Now, I know I’m a bit late to the party, but I hope you don’t mind if I give my thoughts on Marvel Studios’ latest offering and the movie that has already broken record upon records within only a couple of weeks of its release, Black Panther.
Now, before I begin, I want to say that if you’re going to be one of those idiots who will immediately equate any negative feedback about Black Panther to racism, then get the flying fck out of here. This site has no place for dumbasses like you. That said, let’s get to Wakanda.
First off, I can’t say that Black Panther is one of my favorite movies coming from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s a good one, sure, but it’s nothing that I’d place right at the top of my list. The reason I say this is because that I think the movie’s plot is rather formulaic. There’s this “chosen one” that loses his place for some reason or another, then goes on to beat the shit out of the bad guy and eventually win the day.
But, speaking of the bad guy, I will admit that Michael B. Jordan’s Killmonger character shows how much Marvel has gotten better at writing their villains. He’s not perfect, though, as shown by how the movie disposed of the character right at the end of the movie, which I think is pretty sad considering how freaking touching, relevant, and meaty it’s been developed. And this is perhaps the only thing stopping me from considering the MCU’s Killmonger as the best villain they’ve come out with so far. So much so, that I was rooting for Killmonger near the end of the movie. The top spot, however, still belongs to Baron Zemo in Civil War, whatever you say be damned. Come to think of it, you can see how fcked up this world is just by looking at Zemo and Killmonger. Both had really heavy motivations to them, but which one got freaking stabbed and which one was only sent to prison (for future use). Then again, that’s just me.
What really stole the show, in my opinion, is Danai Gurira’s portrayal of Okoye. I will say this: she straight up outshined Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa here, from the flowing red dress right on top of her car to that intense scene with the Dora Milaje where they had to take that f*cking necklace off Killmonger. Letitia White’s Shuri, on the other hand, well, she’s fun. Let’s leave it at that.
Personally, I do not think Black Panther is anything special story-wise (there, I said it), but whenever I look at how much inspiration it’s given the disenfranchised peoples in real life, I understand why and how it became the phenomenon that it is. Yeah, I’ve grown to despise these capes and tights fare (though I still shell out my money for them because that’s how addiction works, kids), but I’m so glad that something that’s good actually came out one of these things.