After the events of Captain America: Civil War, King T'Challa returns home to the reclusive, technologically advanced African nation of Wakanda to serve as his country's new leader. However, T'Challa soon finds that he is challenged for the throne from factions within his own country. When two foes conspire to destroy Wakanda, the hero known as Black Panther must team up with C.I.A. agent Everett K. Ross and members of the Dora Milaje, Wakandan special forces, to prevent Wakanda from being dragged into a world war.
If I were able to post a one or two word review, it would either be agenda or uncanny valley. Everything I feared this film would do, it did. Indeed in a couple of places it even referred to the (*spoilers*?) the slave trade! Seriously? In the 21st century you are going to refer at least twice in the same film to the slave trade - which BTW if you follow the film's premise would NOT have affected Wakanda as they were cut off from the rest of the world!
The main character of the film is T'Chala - a character so depressingly dour and serious, he could be a candidate for depression. You have his younger sister - who is CLEARLY being geared up as effectively riri from the comics - she WILL be the replacement for Tony Stark! To best describe her, she is a light hearted Q from thee James Bond films - I liked her, she was fun, lively, bright, as a character a real find.
Andy Serkis was excellent, but far too underused - Michael B Jordan's "big bad"? I understand the anger, I don't get his ultimate goal - makes NO sense. The female bodyguards were the nearest thing to Mary sues in the movie. Really - beating up men TWICE their size with the SAME military background?
I MUST discuss the CGI. This is a MASSIVE problem.Sure Wakanda looks spectacular, but so did Asgard. It's the motion of the main characters that is the problem. It seems that whilst they can get stationary objects (buildings etc) virtually spot on now, the same can NOT be said for dynamic ones. If you have watched any of the trailers, you'll know what I mean when you see Black Panther do his somersault The dynamic CGI characters look crystal clear, whilst the real life objects have a faint blur to them. You can just see where the live action starts and the CGI ends. If the cars were CGI as well you wouldn't notice the difference so much, but it IS there, and because it seems 90% of this film is CGI, in the end it becomes very annoying.
as for the claim that this is unlike any other Marvel film - I beg to differ - unless you refer to how insular the whole film is, as it is based almost entirely in Wakanda. Which could be acceptable, until you realise most of the action took place outside of wakanda - in the remaining 5-10% of the film!
Winter Soldier was CONSIDERABLY better than this. Guardians was better and more fun! Avengers had greater scope.Ragnarok was funnier.
I know EXACTLY who this film was geared for, and it was NOT for your typical Marvel comic book movie fan. it had good points, The tech wiz sis has major potential, Wakanda looked spectacular (if you ignore the poor water animations (the ripples in the water looked cut and paste, watch MOANA for how water can be animated!) The soundtrack bore no relation to the action (action scenes sounded the same as the quiet moments!). But the worst "crime" was the agenda it pushed. There is NO Excuse for this, as they PROVED they can have strong storyline in Winter soldier.
So if you want a film with a dour dreary lead character, lots of uncanny valley moments, and LOTS AND LOTS OF POLITICAL GRANDSTANDING with no payoff, then this is the film for you!
Just remember The Godfather / Goodfellas / Star Wars / Schindler's List all barely broke 90%, yet THIS is supposed to be 100%! If you don't think the ratings for this are agenda driven, I've got a bridge to sell you!
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