Black Panther

Year of Release:  2018
Director:  Ryan Cooglar
Screenplay:  Ryan Cooglar and Joe Robert Cole, based on the comic book character Black Panther created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee
Starring:  Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Guira, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright
Running Time:  134 minutes
Genre:  Action, fantasy, superhero

The African nation of Wakanda is seen as one of the most poverty-stricken nations on Earth, and ignored by most of the world.  However, that is just a front.  In fact is a hugely technologically advanced nation, powered by the alien metal "vibranium".  In order to keep it's secrets, Wakanda deliberately hides itself from the world, protected by the superbeing "Black Panther", a mantle handed down from king to king.  Following the death of the previous king, Prince T'Challa (Boseman) becomes the new king and assumes the mantle and powers of Black Panther.  His first mission is to track down the arms dealer Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis) who has stolen some vibranium.  However there is someone else pulling Klaue's strings.

This is the eighteenth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), and the first solo outing for the superhero Black Panther, although Chadwick Boseman first appeared in the role in Captain America: Civil War (2016).  This is an important film because it features an almost entirely black cast, the only two principal white characters (played by Martin Freeman and Andy Serkis) really have little more than supporting roles.  The storyline may not be anything very new, with it having to do the necessary worldbuilding and origin story,  it is still a hugely entertaining film, full of spectacular action and special effects with plenty of humour and engaging characters, including a villain who, while vicious and brutal, kind of has a goal that does have a valid point.  Wakanda is a visually ravishing world, with it's afrofuturistic city genuinely impressive.  Despite being the eighteenth film in the seemingly endless MCU franchise, this is a stand-alone film, although previous films in the series are referenced, it is not necessary to have seen them to enjoy this one.  Hopefully there will be more solo Black Panther movies, because this is a world and these are characters that I want to revisit.  As always with MCU films, remember to stay in your seat for some extra scenes during the credits.

The Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) in action in Black Panther 

     

Get Out

Year of Release:  2017

Director:  Jordan Peele

Screenplay:  Jordan Peele 

Starring:  Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Bradley Whitford, Catherine Keener, Caleb Landry Jones, Stephen Root, LaKeith Stanfield, Lil Rey Howry, 

Running Time:  103 minutes

Genre:  Horror, thriller

This is possibly one of the most important horror films of the last thirty years.  Chris (Kaluuya) is a photographer who has a good relationship with his white girlfriend Rose Armitage (Williams).  However, Chris is about to head up to the suburbs to meet Rose's parents for the first time, and is worried that she hasn't told them that he is black.  Rose's parents, Dean (Whitford) and Missy (Keener), seem pleasant enough, if a little too eager to prove that they are open-minded liberals, but Chris can't help but detect undercurrents of hostility.  To make things even more uncomfortable, the only people of colour around are the family's servants, Walter (Marcus Henderson) and Georgina (Betty Gabriel).  Are the Armitages clueless and insensitive, but essentially well-meaning?  Are they closet racists?  Are is there something stranger and even more sinister going on?

The film sets up a situation that is awkward enough, and all too relateable to many of us, that of meeting our significant other's parents and family for the first time.  To make matters more complex they are a mixed race couple.  Chris puts up with a lot of low-level awkwardness right form the start, which may just be well-meaning white liberals who don't really mean any harm, or could be much worse.  with every interaction you can see him having to decode the hidden subtexts.  However this is a horror film, and writer/director Jordan Peele (one half of comedy duo Key and Peele) obviously knows his horror onions, and the horror/thriller elements work well, particularly in the final third, where the horror elements really kick off, even if the satirical elements don't always gel as well. Horror films have always taken on the preoccupations and fears of the time and place that they were made, but racial issues have been noticeable by their absence.  This is a film of it's time and is important viewing.

  

Daniel Kaluuya in Get Out

        

Sicario

Year of Release:  2015
Director:  Denis Villeneuve
Screenplay:  Taylor Sheridan
Starring:  Emily Blunt, Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin, Daniel Kaluuya, Victor Garber
Running Time:  121 minutes
Genre:  crime, drama, action, thriller

This is a powerful crime thriller.  Following a raid on a suspected Mexican drug cartel's safehouse, young FBI agent Kate Marcer (Blunt) is recommended for a task force led by CIA agent Matt Graver (Brolin) and involving the ruthless and mysterious Alejandro (del Toro).  The task force's mission is to bring down the powerful cartel which owned the safehouse.  However, as the operation progresses, Kate becomes increasingly concerned about the task force's brutal tactics, and dubious morality.

There has been no shortage of gritty thrillers about drugs and guns on the Mexican-American border, but this is certainly one of the better ones.  It's a complex story that deals with the moral questions of the "War on Drugs", and how it has the potential to corrupt the very people whose job it is to protect, and the lines between the good guys and the bad guys are completely blurred here.  The title, "sicario", is Mexican for "hitman", and that applies both to the cartels and the task force assigned to bring them down.  

In the lead role Emily Blunt has too little to do, initially she is the audience surrogate, as the new person on the team she is there to get the situation and the mission explained to her/us.  However, she becomes the heart of the film.  She provides the film's humanity and moral compass, along with Daniel Kaluuya as Kate's protective partner and friend.  Benicio del Toro shines as the quietly terrifying Alejandro who is mostly quietly in the background until he snaps into action in truly shocking ways.

The pacing flags at times, and the story is a little shapeless, but this is well above the typical crime thriller and provides much food for thought.  The action scenes are well handled  and exciting.  It's a fascinating, and at times gripping thriller, and by the end it is devastating.

      Emily Blunt in Sicario