Lately, the Digital Crack website looks more like Movieland. There’s been an awful lot of movie and TV write-ups and few video game mentions. This will be corrected. I’ll have a Retro Review up soon along with other video game-related stuff. But the first official trailer for Black Panther has been released. And you KNOW I gotta talk about it!
Whereas the first teaser trailer tried to cram a lot of different things into its runtime, this official trailer focuses on a couple of important things. Chief among them is Wakanda and the technology the fictitious country employs. The aircraft seen in the teaser trailer is seen more often here, and one shot shows a Dora Milaje member piloting it by holding her hands up along her sides. Yes, the aircraft is being piloted WITH MIND POWER! That is cool regardless of context!
The Wakandan tech also shows itself with the Black Panther armor. The armor forms around T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) with some purple energy that looks awesome. That tech is also present with his main antagonist, Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan). Killmonger has his own Gold Panther suit, and it looks amazing! Seriously, the level of tech on display is ridiculous. I mean, did you catch that part where someone was driving a car with VIRTUAL CONTROLS? How about when Black Panther is ejected into the air and he throws three spheres that end up looking like BOMBS that land on a convoy? Yeah, I want that!
Past that, the things I noticed were mildly inconsequential. Like, did you notice that Killmonger didn’t affect an African accent? It seems inconsequential, but it may mean something. Like, maybe after exile from Wakanda, he came up in the States. And how about T’Challa’s relationship with his half-sister Shuri (Letitia Wright)? She’s supposed to be the mind behind all the tech. It looks like T’Challa is real chill with his half-sis. That’s something that I would find noteworthy. In this trailer, we also get a bit more of Romanda (Angela Bassett), T’Challa’s step-mother. She’s Shuri’s natural mother, and her relationship with T’Challa is one I’m interested in.
What’s most interesting is that the trailer focuses on the fact that T’Challa is not yet the king of Wakanda. Sure, his father, T’Chaka (John Kani) gave him his ring right before his death in Captain America: Civil War. But succession is not that easy. There are many factions in Wakanda, and succession is proven by attrition, not earned by birthright. That explains why Killmonger and M’Baku, aka Man-Ape (Winston Duke) are making plays for the crown. Killmonger’s play is especially crucial because he was exiled from Wakanda and wants to reshape the kingdom according to his vision.
Wakandan politics aside, the action elements of Black Panther are insane. The flip off of a tumbling car onto another car is shown in this trailer. A new scene, however, shows Black Panther jumping out of a car Ulysses Klawe (Andy Serkis) blasts with an arm cannon, climbing a building, and reacquiring the vehicle he’s chasing. He then proceeds to rip the left front tire off with his left hand!!! If that doesn’t seem awesome to you, then you have no feeling and I pity you!
Black Panther isn’t due to release until February 18th. But both this trailer and the original teaser have me hooked. This is a Day One viewing for me, no questions asked!
