I’ll be perfectly honest with you…
To my way of thinking BLACK PANTHER is neither a great movie nor the best in Marvel Studios’ highly successful big screen universe.
It IS a good film in all aspects. From screenplay and directing to acting, music and special effects, this movie delivers on all levels of expectations.
But what we REALLY have here is a cultural phenomenon.
A slice of cinematic creation setting out to deliver the Black Experience in a fair and unbiased way.
And in that realm BLACK PANTHER ueber performs.
No stereotypes.
Just straight-forward sci-fi, fantasy storytelling. And for that Walt Disney’s Marvel team must be congratulated.
BLACK PANTHER first appeared in Disney’s superhero blockbuster CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR two years ago which set the stage for what millions of fans will be experiencing this weekend in theaters.
The full story set in the mystical and isolated African nation of Wakanda where after his father’s death T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) becomes the new king of this hidden yet technically advanced nation.
But where he is now also forced to confront both external AND internal factions conspiring to bring him down.
Treachery, intrigue, action, music and visual wonders combine here to help the young king defeat his foes and secure safety for the people of Wakanda while preventing a world war.
And yes there will be more of T’Challa as the post-credit scenes proclaim.
All that plus first-rate support of Chadwick Boseman’s top-notch performance by the likes of Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker and Andy Serkis just to name a few.
Early industry projections have the film opening to domestic ticket sales of $150 million.
But don’t be so sure. The numbers could easily climb to $160 million-PLUS!
BLACK PANTHER opens in 2D, 3D and various in Large Screen formats.
My grade: a solid B
I take it you couldn’t make up your mind about BP.
If you, or, anyone, EVAR needed proof of the Progressive Plantation’s Power over us all, think about this. Rotten Tomatoes gave this flick, 100% approval (Now down to 97%.)
Imagine the heat that would come down on ANY critic if he/she called it another run of the mill Marvel, Bullshit, Superhero Fantasy. And boy is it ever a fantasy. Super tech Africa.
That’s right, Africa, a super technologically advanced continent filled with spaceships.
Hollywood is SO intent on altering fiction into reality.
Meanwhile, Capetown South Africa is running out of water even though they’ve known for several years they had a shortage problem. Nigeria is an oil rich country, yet is just barely above the poverty line.
So all the vibranium in the world cannot change reality.
South Africa was a first world country just 25 years ago, with a standing military, first rate infrastructure and an economy that exported, as the “Bread Basket Of Africa” food to the entire continent. Now, it is awash in rape, murder, violence and descends further every day into the Hieronymous Bosch painting that it really is. The legacy of Nelson Mandella is a dysfunctional dystopia that is dependent on sustenance from other countries, who are forced to support it. You can probably get AIDS just from flying over Africa in a helicopter with the windows down. But sure, this hackneyed “We waz kings” trope is a great flick that explains so much.
The “Dog Whistle” in this movie, is in your face.
One of the cast members said that this (Wakaanda) is what Africa would have been like without white colonization.
Black Africans had dozens of epochs to thrive from the time of Lucy in the Olduvai Gorge. What happened is a macrocosm of the microcosm of South Africa and Rhodesia in this modern world.
I am not going to go see it, I probably couldn’t resit the urge to buy white popcorn. We all know how racist that is.
True colors flyin’ high there, Chuck. Wow.
You know this is just a movie, right? By your own admission, you aren’t even going to see it. So, why do you give a flying rip?
Besides, black folks must thrive well into the future. I mean, they’re in all the Star Wars movies.
When it comes to altering fiction into reality, white folks have been doing that for centuries. I only need to offer up any history book I had throughout my 13 years of public education.
Again, it’s just a movie. Cheers!
“Besides, black folks must thrive well into the future. I mean, they’re in all the Star Wars movies.”
Hey, Jim, everyone knows that the Star Wars movies take place “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away”
Not to defend Hollywood or anything, but Stan Lee and Jack Kirby introduced the idea of “Super Tech” Africa back in the 60’s when they created The Black Panther character for Marvel Comics…
DAMN…..FREEDOM OF SPEECH!!!!!!!!!!!
CHUCK TELLS THE TRUTH. HE TELLS THE TRUTH. HE TELLS THE TRUTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WITH NO BS!
I don’t get all the hype and virtue signaling for largely a C- Marvel character.
The movie is so “Woke” said guys who don’t know the character.
Wakaanda are isolationist, willing to exploit their natural resources. A Country protected….by WALLS. A country that doesn’t allow immigration. A country based on national self interest.
And it isn’t like this is the first black super hero on TV or film. Unless my eyes were playing tricks on me and Storm, War Machine, Luke Cage, Nick Fury, Cyborg, Falcon, Blade, Spawn, Steel, Meteor Man, Blank Man, Hancock and even Men in Black were all white guys/girls?
Here is one part of one review, which, in my opinion sums up most of the rest of the obsequious, pandering claptrap that suffices for continued sinecure in Hollywood and the MSM.
“Can one review Black Panther sans the identity politics? It’s tough because the story has no interest in being colour blind – it’s unapologetically a movie about the colonial legacy in America and around the world, about how white imperialism had subjugated and impoverished Black people both in poor countries and the poorest parts of its own.”
Because, you know, without evil whites, Africa would be, as I said, a technologically advanced Nivarna where everyone except maybe the fuckin Jetson’s would have a flying car. There were none, no “impoverished black people” until Whitey showed up. Before that, they were all living in split levels sweating bullets about their kids spilling oatmeal on the new carpet.
Aren’t Disney, Coke, McDonald’s, etc still engaging in white (American, to be precise) economic/cultural imperialism?
I wonder if Disney execs see the irony of releasing this movie throughout the world.