I posted this in its usual spot in the MCU thread, but I figured my review would be worth posting here too:
I got the chance to see Black Panther last night, so I figured I'd post my usual review for those interested (non-spoilery). Overall, I liked the movie, but just didn't love it. Starting off with the good stuff, I thought the characters were great, particularly Chadwick Boseman as Black Panther, Letitia Wright as Shuri, and Michael B Jordan as Killmonger. There was clear motives behind everyone. Shuri added some fun to a movie that needed something lighter, T'Challa was solid, even though I actually liked him more in Civil War, and I thought Michael B. Jordan was one of the better Marvel villains out there. Like the Vulture in Spider-Man Homecoming, Killmonger was a sympathetic villain with clear motives. Secondly, what was pretty good characters also led into a pretty decent story overall too. One kind of weird thing that throws you off at first is that this movie doesn't even really have the feel of a superhero movie, but is more like an Afro-black culture battle for kingship, power, and against racial injustices, with a bit of a James Bond flare. This was not what I expected at first, but once you adjust those expectations, it isn't too bad. Lastly, I do love the fact that this movie is a unabashedly an Afro-black culture movie with no attempt to be anything different. As a 33-year old white male, I have my superheroes and now it is time for others to get theirs. So, at its core, the strengths of the movie by far was its solid story and great characters, which is kind of what Marvel does best and par for the course. As for anything above par, I'd probably throw the villain on there, which is somewhat a testament to Killmonger, but also somewhat a testament to a long legacy of below-par Marvel villains.
Moving on to the not-so-good, while I found the story to be solid, something just seemed really off on the pacing. For one, did anyone else find the first 30 minutes of the movie to be SUPER SLOW??? Compared to other Marvel movies, this one took me a long while to get into, and maybe that was partially due to the expectation adjustments I mentioned up above, maybe not. Even the rest of the movie did and didn't flow like I expected, which at this point, I still just can't pinpoint why. Moving on, while there were characters I loved, there were others I found to just be alright and somewhat overrated like Lupito Nyong'o's Nakia, Danai Gurira's Okoye, and Daniel Kaluuya's W-Kabi. I know some people will call me crazy as these are probably some of the best actors in the movie, but I almost found their roles somewhat forced at times. Shoot, I almost forgot Okoye and W-Kabi had a relationship throughout the movie, and there was just something unnatural to me with the the two women's battle warrior roles. I'm a big Danai fan and I love her similar role in The Walking Dead much more than her role here. Again, I seem to be in the minority here and recognize that. Its just how I felt. Lastly, probably my biggest disappointment from this movie was actually all the action scenes believe it or not. For one, I loved how grounded, yet powered the Black Panther we saw in Civil War was, but this movie takes him to levels that are a bit too high and over-the-top for me, mostly due to his new suit (felt somewhat the same way in Spider-Man Homecoming). Minus the flying, the dude it pretty much invincible Superman now with no consequences to anything (example: falling scene), not to mention his ability to leap and fly around now has gone about 3 levels up. I get that they are trying to prove their advanced technology levels, but sometimes simpler is a bit better. I loved his suit and part in Civil War more so than in this movie. Secondly, to combine with that same over-the-top action came a lot of sub-par CGI in my mind, and I think the first problem somewhat fed the second one. The more you get out there, the more you have to use CGI in lieu of practical stunts. Shoot, add in the new color energy blaster component to his suit and at times, I swear I was watching Tron and not Black Panther, which I didn't find to be a good thing.
In the end, it is a good thing this movie relied more on its story than the action as I haven't been this disappointed in Marvel's action sequences since Age of Ultron, and both Ultron and this movie fell into some of the same pitfalls. Maybe me not loving it was also a part of too high of expectations fed by widespread media positivity, particularly on Rotten Tomatoes. As much as I hate to say it and as much as people probably would not admit it, like The Last Jedi, I do suspect that this movie's positive reviews may be a bit shaded by happiness surrounding some of its progressive agendas more so than just analyzing the movie for what it is. It is a good story and good movie, but just not a great one, at least in my eyes. Then, after that, the poor action takes it down another notch. Now, that isn't to discount some of the cool things this movie does through its themes and representation because a lot of those things are just great in their own regard.
Again, I'm a 33 year old middle-class white dude who has seen myself represented countless times in TV and movies for my entire life, while others have not. This is their time and it is long overdue, at least as a main character. I'll even admit that there is probably a significant part of why I didn't love this movie was probably simply due to the fact that I am not the target audience, and that is okay, and kind of weird to say for a Marvel movie, which are known for being as widespread targeting as possible with their audiences (they like to make lots of money). Maybe it is cool to see them being okay with a narrower target this time to make up for some things that are overdue. This movie is what it is and isn't ashamed of it, so at a minimum, I respect that. For those who absolutely loved it, I'm happy for you guys. For me, I'll be tossing it into the fairly wide good, just not great category, similar to its other peers like Dr. Strange and Age of Ultron. That isn't anything to scoff at either as I still love watching good movies.
