Black Panther (Review)
Chadwick Boseman as Black Panther.
(Picture from disney.co.uk)
I thought I'd start out with a recent film. One which still seems to be breaking all sorts of records, earning a ton of money and hype from, well, pretty much everyone.
Of course that means Black Panther.
For those that don't know, Black Panther is the 18th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)*. The plot is pretty simple, T'Challa aka. Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) becomes king of Wakanda after the death of his father in Captian America: Civil War. All isn't so simple, as he realises he may not be ready to sit on the throne and we learn that anyone who is of royal blood can challenge the king...
Rewind to the weekend it came out and I'm sitting in a packed cinema, all hyped up from the "professional" reviews but completely obvious to the fact that in 2 hours time, I'm going to be disappointed yet again.
I'll quickly add that I'm SO disappointed because of being hyped up by other reviews and the press coverage stating it's the best thing since sliced bread. But I'll expand on pre-release coverage in another post
Where was I...
oh yeah...Disappointing.
Cast; fantastic. Acting; brilliant. Accents; mixed. PLOT: BASIC (at best)
I am the least imaginative person when it comes to writing stories. I could not write a story in English classes to save my life, but come on! even I saw the plot unfold in the opening 10 minutes...(might actually write a post on how few twists I saw coming in films...)
Anyway, I'm now going to have to issue a huge SPOILER ALERT on this now...
So the plot goes: Cousin who was wronged in past comes back to take the throne. He succeeds with the help of someone betraying. T'Challa then manages to take back the throne after people think he's dead. (though of course no viewer does) Learning new things about himself and what it means to be king he takes Wakanda in a new direction.
That is essentially ALL that happens. IT IS SOO DISNEY.
Now don't get me wrong, the rest is brilliant. The background around Wakanda and the "colonials" etc. is, well there aren't any words... The acting is great (Brits represent!). Great witty lines. Amazing action scenes. Absolutely love the soundtrack and the score and it's entertaining.
BUT (a Kim Kardashian sized butt as well)
For me, it is all sugar coated in a simple, uninteresting plot and it almost ruined it.
PS. Wakanda forever...
*(If you don't know what the MCU here's some help).
**Wakanda is a small, fictional, technically advanced nation, placed roughly in central Africa.
PRIMARY PLOT: Meh
BACKGROUND: Fascinating
MUSIC: Great
CAST: Chadwick Boseman, Lupita Nyong'o, Michael B. Jordan, Danai Gurira, Daniel Kaluuya, Martin Freeman
DIRECTOR: Ryan Cooglar
SCORE: Ludwig Göransson
RUNTIME: 2h 14m
SUMMARY: ★★★☆☆
Related films to watch:
ANY MCU FILM...but Thor: Ragnorok is better...sorry.
