This movie has a lot of hype around it. Marvel wants to break into a demographic with what you would be led to believe is their first black led film...if you have forgotten about Blade. They want you to this is as important as "Roots" and "Chaka Zulu" combined but it is more like "the Lion King" meets "James Bond". It is not as terrible as I feared, but it's not great either. Social media might even try to tell you it's racist to not kiss this movie's ass, so if you are into below average cgi, accents that come and go at random and every action movie plot cliche then believe the reviews the studios have paid for.Before you shout conspiracy, I personally been paid to write positive reviews for albums by record labels, and movie studios have much more money than record labels.
Black Panther got his start as part of the supporting cast of the Fantastic Four. He was a Bat-man of the jungle. His book has been cancelled more often than not due to the fact he works better as part of a team than on his own, and even this movie conveys that. When he appeared in Civil War, I thought Boseman was a little small to be Black Panther and when he appears shirtless on screen this fact is further hammered home. Boseman looks like he did yoga to prepare for the role rather than hit the gym. He seems unsure of himself as king, and the biggest disservice it does to the character is having him rely on his supporting cast for his tech rather than have him at the level of intelligence he possesses in the comics. Seems racist to me, but this is just one of the movies many flaws.
Klaw is well acted by Serkis, but nothing like the character in the comics, who most importantly doesn't die. He is not a pink energy monster, which might have been more interesting. I think he is also a better bad guy than Jordan who appears to be just another black guy with a chip on his shoulder a stereotype Hollywood has already gotten enough mileage out of. They are trying to tell you that he has a slant other Marvel villains have not had. A bastard who is shut out from his birth right and wants to claim the throne? Loki did that better. Man-Ape is also a villain who is wishy washy in his motives and I can't see giving in to help Wakanda.
The strong females are just as two dimensional as the Amazons in Wonder Woman. Most get confusing because it becomes hard to tell who is who if not for their hairdos, most act like teenagers and it seemed like T'Challa was kissing his sister at the end , until she pops back up when they go to California. Also the end scene with Bucky was meh and overall the movie did not feel connected to the larger Marvel universe. Why didn't it come up in Killmonger's big plant to take over the world with black power that he would have to get through the Avengers to do so and judging by the fire power in the big fight at the end of the movie Wakanda would't stand a chance against them. The Hulk vs Man-ape and the kissing rhinos...no contest. Iron-man vs Wakanda tech...no contest. Thor could have put an end to all that real quick.
They pretty much blew their wad with this one unless Nekra is the bad guy for the next film or they bring in the Fantastic Four and Dr.Doom, because Black Panther's rouges gallery is pretty limited. Just like the character himself. The depth of the rogues gallery should bring out different sides of the character... Spider-man is a good example here. Black Panther was more fleshed out in the comics than here. The last 30 minute began to put me to sleep which was the supposed climax, the fight vs Killmonger in the mine seemed like it was retread from any sci-fi action movie you might name and the space ships were pitiful. The big sweeping shots and afro-heritage scenes came across the most Lion King, I am glad I did not pay to see this and while it was not as bad as I feared, it feel short of Ant-man by a few degrees. It was better than Cat-woman or Steel, so there is that. Sure more racial issues are touched on than other Marvel films, unless you count the Hulk being discriminated against for being angry while green, I looked at it in terms of here does it stack against the comics and here does it stack against other Marvel films.
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