Black Panther

2/14/2018

The reviews for _Black Panther_ are all essentially saying the same thing: This is a great movie because it's so different from anything we've seen before, not just in the MCU but in the superhero genre overall, the villain is fantastic and _Black Panther_ is just a new and totally innovative film. Allow me to disagree (almost) entirely. _Black Panther_ is a great film, not because it breaks the mould, but because Marvel Studios has a successful pattern and _Black Panther_ adheres to it completely. Obviously the importance of a lead who is not just black but actually African is not to be understated, we have the least white cast of any superhero movie to date and they absolutely killed it, all very important socio-political stuff, to be sure. But the bones of _Black Panther_, the plot, the

2/17/2018

Overrated and overhyped. Definitely avoid. Watch on redbox if you must.

2/17/2018

This is definitely one of Marvel's best because the story is compelling and the characters are well developed. Black Panther and his friends and family must defend themselves and their homeland of Wakanda from the clutches of Klau (Andy Serkis) and Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan). Not only is the lead actor great as T'Challa/Black Panther, but the supporting cast does a fine job as well, especially the female actors. T'Challa is surrounded by smart, strong women. Marvel seems to break its villain curse with Klau and especially Killmonger. Killmonger is very well developed and even sympathetic at times, despite his villainy. He sort of reminded me of Tom Hiddleston's Loki. The action scenes and special effects are outstanding. Highly recommended if you enjoy comic book movies.

2/21/2018

Really good movie. Good story, lots of fun. This is what DC is missing.

2/26/2018

It was with some hesitation that I went to see this movie. I was afraid that it would be burdened with too much political and social preaching. Especially knowing how much the movie is praised amongst certain factions in our society today. Sure enough there were indeed some of that nonsense but luckily it was much less than I feared. I actually found the movie fairly entertaining. It is far from great, certainly very far from the insane hype surrounding it, but pretty okay. It is more or less a standard issue super hero movie on a big budget. Of course this means a fairly mediocre underlying story beefed up with lots of action and special effects. The story itself is a traditional revenge story with some black power stuff. Nothing to write home about but it works as a vehicle for the

4/13/2018

I was really surprised how much I liked this movie. There was so much going on; immigration concerns; the fight between saving the world and protecting your own country(sound familiar); the fear of an African country’s resources being pillaged; how best to handle the problems black people face worldwide; and many great authentic feeling cultural nods. All this while not being heavy or preachy. You can definitely eat popcorn to this. The villain; Killmonger, is great. Not great in that he is scary, though he is, but because he is more complex than some shadowy figure you should just trust is a bad guy because of visual effects or dramatic music. This movie isn’t just explosions and one-liners in an exotic location. This is a great movie in general. It’s always interesting. Ther