January 10, 2018 The Skanner Portland Page 9
Arts & Entertainment
FILM REVIEW: Oldman Channels
Churchill in ‘Darkest Hour’
cont’d from pg 6
Boseman as the epony-
mous superhero, opens
on Feb. 16, picking up the
adventures of the newly
crowned African king
and superhero who de-
buted in 2016’s “Captain
America: Civil War.”
Existing in the same
shared universe as Iron
Man, the Hulk, Captain
America and Spiderman,
the Panther, however, the
Black Panther’s adven-
tures center around his
futuristic hidden home-
land of Wakanda, consid-
ered to be the most tech-
nologically
advanced
nation on Marvel’s earth.
In the new movie, T’Chal-
la, the Black Panther’s
real name, must battle
long-time
adversaries
with the aid of his all-fe-
male bodyguards and a
CIA agent to maintain
“
MATT KENNEDY/MARVEL STUDIOS/DISNEY VIA AP
Black
Panther
This image released by Disney and Marvel Studios’ shows Lupita
Nyong’o, from left, Chadwick Boseman and Danai Gurira in a scene
from “Black Panther,” in theaters on Feb. 16, 2018.
collegiate
fraternity
founded on the concept
of African fraternalism,
in Charlotte, North Car-
olina and the Intention-
al Community Building
Collective and Leaders
of a Beautiful Struggle
in Baltimore, are assem-
bling discussion panels
on the movie’s themes.
Created by Stan Lee
and Jack Kirby, the minds
superheroes in “Meteor
Man” — but their movies
did not bring out the en-
thusiasm that the Black
Panther is seeing.
“What is significant
now, however, is that
this age of convergence
of film franchises with
social media, a black
superhero movie with
an almost all-black cast
conveys power, that we
The internet explodes each time a new trailer,
poster or piece of artwork debuts from the
movie, sparking hashtags like #BlackPanther-
SoLit and #WelcometoWakanda
control of his country
and prevent a world war.
Directed
by
Ryan
Coogler, it also has an
all-star cast including
Angela Bassett, Lupita
Nyong’o, Michael B. Jor-
dan, Forest Whitaker,
Danai Gurira, Sterling K.
Brown and more.
For many people, the
Black Panther movie isn’t
just a movie; it’s a symbol
of change.
“’Black Panther’ is just
going to be really special.
... I don’t plug into film
anticipation. But I can
feel it. A lot of my friends
have asked me to go to
the premiere! Everyone
in my network is excited
about it, and you can feel
it when they’re not,” Dan-
iel Kaluuya, the “Get Out”
star who also is featured
in “Black Panther,” told
The Associated Press re-
cently.
The internet explodes
each time a new trail-
er, poster or piece of
artwork debuts from
the movie, sparking
hashtags like #BlackPan-
therSoLit and #Welcom-
etoWakanda.
Twitter
declared that Black Pan-
ther was one of the most
tweeted-about movies of
2017, and the only movie
on the list that hadn’t pre-
miered yet.
“Do we really have to
wait until February!”
lamented Elwood L. Rob-
inson, chancellor of Win-
ston-Salem State Univer-
sity in Winston-Salem,
North
Carolina,
on
Twitter while sporting a
Black Panther T-shirt.
Groups like MALIK
Fraternity Inc., the first
behind Spider-Man, the
Fantastic Four and other
Marvel comics, the Black
Panther holds a unique
position in comic book
history. While not the
first black comic book
hero — the first Black
character to headline his
own comic book was Dell
Comics’ Western hero
and gunfighter Lobo in
1965 — the Black Panther
is considered the first
Black superhero, intro-
duced as a supporting
character in Fantastic
Four in 1966 and later
featured in his own book.
There has been a re-
naissance with black su-
perheroes on television
as well. “Black Light-
ning” debuts on the CW
on January 16 featuring
an educator who gains
electrical powers and
becomes a superhero.
“Luke Cage,” a television
show about a former con-
vict with superhuman
strength and unbreak-
able skin, premiered on
Netflix in 2016 and will
begin a second season
later this year.
Cage debuted in a
self-titled comic book
“Luke Cage, Hero for
Hire” in 1972 with an
exaggerated Afro and
a catchphrase “Sweet
Christmas!” He was fol-
lowed by Black Lightning
in a DC comic book in
1977.
There have been other
black superhero movies
— Wesley Snipes starred
as the vampire slayer
Blade in one of the first
Marvel movies, and Rob-
ert Townsend starred
in a comedic parody of
have arrived. It’s evolu-
tion,” said Christopher
Chambers, a Georgetown
University media studies
professor.
AP Film Writer Jake
Coyle contributed to this
report.
Jesse J. Holland covers
race and ethnicity for The
Associated Press. Contact
him on Twitter at www.
twitter.com/jessejholland
or on Facebook at www.
facebook.com/jessejhol-
land.
‘The Darkest Hour’
by Kam Williams
For The Skanner News
C
uriously, “Darkest Hour” and
“Dunkirk” basically cover the
same ground, namely, Winston
Churchill’s (Gary Oldman) first
month as Prime Minister of Great
Britain. When he was sworn in on
May 10, 1940, the country was at war
with Germany which had already con-
quered most of Europe and was just
starting to invade Belgium, France
and the Netherlands.
Churchill’s predecessor, Neville
Chamberlain (Ronald Pickup) had
unsuccessfully employed a diplomat-
ic policy of appeasement which had
only served to embolden Hitler. And
soon after entering office, Winston
found himself facing a daunting task
once the Nazis’ blitzkrieg had broken
through the Maginot Line.
Suddenly, the Allied forces were in
full retreat, including hundreds of
thousands of British soldiers. They
were being driven to the sea, where
they would be sitting ducks for the
Luftwaffe.
Now, where Dunkirk focused on
the evacuation of the troops by an im-
promptu flotilla of private citizens,
Darkest Hour narrowly focuses on
Churchill’s leadership and oratory
skills. After all, it was no mean feat to
convince a woefully-equipped nation
that it could successfully ramp up its
defenses to take on the ravenous war
machine practically on its doorstep.
Directed by Joe Wright (“Atone-
ment”), “Darkest Hour” does a mag-
nificent job of plumbing the depths
of Churchill’s psyche as well as rec-
reating a number of his inspirational
speeches, concluding with his historic
“We shall never surrender!” address
delivered to Parliament on June 4.
Unfortunately, “Darkest Hour”
pales in comparison to the visual-
ly-captivating “Dunkirk.” Too bad
the introspective and action-oriented
productions weren’t spliced togeth-
er. Nevertheless, Gary Oldman might
finally win the Oscar that has long
eluded him for his sterling portrayal
of the British Bulldog.
Excellent HHHH
Rated PG-13 for mature themes
Running time: 125 minutes
Production Studio: Working Title
Films / Perfect World Pictures
To see a trailer for Darkest Hour, go
to TheSkanner.com.
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