I was tempted to create a thread on it but wasn't sure if movies/TV stuff was appropriate to post about.
I saw it a few days after opening weekend. I thought it was really good. Not as good as CA: Winter Soldier, as I still feel that's been Marvel's best so far, but it was still a good flick.
Having said that...it also has problems.
**Mild spoilers ahead**
It's incredibly predictable, from the totally obvious "you know the enemy he spared at the beginning will become his ally later" right down to the "saw coming a mile away" deus ex machina army in the final battle. The Black Panther CGI was horrendous and made him look like Gumby, and I was scratching my head at how such a big budget superhero flick in 2018 had CGI that was late 90s bad.
The plot is basically The Lion King, right down to the bad guy cousin (rather than uncle) taking over the kingdom and who's covered in...wait for it..."scars." Also, when Killmonger brings Klaus' body to Wakanda, he just happens - by the greatest coincidence in the universe - to walk right up to the one guy who both wanted Klaus dead and is guaranteed to turn on T'Challa because of it. How convenient.
A large chunk of it felt nearly plot-point-for-plot-point ripped off from the season 3 midseason finale of Arrow. For those who have seen BP, but don't watch Arrow, see if this sounds familiar:
Oliver Queen (Arrow) is challenged by Ra's al Ghul to a duel to the death for leadership of the League of Assassins. They meet on a cliff to have a final battle with swords/knives. Each make some cuts to the other, and it seems for a brief moment that Oliver will win. Until Ra's suddenly goes beast mode and beats him down, stabs him, and then throws him off the side of the cliff.
With Oliver seemingly dead, his family and friends are heartbroken as now there is no one to stand against Ra's evil. Later, we find out that Oliver somehow survived. How? Well, Oliver fell into the snow and it was very cold. The cold/snow kept him alive despite his injuries. A former enemy whose life he spared earlier ("debt-owing frenemy") found him, put him on a sled, and dragged him back to his home, where they used magic herbs to bring Oliver out of his coma and back to health.
Oliver then regains his strength, leads his people against Ra's, they have another epic duel/battle, and this time Oliver stabs him, kills him, and takes command of the League of Assassins (his kingdom).
Sound familiar?
Don't get me wrong, I still liked it, and thought it was very entertaining, but it's a flawed movie (which certainly doesn't preclude it from being very entertaining). So, despite how much I enjoyed it, I'd be lying if I said it was a "masterpiece," like some of the critics who, to me, seemed like they were going overboard in the praise for fear of political backlash. Anyone who did their job as a critic and actually criticized the film (even if they were obviously wrong because it's a great movie), found out that
not thinking it was the greatest movie ever means they're obviously racist according to the lunatic far-left pitchfork mobs on the internet.
Mark Bernardin (screenwriter and podcast partner of Kevin Smith)
wrote a review for Nerdist that sums up some of my issues with it. It's a greatly entertaining movie but could've been so much better with one or two story corrections:
I agree with Bernardin here. It's really good but had a few missteps that prevented it from being so much better.
I also think it's such an incredibly important film, culturally, that really needed to come out, especially now. It addressed some broad issues of race, xenophobia, and the morality of not helping others in ways that were honest, fair, and refreshingly not at all heavy-handed.
Most important, though, is its impact on people who don't look like me and who, even though many of them probably think Batman and Superman are really cool, maybe don't feel they connect quite as strongly with them because they can't see themselves in those characters as much. I think of not only all the black kids (and adults) in the west, but also millions in Africa and across the world who now have a big screen superhero that many of them can feel an even stronger connection to. And not just some second-rate hero, either, but a true bad ass (although, I think Wesley Snipes "Blade" character is slightly more bad ass because those first two Blade movies are fire).
The mental image I have of that kind of individualized impact reminds of
the picture of that cute little girl staring up in awe at the painting of Michelle Obama.
The cultural importance of this film, and the fact that it's just really entertaining, far overshadows its flaws. It's not just a really fun action movie, it's got some really funny spots too (mainly from Shuri):
1) "What are THOSE?!
2) "Don't scare me like that, colonizer!"