Black Panther - A Review
The movie Black Panther recently debuted worldwide and has garnered a massive amount of public attention in the lead up to the release. In this article I’ll be reviewing the movie as well as spoiling plenty of details so you’ve been warned. The world of Black Panther is set in the African country of Wakanda and deals with a dynastic dispute between King T’Challa and his cousin Killmonger. The rifts that form as a result of this struggle defines the difference in opinions that leading figures in Wakanda have for their society, or at least wants to. My rating for the movie and short description about it are below if you would like to read it now. The hype behind the movie is quite large and seems unstoppable, especially since it dominated at the box office with over $200 million in profits on the opening weekend. However, as Martin Freeman puts it, the movie needs to be good. It’s nice that it is a majority black, African-based film but if it’s no good then no one will care.
Credit: MarvelousTV
So far we’ve been bombarded with waves of positive reviews and honestly, the movie doesn’t deserve it. As far as the quality of the movie I’ll be splitting that up below but suffice it to say that it isn’t as good as it is being hyped. This isn’t to say the movie is atrocious by any means. It’s not a bad film, it just isn’t very good. The ratings below spell that out given the recent controversy surrounding Rotten Tomatoes’ suppression of negative reviews in fear of racist attacks and false reviews intended to deter attendance. The difference between reviewers and the audience rating should let you know how much disconnection in opinion is currently ongoing regarding the quality of the film. Now, let’s dive into the details.
The science and technology of Wakanda is also generic and lacking in basic logic. First off, nanites have been used as a concept everywhere and are not original. Second, where are all of the scientists and engineers? I know they wanted to present Shuri as a massive intellect capable of outsmarting almost anyone but all they really did was to make her a smart talking teenager. They could have had her working on something or giving presentations but I think they just decided to settle for a Mr. Q scheme. The issue with this is that Wakanda’s advanced technology cannot all be the result of one person who’s only been capable of doing so for a small number of years. Who were all of the past inventors and scientists? Who originally created the suit? This has to come from somewhere but again, just accept it and don’t question things. It’s lazy and sad to see what they could have done compared to what we got. With Iron Man the entire first movie was Tony Stark gradually creating the concept and perfecting it. In Black Panther, they have everything with no explanation.
Some of the speculation for the movie turned out to be incorrect but some could still be true. There was speculation online about the white mannequins next to the Black Panther suit in Shuri's lab being some kind of White Panther. Unfortunately they were just mannequins for the different necklaces. One I didn’t see as a prediction was Bucky Barnes, The Winter Soldier, returning and hopefully having recovered from his brainwashing. After all, if they can heal a bullet to the spine they should be able to do much more. The last theory wasn’t proven but I think there is a case to make for it. Some people had thought that the Soul Stone, the only Infinity Stone not to be revealed yet, was being hidden in Wakanda, providing a historical context for their secrecy. The stone is supposed to be a creature capable of holding souls within its dimension, spawning a theory that this is where Wakanda’s afterlife comes from. This is thought to be substantiated by, of all things, a LEGO box set which shows an orange gem. If it’s true it would go a long way to explaining why the epic finale takes place in Wakanda because Thanos could be heading there to get the last stone he needs. Just a little fan theory fun.
https://www.theverge.com/2015/5/7/8560555/marvel-infinity-stones-avengers-infinity-war-movie
Credit: Sean Turner Reviews
For a little break here I’ll show you the reactions to the movie from Africa as well as elsewhere.
Credit: 2nacheki
What they seemed to like was the mixing of tradition and modernism, the costumes and the representation of Africans in a positive way. They don’t really talk much about the story though. The representation is a fair point but for a long time no one really cared about it. The reason was even pretty simple. People didn’t watch superhero movies. They always had a fan base and some are considered classics but they weren’t billion dollar movie franchise extravaganzas. Now that they are, people want them to cater to additional facets of society and feature gay or black people. The issue is that these comics were made nearly a century to half a century ago by people who were not gay or black, mostly. If you want to see those movies you have to create them yourself but it’s easier to feed off of a popular brand than it is to create your own and that is what we are seeing.
If you want to read more check out the link!
http://tomeoftrovius.com/2018/03/07/black-panther-a-review/
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