There are many opinions about Marvel’s Black Panther; how it’s the greatest superhero movie of all time; how it challenged the status quo with its characters; and how it showcased the beauty, power, and majesty of Wakanda. For those of you slow on the uptake, Wakanda is not real, and I dissent from the other mentioned opinions as well. Not that Black Panther was terrible, or was inherently incapable of being something great. I enjoyed the movie the same way I enjoyed any other B-Marvel movie—like Thor: The Dark World or Ironman 2—but I did not see why it deserved the critical acclaim that it earned. The issue I take with the movie is a simple one: a failure to try. It’s my opinion that Black Panther could have been ten times better if the writers had applied 50% more effort.
In the theater, I literally laughed during the narrative opening ; though I don’t believe I was supposed to. When Wakanda was described as a technological marvel (pun not intended), an isolationist society, and a utopia, I couldn’t help but find it hilarious. There are so many issues I had with this opening, I just had to take it as a “Once Upon a Time,” which was asking a lot for the suspension of disbelief in the beginning of the film. I’m not going to harp too badly on it, as it was supposed to set the tone for the film, but I will say this: beware the lazy writer! Little foresight (or else some ulteriorly motivated expediency) went into the implications of this opening, and had the writers thought of them, perhaps they would not have made such a blunder. They had all of the makings, all of the raw material, to make a subversion of expectations, to flip the story on its head. By having such a fairytail-esque opening, they could have revealed that the world is not so rosy, that technological advancement does not equal wisdom, and unadulterated culture heritage does not equal righteousness. Simply put, the opening does nothing to create drama; but it could have. What if Wakanda had turned out to have a dark side, a history they sought to forget or hide? What if that was why there was one tribe that had abandoned the alliance, instead of them being mostly irrelevant for the majority of the film? How would T’Challa (the Black Panther) have responded to facing such demons, and how would the people of the country? It didn’t have to be dark, gritty, or abysmal, but having the perfect fairyland of Wakanda takes a lot of the moral dilemmas out of the film. It is a perfect place, where people make perfect decisions; except it’s also not. Shadows of the drama that could have been, the evidence of the writers’ failures, are traced throughout the film. Especially in relation to Wakanda and its citizens.
At no point in a film, should an audience member ever see two people on the verge of a fight to the death, and think to themselves: “Oh, yeah… they were dating…” No one should, yet I did—and I spoke to others that experienced it too. That moment was the crystallization of all that was wrong with the people of Wakanda, and how the conflict was handled. In that scene, T’Challa’s best friend, W’Kabi, and Wakanda’s general, Okoye, are on opposing sides of a civil war. W’Kabi wants to follow Killmonger because he avenged his father’s death and seeks to take he’s vengeance into the world. Okoye wants to honor the rightful king, and maintain the traditions of Wakanda. So, there is an impasse. This could have been such a good scene! It could have been the moment that epitomized the strife that had existed between two camps of thought in Wakanda: globalism and nationalism. It is clear in the film that some members of the country want to participate on the world stage, fight against injustice and crimes against humanity, and share their knowledge and technology with others. Others, are afraid that they’ll lose their identity, their heritage, that they will be targeted by cynically envious parties for their success and resources. Both of these strains of thought have their merits, and both arguments would have been compelling. I sometimes fantasize about a scene with T’Challa, W’Kabi, and Okoye sitting at dinner—W’Kabi and Okoye flirting and expressing affection towards each other—and the debate of these two thoughts comes up; W’Kabi wanting to bring Wakanda into the world and the future, and Okoye adamantly defending their responsibilities based on their traditional values, and T’Challa trapped in the middle. That single alteration would have made the scene when Okoye threatens to kill W’Kabi “For Wakanda” so much more impactful! Not to mention that it would go far in explaining why so many were willing to follow Killmonger; and would have shown how Killmonger twisted the noble ambitions of both camps—just as a true villain would. Which only added to the tragedy, that was what the writers did to their antagonist.
“Killmonger,” the name itself is filled with intensity! Killmonger had all of the potential to be an amazing antagonist, alas, he was tragically under used. Ignoring the fact that he is literally barely in the film until the latter end of the second act, not just in presence but also in effect, he was poorly handled. To recap, Killmonger’s father, N’Jobu, was T’Challa’s uncle. T’Challa’s father, T’Chaka, discovers that N’Jobu was smuggling vibranium and is forced to kill him after he tries to kill the agent that uncovered his schemes. That moment is Killmonger’s inciting event that leads him to follow a path of vengeance; though, strangely enough, the object of his vengeance is not T’Chaka, western society . The reason why it’s strange, is because Killmonger says he’s been oppressed he’s whole life because T’Chaka didn’t try and change his life, yet he rose out of poverty, became a marine, and graduated MIT, all of which are traits he uses to exact he’s revenge; a revenge that isn’t against Wakanda, but against the world that ironically raised him and enabled his success. This confused motivation translates to confusing decisions, loyalties, and ambitions. Not to mention, when T’Challa meets him, it means nothing; he knows Killmonger is his cousin, and that’s a dangerous threat to the throne, but Killmonger doesn’t mean anything in of himself. Admittedly, I think a lot of these problems come from the reinvention of Killmonger’s origin. In The comics, Killmonger’s parents are killed by Klaw—the same man he works with in the movie—after a native to Wakanda sneaks Klaw and he’s cohorts into the country to steal vibranium. Killmonger is forced into servitude of the man that betrayed him and his people, and develops a hatred for everyone; to the world for its cruelty, to Wakanda for seemingly abandoning him, and Klaw for killing his family. The echoes of this can be seen in the movie, but it is changed, and not for the better. In the movie, no one knows of Killmonger’s existence, and he’s father’s fate was a result of his own bad decisions not outside forces. A little more effort combining these two visions would have done wonders to increase the drama. Since the movie wanted Killmonger to blame T’Chaka—and by extension T’Challa—and he’s father to be killed as a result of his disloyal choices, why not keep that but make it better? For example, what if, the story was that T’Chaka was the Wakanda citizen that smuggled Klaw into the country? What if, he was caught? What if, as punishment for betraying he’s country, he and his family are going to be exiled by T’Chaka? What if, in a fit of desperation, he challenges T’Chaka, and dies in the process? What if Killmonger is still exiled even with he’s father’s death? What if Killmonger and T’Challa had been best friends, and T’Challa has to watch not only he’s best friend and cousin leave forever, but at the hands of his father? What if T’Challa asks he’s father in a moment of uncertainty, “Why?” And T’Chaka stoically looks over his country and says “For Wakanda!” I yearn for this alternative prologue! I’m not saying “Pick me, use my story! I’ve got skills!” It doesn’t need to be any of what I wrote, but what I did was show just a slight change that makes sense of Killmonger’s lifelong quest, he’s animosity for the world and Wakanda, and T’Challa’s apprehensive yet merciful tendencies towards him. Most of all, this could have been the moment that galvanized the core internal conflict of the movie, which was something the movie never experienced.
There is a core conflict of the movie, one that throughout the film is constantly undermined by the writers. The primary conflict the movie is trying to establish is that T’Challa doesn’t know how he’s going to rule. He doesn’t know what he wants for Wakanda’s future, and he doesn’t know what kind of king he’s going to be. However, as all the other issues on this (almost there!) list, the writers fell short of their goal. Instead of seeing T’Challa having to balance the delicate disputes of he’s kingdom and the competing interests groups, not to mention navigating global politics, he is instead put on a fetch quest to get Klaw. He doesn’t have any connection to Killmonger, other than he’s a threat to the throne and a stain on his father’s good name. He shouts at he’s ancestors that “All of your were wrong!” but so little has been built up to that moment for it to mean much. He doesn’t see or experience the price of Wakanda’s isolationism except that Killmonger is emotionally damaged. Had the writers had the guts to have a civil war in Wakanda, maybe, just maybe, they may have had the guts to have Killmonger’s plan go into effect, at least partially. Then T’Challa would see that it’s not just for his legacy that he be king, but for the very soul of Wakanda; granted, the fantasy of T’Challa trying to talk down the UN from an all out assault on the country may be something I wish I could have seen. With the story the writers give us though, T’Challa doesn’t struggle with the world pressing in on him as everyone he loves takes different sides, and everyone is demanding that he join them in theirs. Most of the story happens around T’Challa and the internal struggles of the Wakanda don’t become meaningful until Killmonger’s appearance in the second act—which is too late.
Overall, the movie is fraught with very clearly considered plot points and subplots, but those were ultimately either clumsily executed or abandoned outright. I don’t care if it was out of convenience, complacency, or just forced because of externalities. The writers failed. They failed to produce a meaningful story or to finish it in a way that mattered. Instead, they produced a solid B-Marvel movie: okay, but nothing special.
* * *
Soooo, how was COVID for you? Because, I was apparently very busy. In all seriousness, it’s been a long time since I posted, and I am happy to be jumping back into the site. I’ve got somebody that’s going to be encouraging me to develop new content, and get some fresh material out on a more regular basis. For now, hope y’all enjoyed me tearing apart a three year old movie—I’ll get better at timing eventually!