Black Panther Review
T’Challa, after the death of his father, the King of Wakanda, returns home to the isolated, technologically advanced African nation to succeed to the throne and take his rightful place as king.
Why did I come to this movie book again?
I thought the Black Panther was a great addition to the Marvel lineup in Civil War. The previews of this movie made it look incredibly rich in culture and fun. Of course I was in.
5 of 5
Characters
I loved almost all of the supporting characters in this film. The ladies pretty much stole the show, including T’Challa’s mother and little sister. Not to mention Okoye. If you know me, you know I love a girl that can kick butt, and these ladies did, in all different ways.
I came away from this moving thinking it was good, and not great. It took me a bit to figure out why.
(Mild spoilers here)
T’Challa is a good man. We know that from Civil War. So when his character arc was basically “Will he finally see past his ancestor’s decisions and take Wakanda’s technology to the world?” I felt it was weak. Because, duh, we all knew he would. He wanted to be a strong king, but he’d seen so much outside of Wakanda, and he’s a smart guy, so the answer was clear. Every time they brought this issue up I tuned out, waiting for something interesting to happen. Plus, I didn’t blink an eye when he went over that cliff.
Also, Killmonger. Talk about a flat villain. I mean, they tried. They did give him a decent background, and his last words were almost intriguing, but in the end, I didn’t care about him. Or his cause. He’s just a bully. And, frankly, he was too overpowered. Which they covered up with exposition from Martin Freeman.
So while the ladies rocked, the men were a little lackluster.
3 of 5
Did I care what happened?
I did care about what was going on. But there wasn’t a single surprise. Maybe because I’m a writer and saw most of it coming, or the fact that the film was so hyped and had given away much of its plot in previews.
4 of 5
Plot Holes
For a comic book movie, my brain didn’t zero in on too many giant plot holes. I mean, hello, apparently Vibranium can do anything. Anything at all. So there’s that, but again, I was expecting it.
No, I was too busy being frustrated by weak character arc to notice any big plot holes. The one thing that rubbed me the wrong way (and this kind of goes back to characters) was W’Kabi’s instant betrayal of T’Challa. Really? They’ve known one another their whole lives and W’Kabi doesn’t even ask what happened? Just assumes that T’Challa chickened out in some way?
4 of 5
How many times did I yawn?
I may have rolled my eyes a few times. My hubby almost fell asleep. Twice. He normally dozes once in the middle of a movie, but twice isn’t good.
4 of 5
Cool Factor
Loved the worldbuilding, the cultures, the blend of ancient and modern traditions. The film was beautiful.
A funny thing. We saw it in 3D, which we don’t normally do, and I had my glasses on instead of my contacts. That really changed the 3D experience for me, and now I know why my hubby doesn’t love 3D. Instead of everything looking awesome, some of the vehicles and people looked like miniatures. It was strange. I won’t be doing that again.
5 of 5
The End
No surprises for me at the end. Solid.
5 of 5
Overall Enjoyment
Like I said, I really liked it. It was good. But not great. I didn’t leave the theater gushing over it like I did Coco or Jumanji or The Greatest Showman. The characters were my biggest drawback, and I think the writers had to squish in so much that they neglected to take those conflicts to a deeper level. Plus, now that I think about it, Marvel has been relying more on comedy recently, and this movie hardly had any. Maybe it took itself too seriously.
4 of 5
Total:
34
That’s a Brown Belt
