Black Panther

We can be honest with each other right? You are going to see this movie regardless of what my comments on it happen to be. Hell, everyone seems to be on their way to see this. There is a huge anticipation that it will set new box office records for an opening weekend and the early reports are promising so it's likely you don't need my perspective. As friends though [even if it is just virtually] it is right to spend some time talking about our impressions of the movie and maybe providing a more tempered view or an alternative perspective. That is essentially what this is going to be. I liked the film quite well and there are characters and aspects that are very rewarding and nicely put together. It is however not the second coming, not a cultural revolution and not the best film in the MCU.

Chadwick Boseman is an actor that I have raved about for a couple of years now. I thought he was great in '42 and while "Get On Up" had some issues, he was a perfect James Brown. I missed "Marshall" last year but I certainly hope that while he might be good in it, he needs to be careful about getting pigeon holed as the go to guy for black biopics. These days you need to be able to do a lot of different things to keep a career going and too many checks in one column might make you seem limited. His being cast in "Captain America: Civil War" as T'Challa, King of Wakanda and the hero known as Black Panther is a great opportunity for him. He can build some action credentials to go along with his chameleon impersonations. This film however took a while to get his character in sync. The story calls for him to be a bit tentative taking on the role of his late father, but he still needs that persona to shine through and it does not really happen until the third act. For the first two thirds of the movie he is overshadowed by the antagonist, who has far less screen time than Boseman does.

The reason that it takes so long for us to see the true hero that Black Panther should be is that the villain of the piece is played by Michael B. Jordan, an actor who is rapidly turning his charisma into big screen gold. He may not be Johnny Storm but he is definitely Adonis Creed. He dances through an opening heist like the featured player, although in this scene he is mostly a by-stander. When he makes his way to Wakanda, he struts in like Errol Flynn with a deer over his shoulders and drops a big dead bird on the party. By the time we notice that his personality and goals are warped, we are more than halfway to agreeing with him in his assessment of T'Challa as King. The part is written well and he runs with it.

Another reason this film succeeds is that the supporting cast is composed primarily of women who strike the right note of independence but also partnership with the nation. Wakanda has it's own version of the C.I.A. running ops in Africa, that spy may be the future Queen. . The General of the capital army is an Amazon style warrior who would fit right in on Themyscira with Diana Prince and her family of warrior women. T'Challa's little sister is basically the Wakanda version of MI6 Q Branch. All of these characters and more are part of elaborate rituals, cultural practices and grand battles that climax the film.

So, having said that about the characters in the film, let's talk about the world building of this culture. One of the reasons that this movie is being touted as a cultural touchstone is it's emphasis on strong African characters who define the world in which they exist without conceding to the non-African world. Director and co-screenwriter Ryan Coogler is attempting something admirable with this film, but he fails in a couple of important elements.Excuse me for pointing out a stereotype of these communities in films made by non-Africans in the past, does an African kingdom really need to pass it's royal heritage from one group to the next through mortal combat? This sounds like the Lions in "The Lion King" or Celtic clans from a millennia ago. It does not seem like a system that would still be followed by a society capable of the technological advances this film gives to them. Maybe part of the story is to confront the tribes that make up the kingdom that "Game of Thrones" style succession is perhaps past its' time.

I'm also a bit flummoxed by all the technology and cultural magic standing side by side. Shuri, T'Challa's sister and the chief engineer of the hidden society, pooh poohs  the suggestion that magic had anything to do with the recovery of a C.I.A. operative from a near fatal wound. She proudly proclaims that Wakanda is built on technology. At the same time, people are commiserating with the dead over the past and the future of the country. The spirit of the Black Panther is added and removed through rituals that certainly are not technological in their presentation. I like the idea that the people of this nation are spiritual, but to try to play both sides without acknowledging an inconsistency seems like a story weakness to me.

The visualization of the hidden nation of Wakanda is another thing that bothers me about the film. Take away the dirt streets and the graffiti, and the capital city of the country could be Asgard, home of Thor and his family. It is as if everyone in the comic book world looked at pictures of modern London, superimposed a cultural patina over it and then laid on some technology that works for no apparent reason. I know these are comic book films, but there needs to be a bit more grounding to reality. Billionaire genius Tony Stark, or Bruce Wayne have nothing on King T'Challa, except that they do have limitations of science holding them back. All the magic that Dr. Strange, Loki and the Scarlet Witch are bringing in to the universe is beginning to make it a little less urgent. This movie is pushing for the same kind of agenda. I know that when the Infinity  War gets here, something needs to give our planet an edge, I just what something more tangible than a miracle tool that is going to show up in the last minute. The  Rube Goldberg look of the cities of the world remind me of several scenes from the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, and I don't mean that as a compliment. Maybe a little less "Wow" factor in the home-worlds would help make us care about them more.

I hope this has not rained on anyone's enjoyment of the film too much. I like the character of Black Panther and I like his people. The part of the world they live in is so beautiful that it seems a shame to try and top that with some CGI polish. The film is a juggernaut that earns some respect for trying to expand the horizons of the comic book universe it occupies. Let's just not pretend that it is perfect simply because of those aspirations.  

Get On Up

If you don't hear the music playing in the trailer above and feel obligated to see the movie because your feet are dancing and your bootie is moving, than you should stay away. This movie has a lot of things going for it, and it could be artistically sound on a dozen different levels, but the main reason to want to see it is the sound of Mr. James Brown. If that sound does not reach you, stay home or go see some superhero movie that no one else cares about or sit and watch bad comedians try to act. The rest of us, yeah even the squares who have no rhythm and almost no soul, will be at the theater seeing and mostly listening to this entertaining biopic that gets all the music moments right.

This is a tough review for me to write because I loved the movie, but I'm not sure how good it is. There are bits and pieces of the drama that are told extremely well, there are musical sequences that are recreated flawlessly and there is a central performance that will stun you. All that said, it does have some of the drawbacks that all biopics have. It feels like it is trying to hit all the key moments of the subjects life, and it rarely has time to think about those moments. There are dramatic scenes in the film that show us the problems of our subject but then are ignored for the rest of the story. Side characters can be interesting, but they are not allowed to distract us too long from the star and that means that everything has to be carried bu that central performance.

Chadwick Boseman has the shoulders to carry this story on. Last year in "42", he played Jackie Robinson with dignity and subtlety. There is nothing subtle about Mr. James Brown, and Boseman plays him perfectly. Brown was an opinionated workaholic, a self aggrandizing braggart, and a showman with vision. Boseman gets Brown's mannerisms down exactly, his dance steps and charisma on stage are re-enacted with verve and precision. As the story went on, the more I felt like I was watching James Brown and the less it seemed that an actor was simply channeling him. Those of you who are interested in early Movie Award predictions, can pencil in Chadwick Boseman, as an early contender in the acting categories. The audacity of trying to imitate James Brown is only exceeded by the brilliance of the actor who managed to accomplish it. This performance is not simply costuming and makeup, this is a full bodied physical performance that really should be seen on the big screen to get the best effect.

Most biographical films try to tell their stories in as creative a manner as possible. In "DeLovely" from a few years ago, we are watching the Cole Porter story as told from heaven by the deceased. "Walk the Line" is bookended by a concert appearance at a prison. Most modern films try to avoid the Hollywood approach of the golden age, a straight narrative told chronologically. "Get On Up", is structured as a random series of flashbacks and flash forwards. It helps to freshen the musical highlights and lessen the drudgery of a well worn story path, but it robs the story of much emotional investment. Brown's friend and apparent savior from early prison, is Bobby Byrd, who walks out with the rest of the "Famous Flames" when James Brown is picked out as the star by the music industry, but in a very fast followup is playing the part of his foil on-stage a couple years later. We have no idea how Brown managed to overcome the alienation he created or if Byrd was just so desperate he overlooked the slight. Admittedly there are random insights on why the other characters act as they do and how James Brown interacted with them at those critical times but there are big blank spaces as a result. A similar story is played out with the Mother who abandoned him, denied him and then embraced him only to be rejected by him. After the incident where she shows up backstage at the Apollo, we never hear or see another word about their relationship. The effect is like looking though someone's photo album but leafing through the pages randomly. It may be interesting but it does not create the kind of narrative that most of us would like.

In the end, not much of that mattered to me because I was seeing a fantastic performance while listening to some great music. The incidents are punctuated with humor and drama in plenty of spots, but those never manage to pull us closer to the subject. We have only the vaguest sense of what his family life might have been like, with nine acknowledged children and at least three ex-wives (and maybe more) showing up after his death. He was opinionated and inconsistent on those opinions, we can see that in the film, what we don't always know is what it all meant. His cultural awareness and importance to black pride is shown, but his openness to other musicians and political figures outside of the expected cultural norm is not explored.  The film gives us an incomplete story but it will leave you with a clear understanding of the person that James Brown was. Oh yeah, you will also get the closest thing to a James Brown concert possible this side of old video/film clips from the 60s. That's reason enough to get on up and see this.