Black Panther

I hope everyone goes to see this movie. But be warned: this is not your typical Marvel movie. I am just going to say it now, there will be spoilers from here on out.

Remember how Thor: Ragnarok and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 helped push the MCU in a more fun, silly direction? Well Black Panther also took the MCU a new route, but instead of silly and over-the-top, this movie went more introspective. It takes our hero on a moral journey, and in a way forces us to ask ourselves some serious questions. The acting is pretty incredible (Michael B. Jordan was amazing, he is probably the best MCU villain…well maybe ever), the production design, and special effects were all great, but all of that takes a backseat to the story.

One of the big moral questions that is posited throughout the movie is whether or not Wakanda should use their vast wealth and technology to help their poorer neighbors. When Jordan takes over the country, he does not want to do some weird supervillain plot like blow up New York City. Instead, he wants to get Wakandan weapons out to all the black people who are being oppressed and give them the means to rise up and start a revolution. He wants Wakanda to be the center of a new African New World Order.

This is what makes him such a great villain. We do not disagree with him. Hell, neither does T’Challa or Nakia (they both question whether Wakanda should be helping the world more). T’Challa learns that his own father did something horrible: murder his own brother and leave his brother’s son in America in order to protect Wakanda. As Killmonger dies, T’Challa tells him that they could probably heal him, but he does not want it. He would rather die than live in shackles (he gives a great little speech about slavery and the captives who would drown themselves in the ocean rather than be slaves).

By the end of the movie, we see King T’Challa make a decision to help the rest of the world. He sets up an outreach and science center in Oakland, and in the mid-credits scene we see T’Challa address the United Nations about how Wakanda will become an example to the rest of the world and will no longer live in the shadows. He has a great line about building bridges, not barriers (which was an obvious dig at our current president).

Okay, so here are some of my random thoughts…

-I loved how they incorporated African culture, but brought into a modern world look. Like a guy with the lip disc, who happens to wear a cool suit. Or some of the other outfits and set pieces. The country of Wakanda looked futuristic, but not in the way you would picture if it were based on NYC or Tokoyo. This still had a distinct feel to it.

-I have to give Ryan Coogler credit for creating some serious tension during T’Challa’s first challenge against M’Baku. I thought that maybe M’Baku would win and T’Challa would have to redeem himself to become king again.

-The fight between Black Panther and Killmonger at the end was actually pretty weak. But it made sense that if both suits had the ability to absorb kinetic energy, then they would probably be at a draw. I actually liked their fight on the waterfall better.

-It looks like Marvel finally read one of my reviews and decided to listen. There was no giant city destroying spaceship scene or something like it. Instead the fighting was pretty much to a minimal. Even the battle at the end was not some ridiculous battle between 100,000 people or something. I enjoyed that W’Kabi ends up looking around and seeing that Wakandans are fighting each other and decides to surrender to his own wife (it took me forever to figure out that Okoye is Michonne from The Walking Dead).

-I liked the end-credit scene, where we see Bucky (aka Winter Soldier) telling Shuri thank you for fixing him. Remember, at the end of Civil War, he goes with Black Panther to be fixed off his mind control problems. Looks like he is all better…just in time for Infinity War.

-The only thing I did not like (and this could just be a byproduct of seeing it in 3D) was the special effects of the ship flying through the city at the beginning (and a few other times). You could really tell that it was CGI and it just looked weird (if anyone saw it at a regular screen, did it seem that way as well?).

Author: Ngewo