I am no movie critic and this is not a review. Just the opinion of some boy somewhere in Africa.
The truth is…
The hype was well packaged and well sold as evident from the numbers ($476.6 million at Box Office) and this is all just down to top notch marketing. The marketing team deserve 10x bonuses for pulling off this great feat. I mean, which black person wouldn't want a black superhero especially in these "black lives matter" times?
Classic "feed them what they want but hold back some".
There are too many things wrong with this movie but I'll only focus on the domain I'm very familiar with and then touch on a few others with references.
Now the problem is…
Hollywood used to feel like the holy grail of movie making and an example for others but this latest attempt at depicting Africa, after the failure of Captain America: Civil War, is actually worse. At some point, I felt I was seeing a low budget Nollywood movie with the somewhat predictable scenes and dialogue. Could that have been on purpose? I strongly doubt it.
There was nothing special about the storyline, to me. It felt all too flat. I heard there was humour somewhere in the movie but it's either I missed it or it has refused to stick and thus explains my inability to recall it. Oh I recall; the scene where T'Challa was testing out his new suit. Must there always be a new suit?
I used to believe Hollywood put in a lot of effort into researching stuff they intend to use in/for movies but I doubt if I’ll ever be of that opinion anymore.
Not after watching a black girl get a Nigerian name (Okoye) and a Ghanian accent to boot. Where on earth is that done? Asides Wakanda that is!
Even Nigerians don’t all have the same accents and the accent of a Yoruba is a lot different from that of an Igbo. So where did a girl with an Igbo name get her Ghanaian accent from?
Also, isn’t there any other way we can know that you’re actually trying to depict Africa without having humans and animals run around in minimal clothings and desert areas? Like seriously?
So there was a tiny scene which was supposed to be at Sambisa Forest in Nigeria, and there were some scenes in Korea yeah? Checking through the credits at the end of the movie, you realise there’s a list of the members of a “Korea Crew” but no “Nigeria Crew”. Interesting. Should maybe explain why they got their accents all messed up yeah?
Or maybe it's a case of "what's there to learn about Nigeria that we can't get from our design labs already or from our shitty media outlets?"
After seeing this movie, I really can’t understand what all the hype was actually about. I can try to understand why the black folks abroad could have been excited, they barely know what’s true and what’s not, but how can African Africans come out of the movie theatre and all of a sudden want to be Wakandan? Total bullshit.
Black Panther isn't a movie about black liberation!
I guess the entire world went agog with the idea of having a black superhero but man, T'challa is too soft and confused to be anyone's superhero. He's definitely not my own hero.
Erik Killmonger would have been a more worthy black panther but he was allowed to die just like that.
After my amateurish rant, I went online to read what others had to say.
Let's begin here...
Even in a comic-book movie, black American men are relegated to the lowest rung of political regard. So low that the sole white leading character in the movie, the CIA operative Everett Ross (Martin Freeman), gets to be a hero who helps save Wakanda. A white man who trades in secrets and deception is given a better turn than a black man whose father was murdered by his own family and who is left by family and nation to languish in poverty. That’s racist. - Bostonreview
The article that contains the above quote focuses more on the inadequacies of the movie as regards Black Americans and the concept of blacks having to kill other blacks to get what they want. I'm not even going in on that because I know not so much about it. So you see how many issues this movie has?
T’Challa is the more balanced soul: a black man, an African, raised by a doting father and mother. Someone who knows his heritage, native tongue and what it is to be loved unconditionally. He is devoid of the insecurities and prejudices most Black Americans battle with daily. I believe those insecurities are brought to the surface in the form of tears or elation by many black audiences when they watch this film. - kpbs.org
Tears or elation? Really? I felt none of that. Am I even human at all? I'm really beginning to actually believe I am not human.
The Good Things About Black Panther
- The Women.
The first good thing noteworthy in this movie has to be the women. It was refreshing to see African women portrayed as being smart, strong, and independent. Gone are the days when African women were shown to be uneducated and weren't allowed to speak or act. Shuri has to be my favourite female character; she was awesome, smart and funny. At least the Wakandans can add that feather to their caps. It's something to be proud of and one that I am proud of.
- Erik Killmonger
This is my best character in the entire movie. Maybe because he is strong and decisive, knows what he wants and goes head-on for it. Could it be because Michael B. Jordan is one fine ass man? 😍 I'm way too biased to be an official critic.
These two, along with the regular Marvel graphics were the good things I could pick from this $200million project.
Now, I know many of you will disagree with my stance, and yes I added the only references I could find that corroborated my story so please do let me know your thoughts on the Black Panther movie and why you like it or otherwise.