Black Panther Is A Great Movie. But I Couldn’t Write A Review That Would Do It Justice
Black Panther is an excellent movie and if you read sites like this one, you should definitely go and see it.
But as much as I enjoyed it, I couldn’t review it.
It isn’t because I didn’t have enough goods things to say about it. It was an excellent blend of action and smart storytelling, a recipe you rarely see in movies-comic book or otherwise. It told its own story-the origin of King T’Challa and his native land of Wakanda-while remaining safely within the context of the larger Marvel Universe. And it easily cleared its most difficult hurdle, addressing the enormous political elephant in the room while keeping its own story centre stage.
Don’t get the idea it shied away from race politics. Rather it embraced the world’s divide, skillfully weaving it into its story (how could you possibly ignore racism in a movie about an African nation that used secrecy as a defence against European colonialism and global chaos?). And Michael B. Jordan’s portrayal of Killmonger (who is destined to go down as one of the MCU’s best and most sympathetic villains) was nothing short of excellent. Killmonger’s emotional depth and his very existence was as integral to the story as Wakanda’s technological superiority and its secrecy-above-all-else policy.
But I found myself running head first into a wall every time I tried to put pen to paper on a review. Because while watching Black Panther I couldn’t escape the fact that I was just a silent participant in a cultural moment. Like Wonder Woman last summer, the conversation that rose around the movie became bigger than the film itself. And the conversation quickly assumed a life of its own and reflected a growing shift in society’s social and political fabric.
At the risk of sounding condescending, writing a review for Black Panther would have been impossible because, no matter how much I enjoyed the movie (and I consider it one of the top titles in the MCU), my experience was totally different from millions of other people who saw it this weekend (and millions more who will see it in the weeks to come).
So write it the same way you would any other review, you may suggest. That was how I approached Wonder Woman (one of my favourite movies from 2017), yet nothing I wrote (or observed) could do justice to the impact Wonder Woman had on the world. I saw the same film millions of others did, but I couldn’t experience it the same way. I couldn’t be inspired or moved or impacted like so many others were.
The same is true for Black Panther.
And if I ignore the enormous political backdrop for such a pivotal movie (look no further than the Earth smashing success the film enjoyed its first weekend), than I ignore the reason this movie has evolved into such a phenomenon.
The truth is, whether it wanted to or not, Black Panther grew into something far greater, far more important, than a simple movie. The truth is, while I could appreciate the movie’s importance on that level, I simply could not share that experience. And any attempt to do so would be an insult to the film, to the movement it embraces and the millions of people who have found a voice and a hero.
And while Black Panther is easily Marvel’s most self-aware film (along with one of its smartest), I’m self-aware enough to know this isn’t my ride. I am genuinely happy for everyone empowered by it and I hope it takes people to better places, but I’m just a passenger. Which is fine by me.
One thing is for certain, Panther has reignited a vital and long overdue conversation in a way that news footage and statistics and outrage may not be able to. And while Panther is destined to end 2018 as one the year’s most profitable (and best) movies, it has already earned the title of its most important.
Now go see it.
Image Marvel Studios
