Black Panther - Review

Here it is folks, Black Panther. The most hyped film since Star Wars: The Last Jedi and one of the most hyped films of this year. So what do I think of it? To be completely honest, it was a little underwhelming. I know I am going to piss people off by saying that, but I'm not here to lie to you guys. This movie had some good parts... and that's about it. It didn't leave me wanting more, it didn't leave me uplifted like some other superhero films, and it didn't make me want to tell all my friends or even all of you guys about it straight away or even to go see it. Here's the thing, I am so sick and tired of every single Marvel film that comes out and the advertisements and the general talk amongst fans on social media always saying, "this is the best Marvel movie ever! Hands down one of the best films ever made!" I'm sorry guys, not every single movie that comes out can be the best movie ever. I started to notice this when I was going to film school. My time in film school was in between 2013 and 2017. In that time, I heard every Marvel fanboy come up to me and say, "Brandon! Oh my god! Have you seen *insert newest Marvel film here*? It's amazing! One of the best I've ever seen!" I heard that about Guardians of the Galaxy, I heard that about Captain America: Civil War, I heard that about Doctor Strange and even though I am not surrounded by Marvel fanboys every day, I still can't escape hearing the exact same things about Black Panther. In my eyes, it's not even close to being a perfect movie or the best Marvel film ever. If you see this movie and you genuinely love this movie, then more power to you and I'm glad you found a film that you love, but I encourage you, people, not to simply say that only because of the brand name itself. As for the movie itself, I found it rather generic. The world of Wakanda was cool to see for a little bit, the actual Black Panther T'Challa (I had to look up his name just now and that's never a good sign) I found to be a fairly boring hero, and the action scenes to be just your generic action scenes. Honestly, I don't have much to say and I believe it's to do with superhero fatigue. I remember being excited as a kid when I saw that there was going to be a new superhero movie coming to theatres. Now, because I've seen so many of them and there are tons of them coming out every year, it's getting harder and harder to stand out from the crowd. This film didn't do anything so different and so unique that I would feel the need to watch it again or rave about it to everyone. However, if you are not so immersed in the superhero genre or you are a kid and haven't experienced superhero films yet, then Black Panther is sure to knock your socks off. In all honesty, there is nothing really bad in the movie. There were no moments that had me shaking my head in confusion or disgust, it's just your standard superhero film. The two things that I loved in the film was Michael B. Jordan as one of the best villains that the Marvel Cinematic Universe ever had (too bad he barely has any screen time for the first hour of the movie) and that this film has great representation for not only black actors, but black filmmakers. Now, being a white man, I have my fair share of superheroes to look up to, but I am sure that some black kid (or any kid for that matter) will be able to look up to Black Panther just as I did to Spider-Man growing up. So can I recommend this movie? I guess so. Just don't expect to see the greatest film of our time. I think the hype just got caught up in the publicity of a black superhero on this scale for the first time. For that reason, I give the movie props. It just didn't entertain me as much as some of the other Marvel films did.