E's Reviews: Black Panther



Ok so I'm reposting this because...screw the haters...WAKANDA FOREVER! Also I edited quite a bit of it...

Black Panther was directed by Ryan Coogler and stars Chadwick Boseman, Michael B Jordan (wasn't he just the Human Torch...? How meta), Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, and Winston Duke. This film centers around T'Challa, heir to the hidden but advanced kingdom of Wakanda, must step forward to lead his people into a new future and must confront a challenger from his country's past. All of this takes place after Captain America: Civil War.

So...the bad...The way the movie played out, however, suffered from what I felt was a lackluster script and from poor CGI moments. It lacked that OOMPH factor that previous Marvel Studios films had going for them. It lacked that fun that the other movies had. It lacked a villain that was actually, for lack of a better term, scary. His plan wasn’t well thought out, it wasn’t unique, it was generic and cliche. Basically...Black Panther was this: this movie was so disappointing it’s like you know when you’re enjoying a popsicle during the summer, and then you find out the popsicle was sugar free? It’s like that. Does that mean I hated it? No. I didn’t hate it. In fact, the shortcomings of the movie (the massive amount of hype, the political BS that was all over the media about it...which makes zero sense...it’s a friggin super hero movie people...the poor CGI, the bad plot, the bad script, the villain's poor motivations) do not outweigh or destroy what the movie has done, which was introduced us to a brilliant cast and advanced the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It gave us a whole new world to explore and become intrigued with. It gave us Chadwick Boseman in a larger role as one of the premier heroes from the Marvel Universe (and I cannot wait to see what he does with the character going forward). It introduced us to T’Challa’s sister, Shuri (who was charming and awesome). It introduced us to Wakanda (which I admit I wanted to explore more). It introduced us to Erik Killmonger who...I had hoped...would’ve been closer to his comic roots, but what can you do? They took a liberty there and the always entertaining Michael B. Jordan did his best with the material he had, and yes, I loved him in this movie (motivational shortcomings and all).

I just wished the movie had lived up to the hype, because I was seriously interested in the movie and I really REALLY wanted it to be a GREAT Marvel film. I’ve been a fan of Black Panther since I first started reading comics. I loved the character in Civil War (movie). I loved the character as part of Marvel’s Illuminati (comics). I wanted it done with more justice than it was shown in his first solo feature. I’m honestly hoping that with Infinity War and the follow up solo feature with Black Panther (which they most definitely will...the movie broke all kinds of box office records, and kudos to Marvel, Disney, the entire cast, crew, and Ryan Coogler for this amazing feat), that with future installments they will go with a less cliche’d villain, with a unique motivation, with better CGI (which is admittedly more of a nitpick). I want to see more of this world of Wakanda that Marvel has created. I want to see more of Black Panther, and I hope they do the character justice. And why did parts of Wakanda look like some technologically advanced society...and the others looked like a poor village? I digress...

Overall, I’d call the movie the second weakest in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (which doesn’t mean I hate it, I liked them all). It’s just an average movie to me, and it’s disappointing after all the hype that was generated by the media and by Marvel/Disney. The media themselves pushed that politically correct narrative so hard, that I will admit it did hurt it for me a little bit. But without that cast that the film had, this definitely would've been a flop.

Final Score: 7/10

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Zo's Reviews: Antlers

Image
  Antlers was directed by Scott Cooper and is based on a short story written by Nick Antosca ( Channel Zero ). The film stars Keri Russell, Jesse Plemons, Jeremy T. Thomas, where, in an isolated Oregon town, a middle-school teacher (Russell) and her sheriff brother (Plemons) become embroiled with her enigmatic student (Thomas), whose dark secrets lead to terrifying encounters with a legendary ancestral creature who came before them. This movie has seen its fair share of delays due to the COVID crisis that has been plaguing our world, but with cinemas finally opening up to full capacity, I was extremely excited to see that this movie was going to see the light of day. I had seen the trailer I think back in 2018 or 2019, and it was slated for a 2020 release. But, alas, the world had other plans for us. Thankfully, it's out now, and we can all enjoy it for what it is; a thriller with an ancient creature from Native American folklore (one that I actually believe exists...for real). The...
Read more

Zo's Reviews: The Mimic (Jang-san-beom)

Image
  The Mimic is a horror mystery written and directed by South Korean filmmaker Jung Huh and stars Jung-ah Yum, Hyuk-kwon Park, Jin Heo, and is about a mother of a missing child who takes in a lost girl she finds in the woods, but soon begins to wonder if she is even human. I literally just finished watching this film, and even though I shouted it out on my Twitter feed, I just had to come here to write about it right away. I find myself loving Asian horror lately. Between this, Metamorphosis , and Impetigore , I'm finding that there are some very intriguing and intense films coming out of that region that really need to get more eyes on them. So, let's talk about The Mimic ... As per usual, I won't drop any spoilers, but I will talk about the technical aspects of the film, going over what I liked about it, what I didn't like about it, etc. So, what didn't I like? Well...the main character of the mom was pretty damn annoying. But I suppose if I were a mother dealing ...
Read more

Zo's Reviews: Come Play

Image
  Come Play was directed by Jacob Chase and stars John Gallagher Jr. as Marty, Gillian Jacobs as Sarah, a couple of parents with a special needs child named Oliver (played by Azhy Robertson). Oliver is a lonely young boy who feels different from everyone else. Desperate for a friend, he seeks solace and refuge in his ever-present cell phone and tablet. When a mysterious creature uses Oliver's devices against him to break into our world, Oliver's parents must fight to save their son from the monster beyond the screen. All this creature wants is a friend...a friend FOREVER (insert diabolical laughter here). So, what did I think about this movie? It was...I mean...it was there. Stuff happened. But I don't want to trash this movie outright because really, it's not that bad. Speaking of the bad...I didn't like Gillian Jacobs' character in this movie. Sarah was written decently enough, but the entire time I felt like the character was just looking for excuses to not d...
Read more