T'Challa, Nakia, and Okoye (Danai Gurira) laid waste to an exquisite South Korean casino. I giggled at T'Challa's playful relationship with Shuri and sighed at his romantic one with Nakia.
That all these different tones work so well together is a huge testament to the talent of director Ryan Coogler, who pulled off a similar trick with his previous movie Creed. As with that film, Black Panther feels unmistakably like the franchise it belongs to, while also distinguishing itself as the product of a unique and distinct vision.
It's a balancing act that Marvel has struggled to pull off in the past, flattening films as different as Captain America: Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy into similar shapes. But they've gotten better at it in recent years, and Black Panther reflects this evolution.
Black Panther is one of the best movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
This isn't just one of the best movies in the MCU – it caps off the franchise's best run of movies ever, which started last year with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
If there's a downside to Black Panther, it's that it has to end eventually. Wakanda's setting and characters made for a world that I never wanted to leave, and wanted to return to as soon as the credits started.
Even then, however, there's good news: We'll be back in Wakanda before long, as Avengers: Infinity War is due in theaters this May.
And beyond that? We'll be counting down the days until it's time to return again in Black Panther 2. Whenever that's happening.
