Wakanda Forever! My Black Panther Review

[CHARismatic110]

SPOILER ALERT!!!!

I'M GOING TO TRY MY BEST NOT TO GO INTO DETAIL, BUT THIS REVIEW WILL CONTAIN CERTAIN THINGS FROM THE MOVIE THAT MAY SPOIL IT. SO IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT AND DON'T WANT IT TO BE RUINED FOR YOU, STOP READING!!!

Ladies, gentlemen, citizens of the world! Join me as I take you on a journey to a magical place. Sit back, fasten your seat-belts, and hold on tight. Next stop, Wakanda!

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few months, then you’re aware of the Black Panther mania that has swept across much of the world. This movie finally hit theaters this weekend (in the US anyway, I’m not sure if it premiered anywhere else before then). My overall reaction: IT. WAS. AMAZING! As someone who has been waiting impatiently for this movie to come out since June, I can honestly say that it was worth the wait.

Full disclosure, I’m not that into Marvel movies to the point where I’ve followed along with every one of them. I enjoy some of them. Civil War was the last one that I watched, and where Black Panther made his first appearance. Enter obsession. I thought his character was badass and I said that if they ever gave him his own movie, I’d be there with bells and whistles. They did, and I was (sans bells and whistles, I don’t think the other moviegoers would’ve appreciated that). Which brings us to present day.

STOP! In case you some how missed the first spoiler alert at the very beginning, here's your last chance to GET OUT!!! The rest of this Take MAY HAVE SPOILERS!! KEEP READING AT YOUR OWN RISK!!

I initially thought that you needed to see Civil War before going to see Black Panther, but after seeing the movie, I will say that it’s not really necessary. They kind of catch you up to speed in the beginning of the movie. I think that was main thing that I loved about the movie as a whole. Even though it’s apart of the whole Marvel franchise, you didn’t need to be versed in much Marvel to enjoy the movie. It could have very well been released as a movie unrelated to Marvel and nothing in it would have to change.

Where I was really surprised was when it came to the “villain” and how everything transpired with that. Here’s where I’m going to struggle not to reveal too much. If you’ve seen trailers then you should know enough though. And if you’ve seen Civil War or you’re a Marvel fan, then you at least know about Klaue. He’s linked up with another guy, Killmonger. And that’s where the plot gets thick. It becomes less about avenging his father’s death, which is what I thought the movie was going to be about, and more about the twist that I won’t reveal.

The action scenes were insane! I was on the edge of my seat half the time and leaned back half cringing the other half. I’ve seen other people complaining about the graphics, but I thought they were fine. The scenery was beautiful. His suit was awesome. And can we talk about the women representation?! The women warriors, better known as the Dora Milaje, were so damn fierce! Hell, every woman in the film held their own in such a major way.

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie from beginning to end. From the plot to the action to the acting. Everything. Every character was phenomenal. And as a person of color, it felt really good to sit in that theater and finally see a cast full of people that look like me not being depicted in a negative light. The overall messages in it are also great. I would 100% recommend that you take a trip to Wakanda and see Black Panther! You won’t be disappointed!

I hope you guys have enjoyed the journey. Thank you for taking the ride to Wakanda with me. Until next time, enjoy your visit and stay classy. See guys on the threads!

PS: Yes, I'm aware that Wakanda is a fictional place, but it's so real in my mind!

#CHARismaticOut ✌🏾❤😎

#WakandaForever 🙅🏾👑🙅🏾

[ladsin]

I did love the movie, but I have a problem with movies in general. I think they do a poor job of character development. To avoid someone saying that this is because it was a movie with black cast (which has happened already) I think this is a problem with all movies. This is why I wish that we would move away from big movies, and instead move towards tv shows. That said, I was really looking forward to Killmonger, I thought he was going to be the first Marvel villain that I could really sink my teeth into. I thought he was going to be really substantive, but I think they failed in drawing me in. All that we really know about him was that his father was killed by a Wakandan, and then poof he's an adult with a vendetta against the civilized world, sponsoring violent usurpations of power and the subjugation of others. This made no sense to me.

Picture this instead: Kid's father is killed. He is raised by his single mother who busts her ass to put food on the table when she is murdered walking home one night. Erik sits by as the police do nothing to solve his mother's murder, perhaps even having a character who says something like, "this is just what they do to each other." Fast forward Erik is hanging out with his friends witnessing police brutality, and the increased patrolling of his neighborhood. He's still trying his best to succeed and is himself a victim of being profiled. He tries to get into college, but can't afford it and can't get a scholarship even though he sees other people who didn't try as hard getting in. He then has to go into the military to seek employment. He fights in Africa and the Middle East where he's forced to do things that he wished he never had to do, all the while dealing with predominantly white officers who downplay the value of the lives they are taking. Then he finally reaches out to Wakanda, begging them to help their fellows who are suffering around the world, but they still turn their backs to him. Then his descent into madness is completed as he decides to destroy the traditions of the Wakanda, and he tries to provide aid to blacks across the world. As this happens though the countries he's given aid to just hoard the wealth and don't give it to the poor as he directed. Then he decides that the only way to help his people is to arm them to fend for themselves.

That's a killmonger I would like to see.
Still, loved the movie though, actually I was pleasantly surprised to find that my favorite character was Okoye.

[Other_Tommy_Wiseau]

it's not a problem with movies, but an mcu problem. 1 of the reasons why i don't watch them. they're fucking bad 85% of the time. they don't develop their characters well, or plot, or pretty much do anything well. i didn't read beyond that cause i haven't seen it and don't want to spoil it, although, i'm probably not gonna see it any time soon and will probably get it spoiled at some point, anyways.

[ladsin]

@Other_Tommy_Wiseau Good movie, one of the better ones I think MCU has ever done if I may be so bold, and my favorite character actually surprised me.
But I'd say it's not just an MCU problem, I think there's just not enough time in these movies to really do well at it.

[Other_Tommy_Wiseau]

i mean, i'm not knocking the movie in any way. i've had friends who've already seen it who also says the same thing about mcu movies and said it was really good. i'm also not going to prejudge the movie, but let's be clear, saying it's one of the better ones is not a high bar to clear. i think it's an mcu problem. not specifically an mcu problem as a lot of movies fall flat, but for all the movies mcu puts out, they do a dogshit job at making movies and have no character development or competent writing, even over the span of 4-6 movies for some of them... *cough* *cough* thor *cough* *cough* hawkeye *cough * *cough*

[ladsin]

@Other_Tommy_Wiseau haha fair enough.

[CHARismatic110]

I get what you're saying. And I think Black Panther as a TV show would be dope as hell! I did wish they would've shown a little more to Killmongers backstory but I want to say that part of that had to do with the reveal of who he was.

[ladsin]

Oh, you're saying that it was good to keep the reveal hidden? Bah it didn't do much for me. Now, if they made a Killmonger spinoff series? I think that'd be awesome!

[vishna]

@Other_Tommy_Wiseau yesss, wtf is Hawkeye even about? has good aim in and off the streets. big whoop

[vishna]

@ladsin would have been a great scene! I sort of just imagined everything he went through, lol *they left this black kid is a bad neighborhood, no dad, feeling rejected, confused* He grows up to be full of rage. me "ohh, I see."
but uhm yea, this needs to be a scene if there's a killmonger movie/tv show. it's seriously perfect.

[CHARismatic110]

I would def watch that! I could not hate his character. He's one of the best villains I've seen in awhile.

[ladsin]

@vishna Lol I mentioned a lot of scenes XD
One that I think would be particularly powerful would be one they could steal from American Gangster:
Frank Lucas: "My man. You know what normal is to me? I ain't see normal since I was 6 years old. Normal is seeing the police ride up to my house, dragging my 12 year old cousin out and tying him to a pole, shoving a shotgun in his mouth so hard they bust his teeth, then they bust two shotgun shells in his head, knocking it off. That's what normal is to me. Didn't give a fuck about no police then... Don't give a fuck about no police now."

That would be an amazingly powerful scene. Talk about sympathizing with a character? That right there would be one of the most powerful scenes ever on television.

[vishna]

lol I dunno movie stuff XD
uhm, everyone would cry then :/ showing a little kid's head being shot off. :;o :'o
yea, if they wanna go the dark route, showing all this would have helped. It was amazing how real he felt as a character, as in not flat (I'm bad bc I am, ha ha ha) I was conflicted about the ending but it was true to his character

[CHARismatic110]

@vishna same. Like it was kind of like you just knew what kind of life he had outside of what they said.

[ladsin]

@vishna Yeah, I don't know I like dark. I think it makes a person actually relate to it more. I don't know, perhaps I'm a little crazy though. I mean, if you want people to really feel emotion visuals are pretty important. I think that there is a bit of a worry about taking too strong a position though. I think this is not beneficial.
@CHARismatic110
I understand the allusion, but I think it would've been more impactful if they actually showed it, or at least discussed it.

[CHARismatic110]

I don't disagree

[ladsin]

Just to throw this out there as well.
I think it is important to let people know that the atrocities that happen. Many of my white fellows think that racism and sexism are dead. They don't even realize that, for example, many schools (where I'm from) didn't allow interracial couples until the late 80s. They don't realize that there are cases like Jon Burge (former police chief) who tortured black suspects, hooking them up to car batteries, chaining them to radiators, and suffocating them all the while asking, "you going to talk nigger? You going to talk?"

This, this is important. There is a reason that black communities feel victimized at far higher rates than their white counterparts. There is a reason that black communities group together into gangs for self protection. Etc

Letting this be known in a medium like movies and television I think to be important. Although I suppose there's a need to worry about how others would react to this info... I don't know

[CHARismatic110]

Bringing awareness to it I think would definitely help some understand, but there are some that are just set in their ways of thinking.

[ladsin]

"Hush-aby, don’t yo’ cry,
mammy’s little piccaninny’s gwine to get a present mighty soon,
When de stars am a-peepin’ and de moon it am a-creepin’
den yo’ mammy’s gwine to sing ‘dis tune,
Shut yo’ eye bye and bye,
mam will whip yo’ if yo’ cry,
Someone am a-comin’ thro’ de gate;
Go to sleep, don’t yo’ peep,
listen to me tell yo’,
yo’s mammy little alligator bait."
A song about feeding black children to alligators. This is stuff that people think just died out because a law was passed against it. This is silly.

Sorry, I'm getting a little worked up arguing against old voices from back home XD
I've had a little to drink so I get frustrated at the ignorance I dealt with growing up... Anyway! Thanks for the Take again XP

[CHARismatic110]

That's horrible! Don't go to that place. Come back to Wakanda.

[ladsin]

Hopefully I'd be accepted!
My college started the Civil War. Down the street from my home the old slave market stood tall. Across the street from that we had monuments to generals of the civil war. I had people pull me aside at McDonalds and tell me, "These fucking niggers aren't meant for anything more than plantation work. Look, they can't even make a burger in an efficient manner."

I would never claim that the people from my home were all bad, but ignorance most certainly abounded, as well as an unwillingness to listen to others.

[CHARismatic110]

Wowwww... thats sickening.

[Cheetah23]

I personally disliked Black Panther in Civil War as he had no background introduces to us and was sort of extra and rushed. Just this angry vengeful dude who i didn't care for.
So i didn't want to watch his solo movie, but my old friends wanted to hang out & decided on it, & i didn't wanna miss out on the reunion.
So i went, low expectations and interest... And man... loved it!!! In some sense, i wish it was set and released before Civil War so i could've known him to begin with, but i did love it.

I commend the dynamic between the villain and the hero, there almost brother-like relationship (one fallen to the darkness, the other was raised in blessed life, so he hates him & takes over, but at the end the good brother connects to him & feels sad for his loss). It was all good. Sheds light on how we "good" people can also create evil.
I loved the female warriors and cheered for them more than the hero at times, which was an interesting balance.
It was well done.

I do dislike the lack of visible development from the villain though, would've loved to see some flashback or story told of how he grew up since his dad's death to the point of adulthood where he's suddenly bad.

9/10.

[CHARismatic110]

Great response! And yeah I think that's the general consensus on Killmonger. We want moreeee! Lol he needs a spin-off movie that leads up to how he links up with Klaue.

[Cheetah23]

Thanks! Great mytake!!
Yeaaah haahaha he's too good of a character to have so little info on him. It's like teasing us haha

[SirRexington]

It was a pretty good movie. I liked how it made you think about who was truly the bad guy and if the bad guy really was evil or if you should have sympathy for the villain.

The action scenes were good, but I wasn't a fan of the kinetic suit. Seemed like to much of a cliche for me to throw a crowd of people away just by spreading your arms out wide with a badass pose.

I also didn't care that they killed Klaw off. Such a waste of the character. It's like this movies version of Crossbones. All hype and no real follow through even though Klaw was the most fun character in the movie.

I liked the comedy added into an otherwise serious movie.

[CHARismatic110]

I LOVED the dynamic between the hero and villain, and how they made it so you understood why he was the way he was.

[Belgie]

The criticisms against the movie fall into 3 camps : (1) Even though they are supposedly advanced, the movie shows them as needlessly culturally primitive. Just with high tech. (2) The whole edifice is nearly brought down by one ghetto kid. So it's a thinly veiled analogy how letting one of 'them' into the neighbourhood will destroy it. (3) It's overly PC. Not just in cast, but in its comments about aid, immigration refugees, wall builders, etc...

Personally I dismiss the third types of criticism but the first two have, if not some merit, at least some justification for them.

I liked the movie a lot. 8.5/10

[CHARismatic110]

But he wasn't a ghetto kid, just a kid from the ghetto. And essentially one of their own. But yeah, it can be looked at from that angle.

[vishna]

Nice review! I saw it Saturday and really liked it! :) I liked the plot a lot, I like how it focused on something you had NO idea was coming. I thought it was gonna be mostly about the 'obvious' villain, silly me.
Loved the characters too! I like how everyone was human and made mistakes, and I felt like these people really cared about each other.
I enjoyed the fight/action scenes too. The car part was super cool, though I felt the opening action scene was too dark and fast paced (my eyeballs weren't ready haha)
That wasn't a big deal though, there were tiny tiny tiny things (like with any movie) that I felt someway about BUT It was a 10/10 in my book and I definitely recommend.

[CHARismatic110]

Thank you! And yes, everyone played their part really well. And that villain plot twist! I was like waitttt! 😂

[vishna]

YES! I was so happy when it happened, finally haha, that person so deserved it. Then we could get on to the more complicated stuff.

[CHARismatic110]

Exactly.

[Shadow44]

(Some slight spoilers) I can finally read this after seeing the movie. I saw it last night and enjoyed the whole thing. I didn't even know this was coming out so soon until a couple weeks before hand (mainly because it has been over shadowed by infinity war). The trailers left me a bit skeptical but the reviews it was getting was good and I don't regret going to see it. I liked the way it made you relate and more or less feel bad for the villain. I also like the way how even though defeated the villain did get what he wanted and left off with an overall positive vibe.

[CHARismatic110]

Yeah. He was hard to hate because he had every right to be pissed, he just let vengeance and revenge consume him. And it ultimately is what led to his downfall.

[Shadow44]

That is true if he kept a calm head he could have gotten what he wanted, lived and probably have had peace within the Wakanda community, a plac eto live and stuff

[Topaz171]

I agree about killmonger! Yes he was a villain, but I seen him as a character that was rough around the edges more due to what happened to him as a child, which helped me personally understand why he became the person he was. Plus he also spoke truth in the movie about what’s happening in the African American community. As for my favorite character, I would say M’baku. I thought he represented a true leader in the movie, and he was hilarious lol. All the other roles were phenomenal as well. In all, I really enjoyed the movie

[CHARismatic110]

Killmonger was great. Like I couldn't really even look at him as a villain because I got why he was angry and radical. And there were so many nuggets of truth dropped throughout the movie. It was amazing.

[RolandCuthbert]

I would agree with your assessment. I thought it was a great script, great acting, and dialogue. I loved the story, the costumes, and the action. It felt complete and very polished. But beyond that it provokes an interesting discussion about one's responsibility to their group vs their responsibility to all of humanity. It asks questions about what should we as responsible human beings be doing to help each other.

That is what kind of moves it into the upper echelon of movies I have seen.

[CHARismatic110]

Absolutely. It goes beyond the movie and outside of the theater. The messages are very thought provoking.

[Mr_Titan97]

SPOILER ALERT:
It was OK, but I feel with all the Infinity War hype, it should have been better and linked more to the timeline. Some scenes were seemed unnecessary (Korea) and the Killmonger was flat.

I expected more from the BP, but he is just a man who drink a potion and has a suit. I feel he was never challenged and without the suit, he was a mere royal. He should have used his diplomacy and intellect to join the tribes and defeat Killmonger, but he got his suit and powers back 10 mins later.

[CHARismatic110]

I'm glad it wasn't too heavily tied to the other Marvel movies. This was his movie. Korea was to get Klaue. Which they did. The potion was important as far as seeing his dad. And not challenged? He was challenged twice and lost one of em!

[Nivinxus]

It's a very good movie for sure. I'd even say it was probably one of the Best under Marvel's belt. But there are a few nitpicky flaws from what I see but I generally overlooked it because of how well done the movie is. I pretty much agree with your review in most regards and I'd say anyone would be missing out if they didn't watch it.

[CHARismatic110]

Thanks!

[1truekhaleesi]

Awesome review. One of my favorite things to do is go to the movies alone. I love my family and my coworkers, but every once in a while the stimulation along with working a rough shift, is a lot to handle. Looks like I have a solid choice of what to see next time.

[1truekhaleesi]

I just saw the movie and it was amazing! I loved the general. She did not mess around.

[CHARismatic110]

I went to see it by myself too! And yes, Okoye was so badass!!!

[CHARismatic110]

I went to see it by myself too! And yes, Okoye was so badass!!! I loved her.

[jarofawesome]

But think, if main general lady had just put her foot down on her husband from the very beginning instead of waiting until after rhino was like "no i like this one *lick*" all of that fighting could have ended so much quicker and with less casualties. It was basically just a big lovers spat in the end. ---With rhinos.

[CHARismatic110]

Lol nooo it wasn't

[jarofawesome]

Everyone else fighting in that last battle the women in red vs the men in blue were just following the orders of their leader. Which is why when he laid down his arms they did too. It basically (key word) all came down to him asking his lover how strong her convictions were -that she would be willing to kill him for it. If his convictions weren't strong enough to be able to do the same to her from the beginning (knowing that they weren't seeing eye to eye on this during that brief look they shared) then he never should have charged in the first place.

[SuperNovaRoyalty]

I loved the movie and I love how Africa is represented, esp as a person of colour. It was great, the only off thing was the accents- most of the actors did forced ones but I only know that cuz I talk with my friends with that African accent for fun sometimes. Alsoooo T'CHALLA AND KILLMONGER WERE HOT OOOF

[CHARismatic110]

Lol well yeah, most accents you hear in movies aren't real. But I LOVED it. And the eye candy was def a plus

[JDavid25]

Well, they are actin, and don't have natural accents.. So yeah Also there are different sounds to accents too..

[Ripper_E]

I liked it, but I didn't have high expectations. I knew what I was going to get so I didn't leave disappointed. The only thing I was really disappointed in was Killmonger. Rather than feeling like I was watching Killmonger, I felt like I was watching some random angry guy off the street. Music was great though. and the whole movie was visually satisfying. The lighting, the scenery.

[CHARismatic110]

May I ask why you were disappointed?

[Ripper_E]

I already explained that.

[CHARismatic110]

Vaguely. Like what do you mean by instead of two g like you were watching Killmonger? I mean he essentially WAS an angry guy from the streets so...

[Ripper_E]

I liked Edward Norton as Bruce Banner more than Mark Ruffalo. Same character, but I thought Norton's performance was better.
Tony Stark is a genius and rich. Doesn't mean you get whichever rich guy you can find that's smart to play him.
I wasn't sold on Michael B. Jordan's performance.

[CHARismatic110]

Ahh, so you thought another actor would've done the role better justice. Gotcha.

[Kaneki05]

Totally disagree it was a shit film like most super hero films the bad guy in it wasn't even anything like his charter he is supposed be a radical nazi and his arm is supposed be giant metal super sonic wave inducing meachine that is not a hand that open up into it. Also bored me ten mins in so i stoped watching. I don't get why people always say super hero films are good. The only good ones they've made is blade and rangnrock to say it didn't have the charter rangnrock in it which was weird but that is honstly it from mavel and then there nextfilx shows are amazing like daredevil. But this film was another rubbish film but honstly the trailer proved it to me. Also credit to how the black panther suit don't anything like it

[CHARismatic110]

Sooo, if you stopped watching 10 minutes in... how do you how it was?

[Kaneki05]

Cause the trailer is bad and that 10 mins was and mate describe the rest to me and yes it is terrible

[CHARismatic110]

Riiight.

[Kaneki05]

Yep a bad film done by a company that does bad films

[xXiTacoXx]

Love how you pass judgement on the film without realizing there's more to the story and that the character you're bitching about isn't even the main villain.

[Kaneki05]

@xXiTacoXx actaully i am talking about one of his main enemy klaw he was such a waste of charter in this film also did you know killmonger outfit is supposed to look nothing like black panthers but in this they thought i know we will just make him gold instead and also the 2nd film is gonna be worse cause there are rumors of bringing him back but i bet he won't be resurected by mandarin will he

[xXiTacoXx]

I already know that Killmongers outfit is completely different from that in the comics, and I also know they could've done more with Klaw, but this time he just wasn't the main villain or the main focus so I decided to ignore it. It would've been good if he was so they could make a 2nd movie with Killmonger as the bad guy because then we'd have more than one Black Panther movie. If it were a t. v. show instead of a movie it would've been better, and we could see more depth in both the heroes and villains parts.

[Kaneki05]

@xXiTacoXx if they did it like the netfilx mavel shows it would probably of been good cause that way it would focus on both of them but since it was a mavel film it was bad to me like most of the rest of mavel films. But there is mavel film that i will enjoy that is antman 2 when it comes out

[0112358]

I don't think "supposed" means what you think it means.

[DanoMR98]

I read a comic with BP in it one time (Books of Doom IIRC), I liked him in that. After Deadpool I was convinced I wouldn't pay to see another Marvel movie but this one is getting great reviews (then again, I think Deadpool was too).

OP, am I going to get a Marvel movie that's somewhat predictable and kinda corny like many of the others? Didn't read because spoilers.

[CHARismatic110]

Lol I put in there that I wasn't a huge Marvel fan so I haven't watched all the movies. But I don't think it was predictable.

[Vulture051]

I haven't seen the movie yet but I suspect I won't think it's as awesome as many seem to because I've read the comics.
In the comics Black Panther is a condescending, hypocritical, Mary-Sue and Wakanda was a BS "f*** whitey" Mary-Suetopia (and still is nowadays, just less "f*** whitey") that is withholding the cure for CANCER out of spite.

From what I've gleaned from the reviews written by people willing to be real, movie Black Panther/Wakanda aren't extremely different from their comic versions.

[CHARismatic110]

Go see it

[Plumy]

I watched it with friends, it was nice how they integrated racial values and difficulties inside the movie, it looked more than just a superhero movie in my opinion

[CHARismatic110]

They did a good job of making it more than just another superhero movie.

[Halucinator]

okay! I stopped reading at spoiler alert😂😂
I'm really sorry editor🙈😛
by the way I wrote a review too some time ago
Kingsman: The Golden Circle -Movie Review by Halucinator ↗

[CHARismatic110]

Lol it's all good

[Allie_Oops]

I loved Black Panther. I think it did an excellent job on touching on racism not only between whites and minorities but just with blacks in general. Africans don't like us and they are leaving us in Africa. They don't want us back just like Wakanda did with the king's cousin. And I liked that they referred to white people as 'Conquerors". It's a pretty neutral term with a negative connotation but that's what white people are historically.

Anyone who hates this movie is just pure salty lol

[ryancg]

Yeah, but is it faithful to the comics? That's my main concern when it comes to these comic book movies. Everyone can sing its praise all they want, but if it betrays the source material, then I'm not interested.

[CHARismatic110]

You'll have to speak yo a fellow comic fan that has seen it.

[ryancg]

I'll probably just go see for myself one of these days when I have time.

[CHARismatic110]

You should do this!

[ryancg]

I probably will, I just don't have much time for going to the theater these days, so it'll be a while before I see it.

[CHARismatic110]

Understood

[Logorithim]

I've heard that this Killmonger was the bad guy. Can you discuss him a bit?

[CHARismatic110]

Yes, he was the villain. He links up with Klaue to pretty much gain the attention of T'Challa. He does. He kills Klaue and that's how het gets to Wakanda. He has a vendetta because Black Panther's dad killed his dad. Not sure how much you wanna know lol

[Logorithim]

OK, that gives me the general background, thanks.