Best Pictures #47:
2018 (91st) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee
Wakanda Forever!
Marvel’s Black Panther
will forever hold a place in Academy Awards history as the very first superhero
movie to be nominated for Best Picture. It is also only the second comic book
movie to be nominated for Best Picture—the first was Skippy in 1931 (which was my favorite of the Best Picture nominees for that year). Black Panther is also
notable for being a major studio movie that features a predominantly black cast
and crew. It was the highest grossing film of 2018, received critical acclaim,
and now has been nominated for 7 Academy Awards. Despite all of that, Black Panther is most notable of all for
standing out amongst the din and spectacle other superhero movies and giving us
memorable characters and a new and exciting country: Wakanda.
The fictional African nation of Wakanda is a feast for the eyes. The costumes for its people blend traditional African motifs with a sleek futuristic sensibility with
creative and impressive results; it’s no surprise costume designer Ruth E.
Carter has received an Oscar nomination for her work. Production designers Hannah Beachler
and Jay Hart have received much deserved Oscar nominations for creating the
look of Wakanda. The visuals of both interiors and exteriors are exciting and
dazzling. The design for the snowy mountain homeland of Wakanda’s reclusive
Jabari tribe alone deserves an Academy Award. Most of all the production design
creates a high-tech futuristic place that feels like it could be a part of the
real world.
Of course, Black Panther is woven into the Marvel Cinematic
Universe. The African superhero first appeared in Captain
America: Civil War, where the king of Wakanda was
killed by terrorists making his son, Prince T’Challa, unexpectedly king. T’Challa also became the Black Panther, protector of Wakanda, aided by a super suit and magical
potion that gives him super strength. The brilliance of the screenplay by
director Ryan Coogler and co-writer Joe Robert Cole is it does not require you
to have seen other Marvel superhero movies to enjoy or understand the
characters or plot. This might be the most accessible film in the Marvel
Cinematic Universe aside from the first Iron Man back in 2008.
Chadwick Boseman plays T’Challa/Black Panther and he does a
good job of playing not just a believable superhero but also a believable
leader of a country. Though T’Challa is the main character, the stand out
characters and performances are in the supporting cast. Michael B. Jordan as
Killmonger is easily the most memorable and interesting villain of any Marvel
movie. Killmonger is a living breathing person (not just a big CGI bully like
Thanos) with understandable though not admirable motivations. T’Challa’s allies
are the mostly female and all badass warriors and scientists of Wakanda.
Letitia Wright plays Shuri, T’Challa’s younger sister. She is the Q to his
James Bond, inventing cutting-edge, high-tech gadgets and since they’re siblings
the characters have a lively back and forth banter. Lupita Nyong’o is
T’Challa’s ex-girlfriend and Wakanda’s chief spy, Nakia. Danai Gurira is Okoye,
Wakanda’s tough and unflappable general. Martin Freeman is good comic relief as
a fish-out-water CIA agent awestruck by Wakanda.
I think part of the reason for Black Panther’s success with
audiences and critics and the reason it doesn’t feel like just another
superhero movie is its story follows the template of a James Bond movie rather
than a superhero movie. There is even a memorable action scene set in a posh
casino followed by a car chase. The rest of the action sequences are not as
jarring or bombastic as those from The Avengers movies. You can follow what is
happening and where and who it is happening to; you can actually be engaged
in the action. Moreover, there’s reason for the action. Killmonger’s sincere but
villainous motivations and T’Challa’s dilemma in being both a protector and a
leader add substance to superhero spectacle.
Nominees: Kevin Feige, producer
Director: Ryan Coogler
Screenplay: Ryan Coogler & Joe Robert Cole
Cast: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o
Production Companies: Marvel Studios
Distributor: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Release Date: February 16th, 2018
Total Nominations: 7, including Best Picture
Other Nominations: Original Score-Ludwig Göransson; Original
Song-Sounwave, Kendrick Lamar, Anthony Tiffith, SZA for "All the
Stars"; Costume Design-Ruth E. Carter; Production Design-Hannah Beachler, Jay
Hart; Sound Editing-Benjamin A. Burtt, Steve Boeddeker; Sound Mixing-Steve
Boeddeker, Brandon Proctor, Peter J. Devlin
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