![]() ![]() T'Challa takes his top warrior - head of the royal guard General Okoye ( Danai Gurira) - and his former love, Nakia ( Lupita Nyong'o), a Wakandan spy, to attempt to capture Klaue (one of the few outsiders who knows the truth about how much vibranium - the most valuable metal on Earth - is available in Wakanda). After T'Challa takes the throne, intelligence surfaces that notorious arms dealer Ulysses Klaue ( Andy Serkis) has stolen a vibranium artifact from the British Museum. Back in the present, T'Challa ( Chadwick Boseman) is preparing for his coronation day, which includes a potential challenge - through ritual combat - from any of Wakanda's five tribes, as well as a sacred ceremony in which he officially becomes the nation's Black Panther. It’s an innocent enough comic book movie that still manages to be empowering for races and genders that have, to perhaps put it too mildly, seen unequal treatment.Īfter a folktale-like prologue that recounts the history of the fictional African nation of Wakanda, BLACK PANTHER opens with a flashback to 1992, when a younger T'Chaka (Atandwa Kani) makes a surprise visit to Oakland, California, to confront a rogue Wakandan spy. As we are not always sure which word is currently ultra-taboo in today’s minefield, our family just points out the bad words and tries to teach avoidance and replacement with more descriptive terms. There is mild cursing, and a female is called a b-word. Comparing the action here to, say, the very believable violence in Captain America appearances-with the latter’s depictions of events we actually see in today’s real work such as the bombing of a building or the depiction of WWII violence (Ukraine, anyone?)-is a non-starter. My eight-year-old is all too aware that he just saw a make-believe cartoon bad guy get squashed by a make-believe battle rhino and not something he can or should worry about happening or replicating in the real world. The violence depicted is beyond the curtain separating a viewer’s reality from the elements of this movie that require suspension of disbelief. There’s punching and kicking, there’s spear-chucking and shock wave blasting, and there are apparent deaths from said physical conflict-but all of it is very cartoon-like. I'm baffled by reviewers who rate this as only appropriate for those aged 12 and up. The symbolism here contains a good message and is ladled on in a thick but not too heavy-handed manner. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails. Families who see Black Panther will have plenty to talk about afterward, from its portrayal of race and gender to the overall importance of having Black superheroes as main characters, rather than sidekicks. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker, Danai Gurira, and Daniel Kaluuya co-star), but also an all-female royal guard and a brilliant female inventor/engineer. ![]() Set mostly in the fictional African nation of Wakanda, the movie features not only the first mostly Black ensemble cast in superhero-film history ( Michael B. Language and sexual content are pretty minimal: a few uses of "s-t" and "hell" and a couple of quick kisses. That said, some confrontations do include larger, explosive battles and very destructive car chases. Although there are a few shoot-outs with super-powered guns/cannons (as well as some cold-blooded killings), the majority of the action features spear and blade fighting. As in all superhero movies, there's plenty of violence - in this case, mostly brutal hand-to-hand combat that gets quite intense, with bloody injuries and even deaths. Parents need to know that Black Panther is the first film in the Marvel cinematic universe to center on a superhero of color: African prince-turned-king T'Challa ( Chadwick Boseman), aka the Black Panther. ![]()
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