shallowness (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
shallowness) wrote2018-02-22 05:47 pm
shallowness) wrote2018-02-22 05:47 pm
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Black Panther review
Saw it last night in a nearly full auditorium, really enjoyed it. Much of the storyline felt familiar, but watching it play out among black characters with a blend of African tradition and futuristic tech was so cool. Artistically, this was totally a win (well, I was happier as soon as we got a bit of sunlight and decent Wakandan lighting). I was a little less engaged with the African American strand, especially because it was all about boys and men, but obviously the Black Panther comic speaks a lot to them. This is as joyous for black people as Wonder Woman was for women, while also being inclusively entertaining.
I thought it was a little better on gender than most MCU movies, if it ultimately came to a battle between two guys and their daddy issues. But the variety of women, (a spy, warriors, a tech geek and Queen Angela Bassett at her most imperious) was good, how the ones who knew T’Chaila would roll their eyes at him when he needed it, that his little sister was as important as the love interest, that women offered different choices – especially in the end – about what Wakanda and its king should be.
There were two things that bugged me, but I may have missed a line that explained it all – what happened to Killmonger’s mother? Was she dead? Otherwise she was made improbably irrelevant. More irritating was that once Erik had wrested the throne from T’Chaila, they never thought of Shuri, who was of the royal line, as a possible alternative. It can’t be male primogeniture, she had a right to challenge her brother, and Ramonda turned to Nakia, and okay, she was young, basically Q and tech was her thing, but she did step up and fight with weapons (and, hello, Tony Stark = Iron Man). There had better be comics where she’s the Black Panther somewhere.
But Chadwick Boseman had these flashes of utter charisma, where T’Chaila unleashed his authority. The film was very much about what kind of king he wanted to be - Nakia had the rights of it about isolationism. Jordan was also very charismatic, flashier, (he had to be top Claue, so…). And I loved them for killing him off and not forcing another endless Loki on us (because this all did remind me of Thor a bit – learning that your braggart king father wasn’t flawless, taking up the responsibility, the waterfall.)
The richness of the world, the depiction of African culture (the use of the different Wakandan tribes, the costumes, the use of Xhosa – although their belief system seemed a little hinky, but I suppose that’s the comics), the cool futuristic tech, with some fantasy elements – T’Chaila gets his Black Panther powers through herbs, and the charging rhinoceroses were LOTR steals. Oh, and the bit in Korea was basically a James Bond fantasy. Is it me or did the score sometimes sound like the X-Men movies theme?
Good cast, Lupita Nyong’o was, of course, brilliant. I only realised from trawling imdb that Letitia Wright, who played Shuri was in Humans. Kaluuya’s W’kabi is probably going to get a bigger part in BP2, given how his career’s blown up, although the character was a bit of an idiot. Sure, get mad with T’Chaila for not doing what you want immediately, but how quickly and deeply his loyalty switched over to his new king – to the point where he led his tribe to take part in civil war over it was daft. I got a little confused between Okoyo and Ayo (sorry!) at various points. There were layers to English Freeman playing an American conqueror (or was the word coloniser?), (another broken white man, heh – and I was gearing up for the post-credits scene to involve Thanozzzz) the main white character. I remember thinking Ross couldn’t die because thy surely have to have him cross paths with Dr Strange. And I’m going to stop listing people now.
But I don’t think anyone worried about T’Chaila’s death. Having said that, I thought the script was very tight on its Chekhov’s guns. It brought most of what you want from a blockbuster humour; cool action (though everything was better when it was well lit); real, justified anger and relevance; and a slant that is (sadly) refreshing because we haven’t seen a big budget superhero film like this, where the hero, the villain and eight out of ten of the main players are black, before, have we? (I hope WW2, and for that matter Captain Marvel, gain the courage to cast even more women).
I tried to look out for the infamous Welsh flag, but I missed it, so clearly I will need to go see the film again. For now, I’m going to go and read a pile of reviews, from which I hope to glean clarity about the timing.
I thought it was a little better on gender than most MCU movies, if it ultimately came to a battle between two guys and their daddy issues. But the variety of women, (a spy, warriors, a tech geek and Queen Angela Bassett at her most imperious) was good, how the ones who knew T’Chaila would roll their eyes at him when he needed it, that his little sister was as important as the love interest, that women offered different choices – especially in the end – about what Wakanda and its king should be.
There were two things that bugged me, but I may have missed a line that explained it all – what happened to Killmonger’s mother? Was she dead? Otherwise she was made improbably irrelevant. More irritating was that once Erik had wrested the throne from T’Chaila, they never thought of Shuri, who was of the royal line, as a possible alternative. It can’t be male primogeniture, she had a right to challenge her brother, and Ramonda turned to Nakia, and okay, she was young, basically Q and tech was her thing, but she did step up and fight with weapons (and, hello, Tony Stark = Iron Man). There had better be comics where she’s the Black Panther somewhere.
But Chadwick Boseman had these flashes of utter charisma, where T’Chaila unleashed his authority. The film was very much about what kind of king he wanted to be - Nakia had the rights of it about isolationism. Jordan was also very charismatic, flashier, (he had to be top Claue, so…). And I loved them for killing him off and not forcing another endless Loki on us (because this all did remind me of Thor a bit – learning that your braggart king father wasn’t flawless, taking up the responsibility, the waterfall.)
The richness of the world, the depiction of African culture (the use of the different Wakandan tribes, the costumes, the use of Xhosa – although their belief system seemed a little hinky, but I suppose that’s the comics), the cool futuristic tech, with some fantasy elements – T’Chaila gets his Black Panther powers through herbs, and the charging rhinoceroses were LOTR steals. Oh, and the bit in Korea was basically a James Bond fantasy. Is it me or did the score sometimes sound like the X-Men movies theme?
Good cast, Lupita Nyong’o was, of course, brilliant. I only realised from trawling imdb that Letitia Wright, who played Shuri was in Humans. Kaluuya’s W’kabi is probably going to get a bigger part in BP2, given how his career’s blown up, although the character was a bit of an idiot. Sure, get mad with T’Chaila for not doing what you want immediately, but how quickly and deeply his loyalty switched over to his new king – to the point where he led his tribe to take part in civil war over it was daft. I got a little confused between Okoyo and Ayo (sorry!) at various points. There were layers to English Freeman playing an American conqueror (or was the word coloniser?), (another broken white man, heh – and I was gearing up for the post-credits scene to involve Thanozzzz) the main white character. I remember thinking Ross couldn’t die because thy surely have to have him cross paths with Dr Strange. And I’m going to stop listing people now.
But I don’t think anyone worried about T’Chaila’s death. Having said that, I thought the script was very tight on its Chekhov’s guns. It brought most of what you want from a blockbuster humour; cool action (though everything was better when it was well lit); real, justified anger and relevance; and a slant that is (sadly) refreshing because we haven’t seen a big budget superhero film like this, where the hero, the villain and eight out of ten of the main players are black, before, have we? (I hope WW2, and for that matter Captain Marvel, gain the courage to cast even more women).
I tried to look out for the infamous Welsh flag, but I missed it, so clearly I will need to go see the film again. For now, I’m going to go and read a pile of reviews, from which I hope to glean clarity about the timing.