We know the unneeded "controversy" about Black Panther's Best Picture Oscar nomination. Simply put, I think it does deserve the recognition of being one of the best movies of 2018...for multiple reasons.
People overlook how difficult it is to build a cinematic world anymore. One measure of a great film is acting...we've surely seen lesser films than this both in terms of acting and even story content that have been nominated and even won (in the past 20 years, but even before that). Of course, everyone has their own subjective take on why a film is or isn't great or remarkable...that's what keeps art important, that it can mean something different to so many. There is NO universally loved film or piece of art, but there are movies that stand the test of time and remain important landmarks of the era.
Even with a film like Avatar, which really does have a simplistic story, it will be looked back on as important in cinematic development to the era of its origin.
We have come to take spectacle for granted so much so that we sneer off things that would have been considered groundbreaking cinematic achievement because we've seen so much, but a film like Black Panther speaks to people in a different way...we look at film in such a polarized lens now, in a way. When we think "groundbreaking", its generally in terms of something with technology, but this film will point to a different revolutionary cinema that is arguably just as important...cinematic black culture and empowerment. I know people use that as an argument AGAINST the film, but I think that's kinda silly.
History will find it to be a pretty important movie, and when a mainstream movie can be that important to millions of people, I would argue it's worth on a level aside from the wondrous, lush setting and superior acting. It's also a movie that you can go all in on...that is, an escape to a different world, one that resembles in many ways the art of its fantasy source material but somehow still reflects this timeline of current events.
Yes, the story! It resonates politically and on a level that some moviegoers wouldn't even recognize...the division of Black America unto itself. That's no small feat...if the film had failed on that huge (conscious) subtext, we wouldn't be talking about it so much now. There are still great divides in the most effective ways of liberating an entire group of people that go all the way back to Martin and Malcolm and is reflected by the two main characters' philosophies.
I saw an outpouring of debate over T'Challa vs. Killmonger's ideologies that really got me thinking and looking at this film in a different way aside from the effectiveness of its Blockbuster-y achievement. So while I was left to consider the differences of the grey areas of those characters (and contemplate who I think I might relate to in the scenario), my 9 year old was just ooohing and ahhhing for the superhero goodness, lost in the movie's grandiose world.
The action sequences ARE on point, and I'm seeing a lot of naysaying over the achievement (or non-achievement) of the effects, but the presenting of Wakandan technology is both fresh and clever over and over throughout. There is NO perfect CGI, but the imagination that drives the tech is pretty surprising and fun, and brought to life in a pretty credible fashion.
Speaking of "fashion"...
The costuming and overall style of Black Panther is truly astounding. Its unique and familiar at once, helping to transform the scenery of Wakanda into an even more effective setting. It's beautiful work.
It's really important that some mainstream films do reverberate with a group of people, and in ways BP reminds me of a gigantic scale version of a film like "Big Fat Greek Wedding" or "Slumdog Millionaire", but we've been conditioned over and over to believe that a "fun" movie, or a horror movie, action movie, genre movie can't also be important.
Even if it's on a level that our personal and subjective experiences are not equipped to truly understand.
