So where do I start from? I wasn't one of those who in the craze of the moment flocked to the cinemas to watch Black Panther, I had found over time that overly hyped movies mostly fell short of my expectations whenever I ended up watching them. But I genuinely thought that with Black Panther it was going to be different, I hadn't seen any hype as this before, so much so that I went ahead to download a cinema dub-waste of time and data if you ask me. Now before I proceed I think I need to clarify that I'm neither a die hard fan of Marvel nor DC comics. I'm a fan of an incredibly good movie, plain and simple.
So yeah moving on. Let's start with the accents. Please was I the only one who noticed there were as many accents as there were actors? To the extent that Mbaku actually sounded like a Nigerian,at least to me. I thought Angela Bassett's accent was terrible until I heard Forest Whitaker speak,good gosh my ears froze. Even Lupita Nyongo who is born and bred Kenyan sounded forced. I think it is high time proper attention is being paid to the issue of accents. If you're going to hire non Africans to speak like Africans,please let them use the proper accents. Just like in Concussion, Will Smith sounded nothing like a Nigerian still his performance sailed.
And then the acting, please can somebody tell me what Chadwick Boseman was doing cause that did not look like acting in the sense he failed to really get into character and convince us that he is a super hero. For the most part he came of as a regular guy trying really hard to do good deeds, period. Mbaku on the hand sold his character so well that I imagine him more as a villain than the actual villain, asides the fact that he sounded like a Nigerian, I think he was the most relaxed in his role,really smooth. And Danai Guraira was also exceptional,she was the one who really sold the whole women empowerment idea as far as I'm concerned. Angela Bassett and Forest whitaker's acting was so bland I won't even waste words on them. But I think the most pathetic perhaps has to be Killmonger's character. I don't know if it was a scripting problem or a delivery problem. Killmonger never convinced me for once as a villain.He was so ordinary as a villain.In fact he comes across more as an entitled over spoilt brat looking for attention and who has fighting skills than an actual villain. Thank God his character died,maybe Marvel can come up with a more believable and worthy adversary as a villain for the next Black Panther movie.
And yes the one that pained me the most, the setting of the ancestral place. The setting of the ancestral place the first time Tchalla went there did look real and believable. But the second one was so obvious it was shot in a studio. I don't know if it's from watching a lot of movies that have nailed such scenes really well or from watching too many flopped attempts by nollywood to create such scenes, either way I don't think an error of such magnitude is forgivable.
Then something that really did tick me off was the emphasis on Nakia's barefoot driving. During the shootout in Korea,the camera kept zooming in to Nakia's barefoot as she drove and in my mind I was like are they trying to say something? Maybe that Africans actually walk barefoot and only put on shoes because it's the civilized thing to do or that we don't understand the concept of shoes because I really still don't get the point they were trying to make with Nakia's barefoot.
And now storyline. Good gosh the storyline was as straight as a ruler.No twists and turns whatsoever,very predictable. A very basic script.
On to the action scenes. Honestly I consider it an insult to the word "action" to call the fist exchange scenes in the movie "action scenes". Again very basic. The fights, all of them, were bland and tasteless. Didn't evoke any feelings of anxiety and excitement. The most painful,yes painful, is the scene where the two black Panthers fought, I mean could it get anymore boring. Such fight between two superheroes of equal capabilities should at the very least produce fireworks but once again,I was let down. Which brings me to the next question, what exactly is the super power of the Black Panther? I see speed which about every other superhero has. Strength which is also general. There's nothing peculiar you can point at as the Black Panther's powers. And then again is the power in the suit or in the herb? Cause it seemed without the suit, Tchalla and Killmonger were just regular guys.
Then comes the music. To me it seemed the movie gave off more American music vibes than African. I mean Kendrick Lamar for original soundtrack, how much more American could it get.
On a positive note however, I think the costuming was on point. The setting accurate and that's just about the positive things I can think of. So there you have it, my not so palatable experience with Black Panther . From a fan view we hope to see more from her
@Sleektee56@hotmail.co.uk
Olutosin Oreoluwa .
Now here comes my own view on this movie , I first came across the black panther way back being a comic book addict I was actually sold into the character and the story and yes the fact about him being a black super hero was quite amusing and refreshing then the news came out that it would get it's own solo story. Fans got a taste of the character first in civil war and some got hooked immediately, then we are told that the movie would be directed by Ryan coogler oh man was I intrigued yes I was ,here was a young genius director that would do something new for marvel movies.
There were positives in the movie but the negatives to me outweigh them by far.lets start with the movie itself about a fictional advanced black country who are very technologically advanced but are off the grid So as to protect its citizen and then the inheritance of the throne of wakanda wow what a story this may just be another Nollywood story for the effort put into it what were the script writers doing.
Then onto the lame jokes and attempt at homour by the movie the jokes are flat and most times very empty with really nothing to them. I really had to close my ears at a point when they kept on trying to make the jokes come off all to no avail.
Now a fault we don't normally associate with a marvel movie and that is character development. We don't really see the characters in this movie develop or grow into their characters we see tchalla already as a great warrior and funny enough a great king they make it seem so effortless we don't feel his struggle of the weight of the world on his shoulders nothing if that Sort even the villain kilimonger nothing but a little background story nothing to show how much he suffered or the hate for wakanda and white build up we are just made to swallow the fact that he wants all white killed ,etc. I would go on and on What about mbaku the challenge at the coronation of tchalla was quite rushed and no reason was given for his action. Simply put they did not give the characters enough back story at all.
Then we come down to Ryan coogler, the genius director this movie did not feel like his movie rather it felt like a compromise between him and the studio thus what we get as the end product is neither a marvel movie or a Ryan coogler movie thus the letdown we get as black panther .
I was actually bored at a point watching the movie.
The villain kilimonger played by Micheal b Jordan did not just convince he was too conscious about trying to be good and not flop like he did in the fantastic four and so he was just not himself. Seemed like he was just playing it safe and was not just into the character.
The background and setting was poor cause the director is just good with a handheld which do not suit the action scenes in the movie and close up shot of some scenes.
On the positive the costume was on point
And yes I love Shuri she is just a genius to be smarter than Tony Stark her hand shakes with tchalla are nice.
Also the African culture and heritage and attires were also good to see.
Overall I would give this movie a 5/10. For those that disagree with me let me ask you a question if this movie did not have the black Ish That Is the black super hero, the black country, the black race associated with it we all could call it a horrible movie , most of us like this movie not for the movie in itself but for what it connotes and entails and also the fallacy that it's about black supremacy, one dude I know actually said that black panther is the black community second coming of Jesus Christ I almost fainted there but thank God I did not. They really could have done a lot better than this.
The film stars the following people
Chadwick bosman as tchalla /black panther
Micheal b Jordan as kilimonger
Lupita nyango as nakia
Danni gurira as okoye
Letitia wright as Shuri
Wriston Duke as mbaku the man ape
Directed by Ryan coogler and a product of marvel studios.
Till next time wakanda forever
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