Black Panther: A Very Spoilery Review

Black Panther is the superhero movie I have been waiting for. It isn't perfect but don't get me wrong, I loved it. The animated sequence in the beginning sets us up with the cultural traditions of the Wakanda people, the rise of the Black Panther as protector of his people, and how a meteor filled with the alien element Vibranium, led to Wakanda becoming one of the most secretly advanced technology hubs in the world.

What I loved:
1. The Afrofuturism. While still maintaining the ancient rituals and tribal vibe, Wakanda is an advanced civilization with the technology and resources to change the world. (see bottom of post for reading recs)
2. The beautiful, powerful, Black WOMEN! Dunai Gurira as Okoye is amazing and I already love her as Michonne on Walking Dead. Her character in Black Panther is strong, conflicted, and tested. Shuri, T'Challa's sister played by Letitia Wright, is brilliant, savvy, tough, and just adorably delivers the best one liners of the movie. Pepper in actors such as Angela Bassett as the Queen Mother (who can forget her incredible portrayal of Tina Turner?) and Lupita Nyong'o as Nakia (won an Oscar for "12 Years a Slave", watch at your own risk, it's HARD) and you have a pretty formidable cast of remarkable female actors!
3. Wakanda. The one thing I liked about Thor (and I mean the one thing because Thor is an asshole), was the representation of Asgard. Wakanda is beautifully represented but also has a great story. It is steeped with mythology, is rich with culture, and is visually stunning on the big screen. Send the vibranium train...I want to go to Wakanda!
4. Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) as the sympathetic and simultaneously reprehensible villain. George R.R. Martin loves to write these kinds of villains too and they are my favorite kind to engage with. 

What I didn't love:
1. W'Kabi (Daniel Kaluuya). His acting was good. He's a great actor and I loved him in the Black Mirror episode "15 Million Credits". His character in Black Panther just fell really short for me. He was underdeveloped and too easily influenced. I was more moved by his lover Okoye's, resolve to kill him if it meant saving Wakanda. He does surrender to her with his best line, "You would kill me, my love?" To which Okoye replies, "For Wakanda? Without question."
2. The waaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy extended, over the top action sequences that always involve gratuitous collateral damage and too much car surfing at impossible speeds. (YAWN)
3. The conflicted characters were brilliant. The political message was strong and important. Yet it felt like there were only two choices in philosophy offered: over-idealism and over-radicalism. Granted, while these choices sometimes seemed trite, it also brought me back into the reality of the Marvel Universe. It resolved itself with T'Challa's decision to engage in arming youths with diplomacy and education as a means of empowerment so perhaps this minor complaint is due to my impatience.

Wasn't this just the best line?

Extended Plot Summary: 
Disguised as a Third World Country, Wakanda boasts it's isolationism has kept them from being infiltrated by foreign invaders...until recently. We are set up for T'Challa's (Chadwick Boseman) reign in Wakunda in Captain America: Civil War when his father T'Chaka is killed in an explosion meant to frame Bucky Barnes (Bucky, Captain America's best bud, was brainwashed to become the lethal Winter Soldier and now being treated secretly in Wakanda by Shuri. She is working to heal his wounds and reverse the affects of his brainwashing).

We have enough backstory to bring us to Oakland California 1992 (side fact: also where the activist party, the Black Panthers rose up). King T'Chaka makes a special trip there to confront his brother, Prince N'Jobo for his betrayal of Wakanda and it's people. N'Jobo had begun to question his King brother's decision to keep Wakanda and vibranium a secret when it could help liberate others. This conflict begins the debate over two different philosophies, both wielding incredibly heavy consequences no matter what side you choose (insert Professor X vs. Magneto).

The end result is a radicalized N'Jobo betrays Wakanda because he feels that his people have a duty to do more to help people of African descent who are still living in a reality full of racial tension, crimes against humanity, and social injustices. He wants to arm the oppressed with Wakandan-style weapons so they can defend themselves against their oppressors. On the surface it is difficult NOT to enlist in his revolution...after all, history often candy-coats the hard-to-swallow pill of white America's starring role in slavery and segregation. Couple that with the fact that we are not even remotely far enough away from the continued impact of  racial disparity and segregation to deny that racism is systematically perpetuated. Even now. As a white girl who has done a lot of soul searching to find and obliterate my own societal prejudices in exchange for understanding, I might've read N'Jobo's recruitment brochure and found his cause attractive and justified (as long I didn't read the fine print).

But alas, in the superhero world of good guys and bad guys, it is not in the "why" but in the "how". Why N'Jobo betrayed his country becomes irrelevant because how he did it was despicable. He sent a black market arms dealer, Klaue, into Wakanda to steal Vibranium which resulted in many lives lost and a very valuable and dangerous element in the hands of the a real bad guy. King T'Chaka kills his brother to protect his informant after N'Jobo attacks him. They cover up their part in N'Jobo's death by agreeing to not speak of it. They leave N'Jobo's young son behind to live in the aftermath of discovering his father's body and cope with his death.

And now all of the nuts and bolts are in place for the rise of a patient villain who will devote his whole life to becoming a warrior, intelligent enough to challenge and overthrow the Royal family he hated. Enter Michael B. Jordan as Erik Killmonger, an MIT graduate and currently a black-ops soldier, his body is branded in a tribal-style, each scar representing a person he killed. He is sympathetic but while his plight is understandable, it is again, not the "why" but the "how".  Killing has become far too easy for Erik and in his hate-driven desire for vengeance, he has lost his ability to fully embrace the humanity in fulfilling his father's legacy to liberate people. It becomes clear that this he is too far gone. It's personal.

T'Challa is having a rough first week as the new King. He fails to capture/kill Klaue (despite his promise to W'Kabi) in favor of saving his CIA friend, Agent Ross (Martin Freeman) and he finds that some of his old Wakandan friends are a bit fickle in their allegiances. I'm talking to you, W'Kabi! Erik Killmonger dumps a dead Klaue (after rescuing him to kill him and killing his own girlfriend when Klaue used her as a shield) at Wakanda's doorstep and challenges T'Challa's throne in an ancient fighting ritual. T'Challa is a bit distracted in the fight after learning his father was responsible for murdering his own brother (Erik's father) and struggling with his ideals of his father vs. his father's dark secret that brought Killmonger knocking.

Of all the advanced vibranium-infused action scenes throughout the movie, the fighting ritual to claim the throne was my favorite. It was beautiful, taking place at the edge of a waterfall. It was primitive and stripped down. The drums beat for momentum, and the speared warrior women refereeing the battle were pretty bad-ass. T'Challa is thrown over the waterfall by Killmonger and a new, short reign of terror begins. T'Challa is found and saved by a nearby tribe chief and he rises again to take down Killmonger. In a finite and tragic reconciliation that was filled with regret and understanding (T'Challa) but still lacked remorse (Erik), Killmonger chooses death over being saved when T'Challa offers him the choice.  His final monologue about enslavement and dying a free man is vulnerable and raw. T'Challa carries the dying man, his cousin, to the perfect place to watch a Wakandan sunset and I'm a bit unhinged.



T'Challa rejects the old way of Wakandan rule and chooses diplomacy and transparency over secrecy and isolation. He is balanced out by his awesome sister Shuri (who is just fantastic) and by his love interest Nakia, a humanitarian who always believed Wakandan rulers should do more to protect the outside world and oppressed people living around them. The conclusion  of the movie with T'Challa buying the building where his father killed his Uncle, in order to turn it into a place to educate others and promote science and diplomacy, was a perfect set up for a sequel, a refreshing new start for Wakanda's position in the world, and a touching homage to his fallen cousin, Erik.

LONG LIVE KING T'CHALLA! WAKANDA FOREVER!!

Recommended Watching: Black Mirror-both Daniel Kaluuya ("15 Million Credits") and Letitia Wright ("Black Museum") have great episodes (side fact: both have also appeared in Doctor Who), Captain America: Civil War
(If you like or want to know more about Afrofuturism) Recommended reading: "Black to the Future" essay by Mark Dery and "Binti" Hugo-winning novella by Nnedi Okorafor, (For an alternative to the rave reviews and an insightful, well-written race perspective) Recommended article: "Black Panther is Not the Movie We Deserve". Christopher Lebron offers a rebuttal to the critical acclaim the movie has received and calls the movie out on a variety issues.  

Logan: A Very Spoilery Recap and Review

Wolverine has always been my favorite mutant, and while my comic knowledge for X-men is surface level, I really love (for the most part) the direction Marvel has been going with their films and original series. I can't get enough of the gritty, dark, and tortured protagonists that live in morally gray areas. Hugh Jackman as Logan has delivered this criteria for 17 years and doesn't disappoint in the newest installment. The 'R' rating was appropriate and refreshing though my 7 year old would adamantly disagree, always hating to miss anything Marvel.

It's set in the near-future and Logan is a chauffeur trying to live under the radar near the Mexican border after the mutant race faced near extinction. This was largely due to Dr. Rice's, head of the Weapon X program, genetic tampering through food and water to ensure no new mutants were born. His plan was to create his own military-styled mutant weapons that could be controlled and sell them to the highest bidder.

The movie opens with Logan napping in his car when some Adamantium-claw-fodder start trying to steal Logan's tires. He gets out of the car and warns them to stop and this leads to generic criminals doing what generic criminals do and Logan makes quick skewers out of them (so much for staying under the radar). Logan goes home where he sullenly hands Caliban (a surviving albino mutant played by Stephen Merchant) a necessary seizure medicine for Charles (Patrick Stewart) that controls his degenerative brain disease, before pouring himself a drink. A few years prior,  Charles (Professor X) had a seizure that, due to the power of his mind, killed mutants and many humans in Westchester, NY and was cause enough for the government to label his brain a weapon of mass destruction. Logan and Caliban have been on the run or in hiding ever since while taking care of a crotchety version of Charles (Professor X), who reminded me of the ornery old man most of us have in our own families. Except when Charles has a bad day and doesn't want to take his medicine, he ends up paralyzing and killing people by accident.

To complicate matters, a young girl Laura (Dafne Keen) born in the Transigen Corporation as a mutant of the X-23 experiment, lands on Logan's doorstep .She had been smuggled out of the program by a compassionate nurse who was appalled to learn the child mutants were going to be killed as a result of a "failed experiment". The nurse died as a result of her interference. Dr. Rice, head of Transigen Corp, sends his Reavers, led by a cyborg named Pierce (Boyd Holbrook), to track and capture Laura so she can be eliminated. They find her in Logan's care.

Things become even more complicated when Logan discovers Laura is a *Girlverine* and shares his DNA, essentially making him her father. While the Adamantium in his own body is poisoning and weakening Logan, the use of it was perfected in Laura and she is every bit as lethal as her *father* used to be without the long term effects. Logan hasn't embraced father-of-the-year status and is gruff and put out by Laura's presence while Charles is much kinder and develops a special bond with her. Logan, while trying (and not trying) to stay sober, bears the weight of keeping Charles and Laura alive and safe while they are being hunted nonstop by Reavers with lots of big guns.

Logan is tasked with getting Laura to *Eden*, a place in North Dakota near the Canadian border that she believes will be a safe stop for her and the escaped children of X-23 to stay before they seek approved asylum in Canada. When Logan finds that Laura discovered the coordinates for this place in an old X-men comic book, he tries to convince her the story was widely exaggerated and her journey is futile, but to no avail. So they continue on their quest.

Comic was designed as a movie prop and doesn't correlate with the actual comics but was an awesome inclusion

The Reavers are always hot on their trail but Logan, Laura, and Charles stay a step ahead because of Caliban (he was taken hostage because of his tracking abilities) providing *faulty* intelligence to the cronies of Transigen Corp. The 3 of them end up having dinner with a family they helped on the road and are invited to stay for the night. Logan doesn't want to but Charles insists it will be good for all of them and this leads to the tragic death of the family and Charles. Pierce and his Reavers bring Dr. Rice's new mutant "Wolverine" who is stronger and devoid of any human emotions to kill anyone who got in the way of capturing Laura (and he does) but Laura and Logan get away and Charles dies from the injuries he sustained. 

After Laura and Logan bury Charles, they get back on the road and it is clear that the connection between them is beginning to unnerve him and he wants to get her to safety and then abandon her. Logan has lost everyone he has ever cared about and the feelings he has for his daughter are reminding him of that.  They reach Eden and the X-23 children are there and preparing to run to the Canadian border. Logan is in a  healing sleep and Laura enjoys a moment of childhood with her friends as they shave Logan's beard to resemble the traditional Wolverine mutton chops and it is actually kind of hysterical.

Of course Dr. Rice and his Reavers discover the children and it becomes a new kind of battle as the mutants use their awesome gifts to defend themselves against the heavily armed cyborg men and get to the Canadian border where they cannot be harmed. Logan decides he can't abandon Laura after all, and when he sees drones tracking the kids he drinks a elixir that gives his weakening body temporary strength and resolves to go down in a blaze of glory to save his daughter and the remaining mutant children. We are spared the cliche 'I love yous' as Logan dies in Laura's arms but are given a more tear-jerking 'So this is what it feels like?' as Laura sobs with the knowledge that her father sacrificed himself to save her. While this was a predictable outcome, the effect was not lost on me. Perhaps the most poignant moment of the movie was when Laura eulogized her father with a fitting quote from the 1950's Western "Shane" that she connected with after watching it on a hotel television:

“There’s no living with a killing. There’s no going back from it. Right or wrong, it’s a brand, a brand that sticks. There’s no going back. Now, you run on home to your mother and tell her, tell her everything’s alright, and there aren’t any more guns in the valley.”

With that, Laura tilts the wooden cross that marks Logan's grave to make it an *X* and she and the children of X-23 walk away to continue their journey to Canada. Laura is just fantastic and I absolutely love the idea of a spin-off of the X-23 kids and her rising as the new Wolverine. Closing credits roll and Johnny Cash's cover of Nine Inch Nails, "Hurt" plays and I'm unhinged and crying my eyes out. Jeremiah and I talked about it for the rest of the night and hands down,  "Logan" is my all-time favorite Wolverine movie ever...perhaps even my favorite X-Men movie ever. It's a must-see, a solid 9/10!