Yes, you should go see “Black Panther.” I felt during it the way I’ve felt during the best of the Tolkien films—that I never wanted it to end, that I was completely sucked in. That praise doesn’t mean that wasn’t totally confused a few times, but in the end pretty much everything was explained. Jim and I were on one side of a dispute about a certain plot element, with my brother-in-law and son on the other. You wouldn’t want to agree on everything, would you? It feels as if so much of our society is in flux these days, so the zeitgeist (a word that means pretty much whatever you want it to mean) favors a film such as this which breaks so many cultural barriers, but really—the movie stands on its own.
And so much of it seems eerily prescient about the situation we find ourselves in today: Where is your loyalty? To your country, or to the leader of your country? To the throne, or to the person who sits on the throne? There are so many layers to the story that it would probably merit a second viewing. (I probably won’t end up seeing four times the way I did “Inception,” though.)
I’m keeping this pretty brief, as there are tons of reviews out there if you want to read them. Or you could just head on over to the theater. That’s what I’d do!