- Location: Cinemark Century Point Ruston
- I had to chuckle a few years ago when Marvel launched its "All-New, All-Different" branding campaign. Sure, the Avengers got shuffled around a bit and there was suddenly a new Hulk, but it's telling that the most noticeable change had to do with issue numbering. Comic book franchises, both print and cinematic, are so focused upon appealing to their devoted fanbase that there just isn't that much incentive to innovate. Or rather, that was the conventional wisdom back before Ryan Coogler's Black Panther, by far the most original film put out by Marvel Studios, also just became the highest-grossing superhero film ever.
- If you're worried that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has run out of ideas or skeptical that superhero films ever had anything interesting to say in the first place, Black Panther is absolutely the film for you. Practically every aspect of this film really is genuinely new and different -- and in the best ways possible. It's easy to construct a laundry list of the obvious ways in which Black Panther sets itself apart from the pack (more than one black character AND more than one woman!), so I will focus instead on its less conspicuous virtues, such as its superb costume and set design, both of which are informed by real African culture (including lip plates!) and Afro-futurist fiction without seeming exploitive. And in the director's chair, Coogler does such an good job with the material that I suddenly found myself wanting to track down the most recent Rocky movie, which is something I never thought I'd write.
- About the characters: T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) is the newly-crowned king of Wakanda, a mythical African country that has long concealed its great store of mineral, technological, and scientific wealth. As king, T'Challa also inherited the mantle of Black Panther, a superhero as devoted to seeking justice as he is to keeping his nation safely hidden. Assisting him are his sister, the brilliant scientist Shuri (Letitia Wright), his redoubtable advisor Zuri (Forest Whitaker), the imposing general Okoye (Danai Gurira), his enthusiastic border guard and friend W'Kabi (Daniel Kaluuya), and his love interest and undercover spy Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o). Complicating T'Challa's ascendence to the throne are a competing tribal leader (Winston Duke), a devilish smuggler (Andy Serkis), and a truly tough American called "Killmonger" (Michael B. Jordan), whose nickname pretty much says it all. It is worth noting that the film also features a token white guy (Martin Freeman), which is something that no other Marvel movie has ever needed.
- Although nobody would accuse any superhero film of being excessively intellectual (this film in fact features several fighting contests at the edge of a waterfall and a battle with armored rhinos), Black Panther follows the positive examples of Iron Man and Captain America: Winter Soldier by incorporating several real-world themes that elevate the material to more than just another cape-fest. To cite just one example, Black Panther suggests that its villain's great potential as a champion of African rights was perverted by a combination of American violence and Wakandan isolationism. With ideas like that, a brilliant supporting cast, truly seamless visual effects, and the wisdom to create non-embarrassing versions of characters named Killmonger and Man-Ape, there's simply a lot to love about Black Panther. Let's hope this represents the beginning of a trend.
- Also featuring Angela Bassett, John Kani, Sterling K. Brown, and your old pal Stan Lee.
