Black Panther ***spoiler alert***

I am not a big symbolism type of person. I do not watch my entertainment in an analytical way (for the most part). Except rom-coms which is a whole other story. If that’s what you want, then, please look further. If you’re looking for someone who doesn’t even know the movie names of the characters, then, well, you’ve come to the right place. Gather ‘round. I got a story to re-tell.

The Black Panther was everything I wanted it to be. Towards opening night I started to worry that I was hyping it up in my mind too much and that I had nothing but heartbreak in my future. I worried needlessly.

Black Panther.

In Avengers: Civil War (I think), we are introduced to the Black Panther. He was giving Iron Man a run for his money and I could think is, “Who is this new villain? He is so bad ass!” Turns out he wasn’t a villain. Anyway, in Civil War while in the US for reasons I can’tt remember today, T’Challah, (only name I know for certain because I read it somewhere) The Black Panther, Chadwick Boseman (what a COOL fucking name!!!), watched his father get assassinated by Klaue (subtitle showed his name in the movie). 

In Black Panther, he’s back in his home country of Wakanda and he’s trying to track down Lupita who is a spy trying to free hostages. He retrieves her to inform of his father’s death and to request her presence at the ceremony to crown the new King/Black Panther, him, hopefully.

On ceremony day, the power of the Black Panther is removed so that others may challenge him before he is crowned and the Black Panther powers restored. There is one challenger. The leader of an outcast sort of tribe from the mountains who talks mad shit about T’Challah’s supposed inability to lead the country. They go through the tradition of fighting until one yields or dies. He gives T’Challah a good run, but the old college try didn’t yield a crown.

After the win, T’Challah is given the Black Panther powers again, buried in red sand, and prayed into the ancestral plane before returning to his kingly duties. He sees his father who has kind and motivating words. However, he does tell him that being a kind man might make it difficult for him to be a great king. Nonetheless, he’s king now. Almost as soon as he is “crowned”, they find out that Klaue has popped up on the map in Asia, somewhere I can’t remember.

Parallel to T’Challah

We find Michael B. Jordan in a museum looking at old artifacts. He is speaking with the expert about his favorite pieces and tells her, “Don’t worry. I’m going to take it off your hands for you.” Referring to an ax in one of the cases. She kindly informs that it is not for sale and he comes back at her…hard. He basically tells her that her White ancestors stole almost everything they currently have so don’t come to him with no bullshit purchase price nor any it-aint-for-sale bullshit. 
You can’t change the rules and expect people to adhere to them after you’ve stolen, raped, and killed your way to the top. (That is my analysis. Sorry for the initial lie.) 

Seconds later, the museum curator finds herself ill and collapsing to the floor before she can tell security to eject him. He immediately flips the switch and starts shouting for help in a concerned voice. 
He calls in Klaue who has the ability to discern whether or not the ax was created from the metal source that is only in Wakanda with an arm accessory that he has turned into a weapon. I have forgotten the name of the metal, too. Vibranium, I think???

T'Challah

T’Challah decides that he will bring Klaue back to pay for his crimes and converses with the leader of the King’s warriors about going to Asia. The King’s warriors are all beautiful, bald women. Can I say how much I love the warrior General? We find out that Lupita is his ex and that he’s taking her along with the warrior leader to Asia. They arrive at a gala or something and almost immediately run into a problem. T’Challah sees a U.S. VIA agent and knows that he is planning to be the buyer of the relic. T’Challah warns the agent that he plans to take Klaue out of that building by hook or crook, rain, sleet, hail, or snow. A nice little fight ensues where Lupita and the warrior leader prove they are no one’s damsel who gets distressed in hostile situations.

***I love the warrior leader. ***

Nonetheless, the Black Panther and affiliates find themselves thwarted by an outsider. The outsider takes Klaue out of their grasp and tries to flee. The outsider shoots Klaue's affiliate so Klaue tries to hold the outsider's girlfriend hostage,but finds himself sadly disappointed. The outsider will not let himself be thwarted so he kills the girlfriend himself. He goes on to kill Klaue. 
He brings Klaue's body back and declares his intentions on fighting for the throne.

Parallel with T'Challah

T'Challah was giving chase when Klaue was being taken away by the outsider. He happened to notice the outsider was wearing, on a necklace, a ring identical to the one T'Challah himself wore on his hand; his father's ring given to him by his father. T'Challah wants answers. 
He goes to a man who seems to be some type of revered elder who was also close to T'Challah's father. T'Challah finally gets him to talk about the ring and we find out that T'Challah's father killed his own brother and left his brother's child in America. The brother was supposed to be some sort of infiltrator, but had gone bad. Maybe not bad, but he was betraying Wakanda. The spy who told on the brother is the revered elder T'Challah is speaking with present day. The previous king killed him because he was going to try to harm the spy/present day elder.
Everything T'Challah knows is asunder. He can't understand why his father would leave the child behind.
T'Challah becomes aware that Klaue's killer is in Wakanda and, foolishly, meets with him, even with all that he now knows. T'Challah is adamant about keeping the killer's identity secret, but I don't think the meeting was well thought out. The killer announces himself as Killmonger. 
He goes by Killmonger because he is determined by hook, crook, and, above anything else, murder, to avenge his father's death and spread the Wakandan wealth far and wide to his oppressed brothers and sisters worldwide. 
T'Challah tries to prevent his cousin's identity from being found out by the other council members and his own mother, but to no avail.  Once his identity is public knowledge, he challenges T'Challah for the crown and Black Panther powers. 

T'Challah is no match. Killmonger was a Marine (I think), special ops, and an MIT graduate at a super young age, with all sorts of other training on his side. 

Killmonger immediately goes about being the worst king that I can imagine. He uses violence and fear tactics to get the people of Wakanda to submit to his will.
***
Can I just say how disappointed I was in Wakobi(?), T’Challah’s best friend? He switched sides so damn quickly. Disloyal ass. I’m not saying be loyal good or bad, right or wrong, through abuse and heartache, but geez. Can T’Challah get the benefit of the doubt about Klaue?  ***

Nakia takes T’Challah’s sister and mother, plus the CIA agent whose life they saved, to M’baku’s lair. There we find out T’Challah is alive, but in a coma. Nakia came to offer M’baku the heart shaped herb, but they end up of giving it to T’Challah. T’Challah comes back via the ancestral plane. While there, he implores of his father, “why didn’t he bring his own nephew back?” He realizes his father was not right in every ruling and vows to do better.

He comes back, challenges Killmonger, tries to get him to see reason, then subsequently kills him. I really appreciate that Killmonger wasn’t a complete monster through and through. Sometimes evildoers will use their last breath and bit of energy because expiring to still try to carry out their evil task.

Of course, we can’t forgot Killmonger’s truer-than-true exit speech. “Bury me in the ocean with my ancestors who jumped because they knew death was better than bondage.”


I appreciate the fact that this movie didn’t try to take a diplomatic approach and spoke freely and truthfully about how conquerors pillaged and pilfered without any regard for human life, but then had the nerve to wax poetic about being civilized. The elephant in the room was addressed, and not ignored, especially during these trying times.

I loved that Nakia was able to disarm Killmonger where even the King’s warriors were not.

I loved that the King's general basically put an end to the internal fighting because she raised/cared for Wakobi’s war animal and it refused to harm her regardless of its rider.

Go see it. If you don’t, that’s okay because I’m going enough to keep them number 1 on the charts until the summer!

My extra tidbits about the movie below.

Even though Black Panther was everything I wanted it to be, I have a few things I would like to acknowledge.

In the beginning, when T’Challah goes off to get Nakia, after the general saves his ass because he froze, why on earth couldn’t they give the kidnapped women and children a ride? They just left them in the middle of nowhere like we just came for her. Y’all lucked up and got saved, too.

Also, during this same scene, Nakia stopped T’Challah from injuring/killing someone who was shooting directly into his face. She yelled at him that he was only a boy and had been kidnapped as well. Hmmm. Anyone who shoots in my face ain’t no friend of mine, but this is why I’m not a superhero.

How does getting the Black Panther powers work? It seems as though you have to consume the heart shaped flower/herb thing or whatever, but T’Challah had those powers in Civil War. Did he go home to get them?

Why didn’t T’Challah’s dad, the current king of Civil War, have the Black Panther powers at the time of his death? Not that the Black Panther can’t be killed, but I think it was super bogus that M’baku tried to blame T’Challah for not protecting his father when technically, as Black Panther, he should have been able to protect himself.

When they were in the club in South Korea, how was Klaue’s man tipped off by the general? She yelled for Nakia to hold in Wakandan, but what did that have to do with him? I’m assuming most outsiders don’t speak Wakadan, so how did he know? This question may be me not having paid enough attention. Even though, at this point I’ve seen it 4 times. Y’all should get a MoviePass. Best $10/mo I ever spent.

When Shuri was driving for T’Challah, she asked what side of the street should she drive, and he became exasperated and told her to, “Just drive.” That seems dangerous. Especially when one of his victims got run over by her as she was driving and she asked what was that. How was she able to maneuver traffic if she wasn’t able to really see anything?
At the very end, Nakia was injured by Killmonger. Shuri went over to check on her injuries and immediately reached out to try to touch the injury. Why do people insist on doing that? Every bruise, every scrap, they must caress. When your body is injured to the point of blood spill or bruising, I’m going to assume it’s painful and extraneous touching is unwelcome.