Good Stuff
- My absolute favorite thing in the whole movie is the villain: Eric "Killmonger" Stevens, aka Eric Killmonger, aka Michael B. Jordan knocking yet another role out of the park. He's the real star of the show for me. His plan to use Wakanda for forcible social change is sympathetic, relevant, and has room to argue different perspectives on even though he's clearly just intent on destruction by the end; he's a pretty tragic character who's easy to root for despite the fact that he's heartlessly killing scores of people and will condemn more to death if he wins; and he's just so cocky and charming even at his craziest. He has strong similarities to Loki's characterization in the first Thor, but the things that set him apart are enough for me to overlook that. I really, really wish he'd been in more of the movie, because had he been a more centralized presence he might even dethrone Vulture as my favorite Marvel movie villain.
- Wakanda is a really compelling setting that I would have liked to spend more time on. They do such a good job with the architecture, the costume design, the technological aesthetic, the political structure, etc that I just wanted to see more of it. Trips outside to real-world locales felt lame and dry by comparison, because all of the time spent in Korea and London could have been spent developing the internal conflicts and elaborating on certain aspects of the society that are still a little vague by the end. I would gladly have watched the first hour be nothing but political struggles and moral conflicts from T'Challa on the throne, just to see more of this lush world.
- Not really a weak spot in the supporting cast. Everyone has their personal scene-stealer, but while I liked M'Baku well enough, Otoye and her legion of kickass bald warrior-spy women were a real standout for me. I guess I was a little hazy on Forest Whitaker's character even after his importance was revealed, to the point that his death being the key emotional twist of the second act didn't work for me, but he wasn't bad and served his purpose well.
- Hey, Martin Freeman actually gets a lot of things to do as Everett Ross other than be a dull CIA guy! I hate to see his talents wasted, as they too often are, so this was a great showcase for his character to come into his own. He's one of the few sources of comic relief that works semi-well, and his subtle character arc felt natural. He kind of reminded me of Skurge from Thor: Ragnarok, and had he wound up sacrificing himself like Skurge when that jet was shooting his barrier, it would have felt just as earned. I'm actually looking forward to his return appearances now.
- While I'm not that into Kendrick Lamar's music, and so can't examine it in-depth, the soundtrack he composed was certainly unique compared to a lot of its predecessors.
- I liked the fact that by having to mortally injure Killmonger and being denied the chance to save him from succumbing, T'Challa was forced to repeat his father's mistake. While it wasn't necessarily a satisfying end for Killmonger, it was one of the few points where T'Challa felt like a fluid character and the whole "conflicted king" angle actually paid off.
- The whole Wakandan outreach center resolution and the ultimate message (completed by the mid-credits scene) of the importance of working with each other globally for the sake of a brighter future for everyone. Nothing groundbreaking, but in this political climate, it's a necessary moral that's delivered quite well and ties together the themes of the story beautifully. Build bridges, not barriers, morons.
- Wakanda is a really compelling setting that I would have liked to spend more time on. They do such a good job with the architecture, the costume design, the technological aesthetic, the political structure, etc that I just wanted to see more of it. Trips outside to real-world locales felt lame and dry by comparison, because all of the time spent in Korea and London could have been spent developing the internal conflicts and elaborating on certain aspects of the society that are still a little vague by the end. I would gladly have watched the first hour be nothing but political struggles and moral conflicts from T'Challa on the throne, just to see more of this lush world.
- Not really a weak spot in the supporting cast. Everyone has their personal scene-stealer, but while I liked M'Baku well enough, Otoye and her legion of kickass bald warrior-spy women were a real standout for me. I guess I was a little hazy on Forest Whitaker's character even after his importance was revealed, to the point that his death being the key emotional twist of the second act didn't work for me, but he wasn't bad and served his purpose well.
- Hey, Martin Freeman actually gets a lot of things to do as Everett Ross other than be a dull CIA guy! I hate to see his talents wasted, as they too often are, so this was a great showcase for his character to come into his own. He's one of the few sources of comic relief that works semi-well, and his subtle character arc felt natural. He kind of reminded me of Skurge from Thor: Ragnarok, and had he wound up sacrificing himself like Skurge when that jet was shooting his barrier, it would have felt just as earned. I'm actually looking forward to his return appearances now.
- While I'm not that into Kendrick Lamar's music, and so can't examine it in-depth, the soundtrack he composed was certainly unique compared to a lot of its predecessors.
- I liked the fact that by having to mortally injure Killmonger and being denied the chance to save him from succumbing, T'Challa was forced to repeat his father's mistake. While it wasn't necessarily a satisfying end for Killmonger, it was one of the few points where T'Challa felt like a fluid character and the whole "conflicted king" angle actually paid off.
- The whole Wakandan outreach center resolution and the ultimate message (completed by the mid-credits scene) of the importance of working with each other globally for the sake of a brighter future for everyone. Nothing groundbreaking, but in this political climate, it's a necessary moral that's delivered quite well and ties together the themes of the story beautifully. Build bridges, not barriers, morons.
Not Good Stuff
- Unfortunately, T'Challa is a lukewarm element of his own movie, and after being one of my favorite parts of Civil War to boot. Chadwick Boseman does a good job as always, but he felt pretty static for most of the plot and I'm having a tough time pinning down what his character arc was since he remains at "I have to be a good king" mode the whole time. And while his fake-out death was a necessary character beat, it not only kept him out of the plot for the duration of Killmonger's reign -- once again keeping the hero and the villain from building a relationship on the way to the big punch-up -- but it also meant that he spent the whole time unconscious when he could've been fleshing out his character living amongst the outcasts.
- Ryan Coogler definitely stands out as one of the most workmanlike, uncreative directors the MCU has hosted, and I wholly believe people are only praising his work here because Fruitvale Station and Creed rocked. The direction and cinematography are utterly pedestrian, and the action scenes especially fall victim to the kind of chaotic rapid-cutting and lack of effective stage setting that I'd expect out of a stock Hollywood summer action movie. Any scene that's not outdoors or in an otherwise bright setting also suffers from extremely poor lighting and focus, and with all of this combined I often found it hard to keep track of what was going on even in simple setpieces. You only need to look at the opening jungle battle to see this exemplified.
- I'm no stickler for photorealistic CGI, but the effects really needed some more time in the oven, especially toward the end. Big parts of the army battle alternated between gorgeously realistic and looking like an early PS3 cutscene, and the battle between T'Challa and Killmonger was hilariously rubbery. Time constraints? Budget being shaved off slightly for Infinity War? Simple lack of care? Who knows.
- The plot, the plot, the plot... predictable at almost every point, sluggishly paced, and cut together so poorly that the Klaue material and the Killmonger material almost feel like the plot outlines for Black Panther and Black Panther 2 were simply melded into one. One needed far less time to be effective, and the other needed far more. The first hour was a nigh-pointless table-setting drag that cut into a lot of the time that could have been spent on character, world, or thematic development, so the good stuff in the second half felt rushed and anticlimactic. I was entertained while watching it, but it's one of the most heavily flawed narratives in Marvel's recent fold.
- Much as I love Andy Serkis and was looking forward to his role here after the setup in Age of Ultron, I wasn't hot on Ulysses Klaue. He was fun enough, but his hokey-jokey characterization and over-the-top performance didn't mesh with the tone often, and his display of pragmatic intelligence in the introductory heist went nowhere. The transition from him to Killmonger is incredibly jarring to the point of feeling like two different scripts stitched together, and he needlessly sucked up the screentime that should've been used to establish Killmonger more readily.
- Ryan Coogler definitely stands out as one of the most workmanlike, uncreative directors the MCU has hosted, and I wholly believe people are only praising his work here because Fruitvale Station and Creed rocked. The direction and cinematography are utterly pedestrian, and the action scenes especially fall victim to the kind of chaotic rapid-cutting and lack of effective stage setting that I'd expect out of a stock Hollywood summer action movie. Any scene that's not outdoors or in an otherwise bright setting also suffers from extremely poor lighting and focus, and with all of this combined I often found it hard to keep track of what was going on even in simple setpieces. You only need to look at the opening jungle battle to see this exemplified.
- I'm no stickler for photorealistic CGI, but the effects really needed some more time in the oven, especially toward the end. Big parts of the army battle alternated between gorgeously realistic and looking like an early PS3 cutscene, and the battle between T'Challa and Killmonger was hilariously rubbery. Time constraints? Budget being shaved off slightly for Infinity War? Simple lack of care? Who knows.
- The plot, the plot, the plot... predictable at almost every point, sluggishly paced, and cut together so poorly that the Klaue material and the Killmonger material almost feel like the plot outlines for Black Panther and Black Panther 2 were simply melded into one. One needed far less time to be effective, and the other needed far more. The first hour was a nigh-pointless table-setting drag that cut into a lot of the time that could have been spent on character, world, or thematic development, so the good stuff in the second half felt rushed and anticlimactic. I was entertained while watching it, but it's one of the most heavily flawed narratives in Marvel's recent fold.
- Much as I love Andy Serkis and was looking forward to his role here after the setup in Age of Ultron, I wasn't hot on Ulysses Klaue. He was fun enough, but his hokey-jokey characterization and over-the-top performance didn't mesh with the tone often, and his display of pragmatic intelligence in the introductory heist went nowhere. The transition from him to Killmonger is incredibly jarring to the point of feeling like two different scripts stitched together, and he needlessly sucked up the screentime that should've been used to establish Killmonger more readily.
Really Not Good Stuff
- I like that this movie went with a generally more consistently serious tone than most Marvel movies. It fits the story they're trying to tell and the character dynamics being used to tell it. But in the sparse moments they tried to have quippy comedy, it did not land at all. I can count my chuckles throughout on one hand, and for most of the attempts at gags, even the hyperactive little children in the audience were dead silent. And I don't think I've ever physically, instinctively cringed harder than when Shuri made a "WHAT'RE THOOOSE?" reference long after that stupid, stupid meme has vanished into the ether. Why even bother trying, guys?
- People normally bleed when they get stabbed with claws or impaled by spears. Like, am I crazy? Marvel's films aren't usually this tame, are they? Even when there's not a lot of blood, the non-god-based violence still typically feels like it's happening. Howard Stark got his head nearly caved in a few films ago, remember that? When Killmonger cuts Okoye's throat, it feels like a cheap school play where they just drag the prop in front of her neck and she takes the cue to fall. Not even a bit of darkness, like they gave Klaue's bullet wound. I don't necessarily need to see blood for violence to have weight, but at a point it just feels like you're sticking pins in clay dolls.
- Whose idea was it to cut the movie together so it feels like the main villain -- the most compelling, magnetic character in the movie -- has just over half an hour of cumulative screen time? Killmonger does one cool thing near the start, disappears for half the goddamn runtime while they chase Klaue around, and then pops up and has his story arc rushed through. And then they kill him off just to make it so they can't ever use him again! It was hard for me to root my feelings of him being such a great villain anywhere when he was in the wind for so much of the plot. Even if you needed Klaue to take up time so his death would be important, there was no reason you couldn't have cut back to Killmonger setting up his plans every now and then.
- People normally bleed when they get stabbed with claws or impaled by spears. Like, am I crazy? Marvel's films aren't usually this tame, are they? Even when there's not a lot of blood, the non-god-based violence still typically feels like it's happening. Howard Stark got his head nearly caved in a few films ago, remember that? When Killmonger cuts Okoye's throat, it feels like a cheap school play where they just drag the prop in front of her neck and she takes the cue to fall. Not even a bit of darkness, like they gave Klaue's bullet wound. I don't necessarily need to see blood for violence to have weight, but at a point it just feels like you're sticking pins in clay dolls.
- Whose idea was it to cut the movie together so it feels like the main villain -- the most compelling, magnetic character in the movie -- has just over half an hour of cumulative screen time? Killmonger does one cool thing near the start, disappears for half the goddamn runtime while they chase Klaue around, and then pops up and has his story arc rushed through. And then they kill him off just to make it so they can't ever use him again! It was hard for me to root my feelings of him being such a great villain anywhere when he was in the wind for so much of the plot. Even if you needed Klaue to take up time so his death would be important, there was no reason you couldn't have cut back to Killmonger setting up his plans every now and then.
This was not "THE SPECIAL MOST IMPORTANT MOVIE EVER A++ ONLY RACISTS DISLIKE IT" masterpiece numerous sites have propped it up as (and I have to guffaw at the ones saying it "finally breaks the mold" and "puts the entire lineup to shame"). It's good. Not amazing, probably not even in my top ten MCU movies no matter how much I admire about it. It's just really good.
But that's just, like, my opinion, man. This is a movie that warrants discussion.