It’s the next STAR WARS franchise. Ryan Coogler is the next George Lucas except he can also write.
What’s amazing to me is that after fifty superhero movies, maybe seventy (last year alone) – Coogler could mount one that is wholly original. Sure there is tons of CGI and exciting chase scenes (who needs a custom Batmobile when you can just go to your local Lexus dealer?), but there is also an engaging story, social commentary that is truly thought-provoking, and big laughs. Zack Snyder should be tied to a chair and forced to watch this movie on a continual loop for a year.
Coogler (and co-writer Joe Robert Cole) have their sites set on way more than just a popcorn movie. They create an entire world, introduce us to inviting but complex characters, and tell a story that makes sense. I was so bored by the latest STAR WARS movie. And baffled by the Byzantine story-telling in THOR. Coogler knows how to set things up and pay them off in non obvious (DC) ways.
Visually the movie is stunning, but we’ve all come to expect that with CGI.
Chadwick Boseman was the perfect choice to play THE BLACK PANTHER. As Jackie Robinson he already broke the color line in baseball. Now he’s essentially Martin Luther King Jr. with superpowers.
Playing the chief antagonist is Coogler-regular, Michael B. Jordan. For reasons you understand based on his character’s childhood, Jordan wants to destroy the world. And I kept thinking: I’d still prefer him to Trump.
Everyone turns in a terrific performance. Martin Freeman (Dr. Watson on the new SHERLOCK series) does the CIA proud. Andy Serkis is the villain who laughs at everything. Yeah he’s a murderous psychopath but I’d sure want him in my studio audience if I were doing a multi-camera sitcom. Forest Whitaker is always solid, which is good since he’s in every movie and TV show produced in America and Canada. Lupita Nyong’o is also great and I wish she were in everything. I also loved Danai Gurira, Sterling K. Brown (also in everything), Florence Kasumba, and Letitia Wright.
I’ll be interested to see whether this movie gets Academy Award nominations next year. I think it’s a far better movie than any of the candidates for this year’s honor. But it’s also entertaining and people will actually see it so Academy members will likely shun it. Better to nominate LADY BIRD, a pleasant familiar almost stereotypical coming-of-age film.
I don’t want to over-praise THE BLACK PANTHER because then your expectations will be too high. But you should see it once. Zack Snyder needs to see it 100,000 times.
from By Ken Levine
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