Millions around the world were shocked and heartbroken on the last Friday of August when the news broke of the tragic death of Chadwick Boseman. An icon to so many as an up-and-coming actor, his repertoire as a strong-willed, ambitious, and graceful African-American man inspired many through his work in film in an age of racial strife and divisive politics.
Like most of you, I was stunned to hear this news. While part of my reaction was due to Boseman’s age and my mental picture of his physique, I was also humbled upon the revelation that he kept his four-year battle with colon cancer out of the public eye. Within seconds, I gained so much respect for him as a human being; more, in fact, than I ever had for him as an actor. Which gets to the purpose of this post. I am a huge fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Looking back, I firmly believe my two-plus year “odyssey” into the world of film began when I decided to watch the entire catalog of Marvel Studios films leading up to the release of the 2018 megahit “Avengers: Infinity War.” And in the middle of this adventure, I went to theaters opening night to see the highly-anticipated “Black Panther.” And, to be honest, I came out somewhat disappointed. But I’ll get more into that later. All of this being said, I have reflected over the course of this past week about my impressions of Boseman as an actor and begun to question whether or not I have given him a fair shake. So, I decided to devote some time this weekend to watching three of his films in an effort to look back on the highlights of his brief, but eloquent, career and reconsider my thoughts on his acumen as a performer. I have varying relationships with the three films I have chosen to watch for this little experiment. The first of them, the Jackie Robinson biopic “42,” I have seen several times and thoroughly enjoy and am looking forward to watch again. The second one, the James Brown biopic “Get on Up,” I have never seen before but out of love for many other biopics of famous musicians (shoutout to “Ray” and “Straight Outta Compton”) am excited to see for the first time. And the third and final movie is none other than “Black Panther,” the film that made Boseman a household name and allowed him to forever leave his mark on the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So, without further ado, I begin my retrospective on the career of Chadwick Boseman. “I’m Here to Play Ball” To put it briefly, I revile watching sports on television and tend to get easily bored watching sports live. However, I LIKE most sports movies. “42” is one of the exceptions; I LOVE it. As someone with a passion for social/cultural history and the ways in which film can highlight important stories from the past, I was immediately hooked by the premise of “42.” I remember first seeing it with my father, who promised me that I would like it despite my less-than-lackluster love of sports. Of course, he was right. “42” hooks you in a matter of minutes, largely thanks to the wise, endearing, and consistently laugh-inducing performance of Harrison Ford as Branch Rickey, the President and General Manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers who “discovered” Jackie Robinson. In fact, much of my love for the film comes from his performance. However, I am here to talk about Chadwick Boseman. So, how was his performance as the first African-American to play in Major League Baseball? Suffice to say, he was outstanding. Boseman plays Robinson as an incredibly nuanced character. A young up-and-comer who has made a reputation for himself as a cocky base stealer with a quick, fragile temper. Seemingly the far-from-ideal choice for Rickey, Boseman plays the process of being one of the most hated rookies in the MLB with grace, style, warmth, and true humanity. Simply put, he embraces all the good and not-so-good of Jackie’s personality to tell this worthwhile story from American sports history. Having seen the film several times now, I appreciated it even more on this most recent re-watch for what Boseman does onscreen. His grounding relationship with his wife, his embracing of humor to deal with the stress of being subject to prejudice on and off the field, his leaning into Robinson’s temper as his biggest downfall, and his burgeoning friendship with many of the other ball players and the journalist assigned to him. All of these things make the performance one to remember for decades to come. If you are not convinced yet to check out Boseman in “42,” all I can say is the hallway scene between him and Harrison Ford’s Rickey will go down in history for me as one of the best scenes in any sports movie. Period. “I Paid the Cost to Be the Boss” With very few exceptions, I either enjoy or outright love musical biopics. From Barbra Streisand as the hilarious and exceptionally talented Fanny Brice in “Funny Girl” to Jamie Foxx’s emotionally gritty and grounded take on Ray Charles in “Ray,” I have always loved and will continue to love watching films that grapple with the ups and down of life in the spotlight. So, as I queued up the 2014 biopic “Get on Up,” I expected nothing less than satisfying entertainment. And especially coming off of “42” I was excited to see more of Boseman’s range and capabilities as an actor. Needless to say, I was not let down in the slightest. Boseman is practically flawless in capturing the ambitious, talented, and sensational “Godfather of Soul” James Brown. His bravado and charisma perfectly encapsulates the type of personality that makes this type of movie incredibly fun to watch. But the two things that this movie did to win me over regarding Boseman’s performance? His signature voice, and his dancing. It is these pivotal parts of Brown’s effervescent personality that would make or break the movie, and Boseman commits to these aspects of his portrayal perhaps more than anything else to astounding effect. That all being said, the movie as a whole is by no means my favorite musical biopic. Similar to another great biopic of a famed musician, James Mangold’s “Walk the Link” starring Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash, I will at least somewhat remember this movie as following the standard narrative arc of the “rise and fall” story spoofed very effectively in “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.” Now that I’m thinking about it, a lot of the musical biopics I love follow this narrative structure. Perhaps I will expand on my thoughts about this trope in a later blog post? 😊 Alas, that is for another time. Needless to say, “Get on Up” is a satisfying tale of James Brown’s heyday that Boseman elevates with poise, flare, and style that for me cements itself as one of the better lead performances from a musical biopic. “I Never Freeze” Finally, we arrive at the inspiration behind this post. Having not seen Marvel Studios’ “Black Panther” since it first opened in theaters over two years ago, I have intended to revisit it for some time. Why? To put it simply, I did not really enjoy the film when I first saw it. While I respected what it set out to do and was entertained for the most part throughout, I left the theater feeling a bit unsatisfied with where director Ryan Coogler took the first solo outing for Boseman’s newly crowned King of Wakanda. Before I dive into my impressions upon my second viewing, I underwent this weekend, let me first briefly outline what I liked and did not like about “Black Panther” after my first watch. I liked virtually all of the performances. While I enjoyed Michael B. Jordan as the villain Killmonger, (such as the rest of the world did) I quite enjoyed Danai Gurira as T’Challa’s head bodyguard Okoye and Letitia Wright as his wise-cracking genius sister Shuri. I also liked the supporting performances, from Angela Bassett as T’Challa’s mother and Forest Whitaker as T’Challa’s spiritual mentor Zuri to Winston Duke as the new king’s enemy-turned-ally M’Baku. Additionally, I liked the production and set design of Wakanda. I appreciated how much it embraced African culture to create its own very unique aesthetic that fit within the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe as balancing grounded reality with outrageous fantasy. Which (perhaps hypocritically) gets to some of my criticisms of the film. First off, the fact that I was more compelled by the many secondary and tertiary characters than with T’Challa himself was a significant sign for me that I did not love this movie. My initial impressions of T’Challa were that he was simply the mechanism by which the plot of the film revolved around rather than an agent making decisions. In other words, he is subject to the decisions of others driving his actions rather than vice-versa. (The backstory of Killmonger being revealed to T’Challa is, in my opinion, a prime example of this) Simply put, this seemed to be contradicting the film’s intentions as “more than just a superhero movie.” Which gets to my second point. As someone who tends to enjoy, but not love, origin films for superheroes (“Iron Man” and “Batman Begins” being the rare exceptions), I was really excited for this to act in the same vein as “Spider-Man: Homecoming.” Not in terms of humor, necessarily, but in the sense that the introduction of Black Panther in Marvel Studios’ “Captain America: Civil War” gave Coogler justification to not be pigeonholed into making a straight-up origin movie. That being said, my lackluster investment in T’Challa’s journey on my first viewing reminded me of some of the other less-than-good superhero origin films. And yet, scene after scene, the film tried to remind us that it was either “more than just a superhero movie” or that it was failing to accomplish this. Thus, in summary, I walked out of the theaters with this thought: “It was a decent political action movie, but not a very good comic book movie.” So, were my likes and dislikes affirmed on my second viewing or were my initial impressions subverted by watching the film with fresh eyes? … I wanted to love this movie so much. I really did. Unfortunately, much of what I found less-than-satisfying the first time was reaffirmed for me here. For example, I found the first act to be entertaining but ultimately poorly intentioned as it struggles to successfully set up Killmonger’s introduction into T’Challa’s life without spanning nearly half the movie. Also, much of the conflict from Killmonger’s arrival into the throne room in Wakanda onward was somewhat contrived and weakly executed. Simply put, the more political-intrigue aspect that I enjoyed the first time I found far less interesting on the second viewing. I could go on about my other dislikes, but I want to get to what I came here to do. Did I enjoy Chadwick Boseman more as Black Panther than the first time? Yes…for the most part. While I still found some of the other characters more interesting (and better acted, unfortunately), I appreciated the nuances of his performance much more. And the two scenes that for me on my first watch were highlights, T’Challa confronting his father in the ancestral plane about Wakanda’s role in the world and T’Challa showing Killmonger the sunset as he dies, remained just as resonant for me. Ultimately, I did not really enjoy the film any more than the first time I saw it. But, I enjoyed Boseman more on my re-watch. And that alone was worth the time I spent watching “Black Panther” once again. Conclusion While I am devastated by the tragic circumstances that inspired me to watch these three movies, I am happy I did it. For I came out of it with a greater appreciation for Boseman’s range, dynamism, and fervor as an actor who sadly passed long before he should have. So, without further ado, I am listing my ranking of these three films below which is how I view both the films overall and Boseman’s performances in them:
Which of these films do you like the most and why? Are there other performances from Boseman that are your favorites? (I have seen “Marshall” and his other MCU performances, but decided not to include those here). Do you think any of my opinions are absurdly wrong? Please comment below and share your thoughts on Chadwick Boseman’s tragically short-lived career. Until next time, this has been... Yours Truly, Amateur Analyst P.S. My love to Boseman’s family at this difficult time. Rest in Power, Chadwick. You will be missed, remembered, and honored by millions for generations to come. NOTE: Originally published on 9/6/2020
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Austin McManusI have no academic or professional background in film production or criticism; I simply love watching and talking about movies. Archives
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