Did I enjoy BLACK PANTHER? Yes. Did I think it was the best movie in the Marvel universe? No. Did it live up to the hype for me? No.
Now don't hate me for my opinion. I felt the same way about WONDER WOMAN. So many people were telling me I'd love it and I really thought it was only okay. Everyone should know what this movie is about, but if you don't this is taken from IMDb: T'Challa, the King of Wakanda, rises to the throne in the isolated, technologically advanced African nation, but his claim is challenged by a vengeful outsider who was a childhood victim of T'Challa's father's mistake. It is really so much more than that though. It was a romance movie with action and family drama, in a place that doesn't exist, but in an Africa that does (yes, the entire continent of Africa).
While the movie has a lot of great cinematography and acting, I thought the plot of it was a little lacking, and it could have used some good editing. For me there was too much backstory, and I wasn't sure why I should care. I don't want backstory unless it is being developed to make me feel for someone later in the movie, or push along my views of a character. BLACK PANTHER flipped too much and didn't stay with one character enough for me to feel anything, and the ease of the end of the bad guy they were chasing from the beginning of the movie seemed a little too defeating and easy, it added nothing and was unnecessary. I don't think it should have happened as easily as it did, nor do I think the end of the movie should have been as flat as I felt it was. How easily does a man go from saying, we should keep Wakanda a secret, to let's go to war with the world! It really didn't make sense, and neither did it make sense that this same man would turn against his friend so easily because of someone who came in and said something that didn't at all make sense.
There were so many characters, and there wasn't enough of a focus on one or two to have much story development. I would have liked to have the film focus on four of the characters, T'Challa, his sister Shuri, the head of the female warriors Nakia, and Erik Killmonger, a young man with a goal to help his people, but not quite in the right way.
BLACK PANTHER was a fine film, but I feel as if it didn't live up to the expectations I had based on what everyone was saying after they had seen it. I'd also like to say, it isn't the first movie with an African-American superhero, but it is the first movie with a full cast of African-Americans who move the film along, which is pretty cool. So I will honestly give it that for being interesting and including an almost exclusively African-American cast, but was it a great movie or the best in the Marvel universe? No, it was a-aight. I honestly enjoyed the GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY 1+2 better, partly because the focus was limited, and partly because it didn't seem to try so hard at explaining all of the characters important to that movie with the backstory of the marginal characters being forgotten. We know nothing of why there is a king over the entirety of these different groups, nor do we know why some are treated different that the others.
Now, the last thing I want to say is that the character of M'Baku, played by Winston Duke, is great and I would have liked him to have some more screen time. His character was funny and serious and absolutely fabulous. He was given some of the best lines and scenes and his character was underused in a film where he could have been used more adeptly.
So, go see it if you like, most people seem to like it more than I do. I think I am maybe a little biased, partly because I was a little hesitant to believe the masses chanting "it was the best movie ever" like they did for WONDER WOMAN, which was not the best version of WONDER WOMAN I feel we could have had.
Now don't hate me for my opinion. I felt the same way about WONDER WOMAN. So many people were telling me I'd love it and I really thought it was only okay. Everyone should know what this movie is about, but if you don't this is taken from IMDb: T'Challa, the King of Wakanda, rises to the throne in the isolated, technologically advanced African nation, but his claim is challenged by a vengeful outsider who was a childhood victim of T'Challa's father's mistake. It is really so much more than that though. It was a romance movie with action and family drama, in a place that doesn't exist, but in an Africa that does (yes, the entire continent of Africa).
While the movie has a lot of great cinematography and acting, I thought the plot of it was a little lacking, and it could have used some good editing. For me there was too much backstory, and I wasn't sure why I should care. I don't want backstory unless it is being developed to make me feel for someone later in the movie, or push along my views of a character. BLACK PANTHER flipped too much and didn't stay with one character enough for me to feel anything, and the ease of the end of the bad guy they were chasing from the beginning of the movie seemed a little too defeating and easy, it added nothing and was unnecessary. I don't think it should have happened as easily as it did, nor do I think the end of the movie should have been as flat as I felt it was. How easily does a man go from saying, we should keep Wakanda a secret, to let's go to war with the world! It really didn't make sense, and neither did it make sense that this same man would turn against his friend so easily because of someone who came in and said something that didn't at all make sense.
There were so many characters, and there wasn't enough of a focus on one or two to have much story development. I would have liked to have the film focus on four of the characters, T'Challa, his sister Shuri, the head of the female warriors Nakia, and Erik Killmonger, a young man with a goal to help his people, but not quite in the right way.
BLACK PANTHER was a fine film, but I feel as if it didn't live up to the expectations I had based on what everyone was saying after they had seen it. I'd also like to say, it isn't the first movie with an African-American superhero, but it is the first movie with a full cast of African-Americans who move the film along, which is pretty cool. So I will honestly give it that for being interesting and including an almost exclusively African-American cast, but was it a great movie or the best in the Marvel universe? No, it was a-aight. I honestly enjoyed the GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY 1+2 better, partly because the focus was limited, and partly because it didn't seem to try so hard at explaining all of the characters important to that movie with the backstory of the marginal characters being forgotten. We know nothing of why there is a king over the entirety of these different groups, nor do we know why some are treated different that the others.
Now, the last thing I want to say is that the character of M'Baku, played by Winston Duke, is great and I would have liked him to have some more screen time. His character was funny and serious and absolutely fabulous. He was given some of the best lines and scenes and his character was underused in a film where he could have been used more adeptly.
So, go see it if you like, most people seem to like it more than I do. I think I am maybe a little biased, partly because I was a little hesitant to believe the masses chanting "it was the best movie ever" like they did for WONDER WOMAN, which was not the best version of WONDER WOMAN I feel we could have had.
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