Movie Review: Black Panther

Black Panther **** / *****

Directed by: Ryan Coogler.

Written by: Ryan Coogler & Joe Robert Cole based on the Marvel comics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

Starring: Chadwick Boseman (T'Challa / Black Panther), Michael B. Jordan (Erik Killmonger), Lupita Nyong'o (Nakia), Danai Gurira (Okoye), Martin Freeman (Everett K. Ross), Daniel Kaluuya (W'Kabi), Andy Serkis (Ulysses Klaue / Klaw), Angela Bassett (Ramonda), Forest Whitaker (Zuri), Letitia Wright (Shuri), Winston Duke (M'Baku), Sterling K. Brown (N'Jobu), John Kani (King T'Chaka), Florence Kasumba (Ayo), David S. Lee (Limbani), Atandwa Kani (Young T'Chaka).

 

With Black Panther, director Ryan Coogler doesn’t really re-invent the Marvel movie – but he finds room inside of its structure to create something unique. The film hits the story beats you expect any superhero origin movie to, and yet it does so in new and different ways – basically because Coogler fully embraces what it is about Black Panther than makes the character, and his origins, different from the superheroes that came before. He does a better job than any director before him in this series in building a new, unique world and from making a movie that doesn’t look like all the other films. I have mentioned before that basically directors of Marvel movies act like television directors – they are brought in to make movies off a template. Coogler, more than anyone before him, ignores that template and does his own thing, even while respecting the overall universe his film is in. He doesn’t blow up the Marvel universe, as much as he expands it – and in the process, he’s made arguably the best film in the MCU so far.

 

We were introduced to Black Panther – aka T’Challa, crown Prince of the African nation of Wakanda, in Captain America: Civil War – but we really didn’t learn much about him, other than he was on a mission of vengeance to catch the man who detonated a bomb that killed his father – King T’Chaka. This film takes place in the aftermath of that death, as T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) returns to Wakanda to officially be crowned King. In order to do that, he has to go through rituals, which include allowing any of the members of the other tribes in Wakanda with Royal Blood, to challenge him in ritual combat – something that will arise again later in the film, with the return of Wakanda’s prodigal son – a kid from Oakland known as Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan). Killmonger instantly becomes the best villain in the MCU so far, because he’s really the first villain in the 18 films who you can look at and actually think he’s making valid points. He isn’t a power hungry madman hell-bent on world domination – at least not for his own purposes. He, reasonably, thinks that Wakanda could have helped “people who look like you” across the globe who have been oppressed forever, but instead Wakanda has sat back, and stayed out of everything. You can disagree with Killmonger’s methods – which is basically to kill anyone who doesn’t agree with him – and still think he makes a valid point. Smartly, the movie knows this, and doesn’t try to hide that fact.

 

Before the movie gets there though, it does a wonderful job at world building in terms of Wakanda – who we get our first real glimpse of here. Wakanda is a rich country (because of their wealth of Vibranium, the strongest metal on earth, that they have used to become a technological wonder), posing as a poor one, and the film’s art direction is a brilliant mixture of the futuristic and the ancient. Coogler and his collaborators have taken aspects of many African cultures and countries, and combined them to create something both recognizable and unique. This is clearly the best looking film the MCU has had to date – with amazing production design and costumes, to go along with the expected flair of visual effects, and expert cinematography by Rachel Morrison.

 

The movie could have spent its entire runtime simply on the inner workings of Wakanda itself – it certainly has more interesting characters than any other Marvel movie to date. The film has many strong, female characters (strong in multiple ways), like Nakia (Luptia Nyong’o), as T’Challa’s ex (who he is still in love with), who has sentiments similar to Killmonger’s, but a different outlook on how to achieve them. T’Challa’s little sister Shuri (Letita Wright) – my favorite character in the film other than Killmonger – who is essentially a cooler version of James Bond’s Q - and Okoye (Danai Gurira), the General of the all-female elite army, tasked with protecting Wakanda, and its king. That doesn’t even mention some of the rival tribe leaders - M'Baku (Winston Duke), who heads up the mountain tribe, who has kept their distance from Wakanda and its technology, and Daniel Kaluuya as W’Kabi, more open to Killmonger’s ideas than anyone. When Killmonger comes to Wakanda, he gets as far as he does not because he convinces every one of his ideas, but because the seeds of discourse are already there – he’s simply exploiting them.

 

By design, Boseman’s T’Challa/Black Panther is pretty much the dullest character in the film. He is conflicted, of course, because he wants to be a good man and a good king – and it’s difficult to be both. Like in Thor: Ragnorok, the film’s main conflict arises because of the beloved patriarch’s hidden sins and lies, that expose the myths of their country being noble as just that – myths. This is a thread that has run through at least some of the MCU films, and its rather daring – it’s even hinted at in the Captain America movies, that the ultimate symbol of American patriotism, no longer stands for the same things the country does – but it hasn’t gone wholly there (yet).

 

If this sounds like a lot for any one movie to handle, it is – and if I had a complaint about Black Panther, it’s that it rushes a little too much through some of it in order to get to the things that any Marvel movie needs – action scenes, car chases and a CGI generated big battle at the end. Coogler handles this better than most directors – a highlighted is a terrific fight sequence in a casino, followed by an excellent car chase – but even I have to admit that by the time the final battle introduced battle rhinos, it had gone perhaps a touch too far over-the-top.

 

Yet the movie remains satisfying until the end – giving Michael B. Jordan one of the best last lines a movie villain has ever had, which tops off one of the great performances the superhero genre has ever seen. In the span of three films – Fruitvale Station, Creed and now Black Panther, Coogler has become one of the best directors working, and shows everyone who to make huge budget movies, in the biggest franchise around, and still be personal movies. Yes, I hope he escapes franchise mode at some point – but he’s still shown everyone else exactly how this type of film should be done.

Movie Review: Creed

Creed
Directed by: Ryan Coogler.
Written by: Ryan Coogler & Aaron Covington based on characters created by Sylvester Stallone.
Starring: Michael B. Jordan (Adonis Johnson), Sylvester Stallone (Rocky Balboa), Tessa Thompson (Bianca), Phylicia Rashad (Mary Anne Creed), Andre Ward (Danny 'Stuntman' Wheeler), Tony Bellew ('Pretty' Ricky Conlan), Ritchie Coster (Pete Sporino), Jacob 'Stitch' Duran (Stitch), Graham McTavish (Tommy Holiday), Malik Bazille (Amir), Ricardo McGill (Padman).

It cannot be easy making another movie in a beloved franchise, that wants to honor what came before, while also making the movie its own thing. Great movies, like Skyfall, can do this – that film paid tribute to what happened in the Bond series before, but wasn’t a slave to it. Mediocre movies like Spectre fail to do it – becoming so devoted to what came before, that it’s practically meaningless to those who do not already know the entire story before showing up. Had you asked me before to place a bet on what Creed would be – I would have said it would have been more Spectre than Skyfall – after all, the Rocky movies have pretty much become parodies of themselves since at least the third installment – enjoyable as they may be. And I would have been wrong. Creed is the best movie in the Rocky series since the original – a film that certainly acknowledges what has become before, without becoming a slave to it.

The film reteams the director and star of Fruitvale Station – Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan. Jordan plays Adonis Johnson – the illegitimate son of Rocky’s best friend/arch rival Apollo Creed. He has led a tough life – being raised by a single mother who died, and then in and out of juvie and foster care until he is taken in by Creed’s widow (Phylicia Rashad) – who wants him to be anything except a boxer. But Adonis is a natural – and has to be, since no one will train him. He ends up leaving L.A. and heading to Philly – where he looks up a sad sack Rocky Balboa (Stallone) – who seems to simply be waiting for death, who reluctantly agrees to become Adonis’ trainer. He also meets Bianca (Tessa Thompson) – and falls in love. Adonis doesn’t want to trade on his famous father’s name and reputation to make it boxing – but of course you cannot keep that a secret for long – and when it comes out, the news is huge.

Fruitvale Station was a small film – the portrait of a young black man on the last day of his life before he was killed by police. That Coogler is able to move so effortlessly from the indie world to the Hollywood world, and retain his voice is impressive. The film is brilliantly directed – including a dazzling one shot set piece of a fight sequence that is among the best boxing scenes ever filmed. The final fight is equally brilliant – an extended, bloody and brutal fight that doesn’t shy away from the brutality of the sport, but also captures its beauty. The boxing scenes alone would make Creed worth watching.

But Creed is far more than that. Jordan gives a wonderful, charismatic performance as Adonis – a young, black man struggling with his complicated legacy left to him by a father he never knew. His relationship with Tessa Thompsons Bianca is sweet and heartfelt – recalling the relationship between Rocky and Adrian, but also distinctly its own thing. Best of all is Stallone himself as Rocky. Doing his best work since the original Rocky, Stallone is finally, smartly playing his age here – and the weight of everything that has come before is evident on his face. Stallone has some big scenes here – scenes that may well get him into the Oscar race – but he’s at his best in the quieter scenes – like a heartfelt one where he visits the graves of Paulie and Adrian to read the paper. Stallone does so little in that scene, but it’s brilliant. It’s easy to forget that Stallone earned comparisons to Brando for the original Rocky – and while he hasn’t often flexed those muscles in the decades since, they are still there.

 
In short, Creed is mainstream Hollywood entertainment done right – its entertaining in all the right ways, works for fans of the Rocky series, and also functions as its own movie. It’s heartfelt and exciting in equal doses – and never really steps wrong. It’s not easy to do this – despite how simple everyone involved in Creed makes it seem. The Rocky series has been a joke – albeit an entertaining one – for decades now. Creed brings it back to its roots – and does so wonderfully.

Movie Review: Fruitvale Station

Fruitvale Station
Directed by:  Ryan Coogler.
Written by: Ryan Coogler.
Starring: Michael B. Jordan (Oscar Grant), Melonie Diaz (Sophina), Octavia Spencer (Wanda), Kevin Durand (Officer Caruso), Chad Michael Murray (Officer Ingram), Ahna O'Reilly (Katie), Ariana Neal (Tatiana), Keenan Coogler (Cato), Trestin George (Brandon), Joey Oglesby (Cale), Michael James (Carlos), Marjorie Shears (Grandma Bonnie), Destiny Ekwueme (Chantay).

Fruitvale Station is not a perfect movie, but it is an important one. Like many first time directors, Ryan Coogler’s films has a few flaws in it – a few moments that are too on the nose in terms of metaphors and foreshadowing, an over reliance on hand held camera work where none is needed, etc. And yet, the film still feels vital, alive and completely necessary. In the wake of a tragedy like what happens to Oscar Grant in this movie and in real life – or what happened to Trayvon Martin – people seem to want make these young, black men into something they were not – a villain or a martyr if you will. What Coogler’s film does is see Oscar Grant as a human being first – as a flawed individual who is trying, with limited success, to get his life on track. It’s far too easy to make Oscar Grant into a symbol – and that kind of misses the point. In an era where some delusional people insist we live in a “post-racial” world a movie like Fruitvale Station is important.

In the early morning hours of New Year’s Day 2009, Oscar Grant and his friends were coming home on the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transportation). A fight broke out, the BART police were called, and Grant and his friends were lined up against the wall to be arrested. Things spiral out of control – and eventually one of the police officers drew their gun and shot Grant in the back – killing him. Fruitvale Station opens with real grainy, cell-phone footage of the confrontation, before flashing back and showing us the last day in the life of Oscar Grant (Michael B. Jordan).

 

It is a rather mundane day – but as we watch Oscar go through his routine, we start to develop a complete picture of who he is. He loves his girlfriend Sophina (Melonie Diaz), although he has recently been caught cheating on her (and given how charming and flirtatious he is with a young woman at a store, may well cheat on her again given the chance). He loves his four year daughter Tatiana even more – wants desperately to go straight and have a normal life – even though he is still dealing pot, and has recently lost his job at a grocery store for being perpetually late. He wants to make his mom Wanda (Octavia Spencer) proud – and she can still give him a swift kick in the ass if that’s what he needs at the time. He is funny, charming and likable. He is also quick to anger, and that easy charm can turn somewhat threatening at times. Oscar is, flaws and all, believably real and sympathetic.

Now, if that seems too simplistic too you, I won’t really argue. In a perfect world, a movie like Fruitvale Station wouldn’t be necessary. But we don’t live in a perfect world. Far too often, popular culture portrays young men like Oscar Grant as violent, sociopathic thugs – people who you should be afraid of. This image is sold to young, black men some of whom model themselves on what they see, and to others, who immediately fear them. Would Oscar Grant have been shot if he was white? Did the police react the way they did because of what Oscar was doing that night, or because they were afraid of him because of what they see on TV every day? Would George Zimmerman been suspicious of Trayvon Martin had he been white? What was it about a young, black man in a hoodie that made Zimmerman think he should be followed and confronted?

For the most part, Coogler does an excellent job at writing and directing Fruitvale Station. The film reminded me of the work of the Dardenne brothers from Belgium, who simply follow their characters and allow their day-to-day lives to slowly emerge, and develop a portrait of them as people. Coogler may over reach at times – a scene with a dog being hit by a car is too on the nose, as is a scene where Oscar goes to meet a customer to sell him pot – but for the most part, this is an uncommonly confident debut film from him. He is aided greatly by the performance of Michael B. Jordan, who like the movie itself, doesn’t lay it on too thick making Oscar into a saint, but presents him as a flawed person, trying to do the right thing, and sometimes failing.

Because of the patience shown by Coogler and Jordan in their portrayal of Oscar, Fruitvale Station builds to an emotionally devastating climax. Walking into the theater, you know how the movie will end, but I defy anyone to watch the movie and not end up wiping away tears. The film is also aided greatly in this regard by Octavia Spencer – infinitely better here than in her Oscar winning performance in The Help (which was one of the better things about that movie) – especially in the movie’s one flashback to show a visit she makes to Oscar in jail, and in the film’s closing scenes which are an emotional gut punch.

Fruitvale Station in an important movie, because it shows us a side of Oscar Grant that most movies don’t even bother to show. Most movies take place in the realm of black and white – everyone is either good or bad, there’s no in between. Fruitvale Station is a movie that knows that those terms are flawed and unrealistic – no one is really 100% good or 100% bad (it may have been better to show the cops at the end of the movie a little softer in this regard). It’s impact would have been dimmed however if it wasn’t a great movie on its own terms – if it wasn’t as well written, directed and acted as it is. Fruitvale Station is an important movie, and it has something to say – but it doesn’t play like a sermon. And that’s probably the biggest reason why the film works so well.