Sorry folks but this one didn't go well for Marvel. I don't even know where to start. Acting was average, more like below average. Screenplay was as much ordinary as it could be. No surprise here. CGI was OK but it's somehow expected from Marvel. But I totally didn't like the idea of Wakanda. Hidden city in the center of Africa with tons of technology and advanced weapons and systems and so on. But how the hell did they build all of that? No explanation. It just happened. Yes, they have Vibranium, but they don't sell it. In fact they never did and for whole world they are just a bunch of shepherds and farmers. So where did they take all that money to build empire like this? I don't like movies without explanations and this is one of them. Almost nothing has been told about Vibranium whatsoever. Oh yeah, it's some super thing from the universe capable of anything. That's all the explanation you get. There are too many clichés we have already seen too many times. And we have to see them again. One example: I challenge someone for a fight because I want to kill him. And when I have the chance to kill him, what would I do? Kill him or throw him down from the cliff to the water where he can survive? But enough. If you hesitate if to watch this, I can recommend not to waste your time. Wait for the Avangers where you can also see the Black Panther. You won't miss anything if you miss out this movie.

Without much surprise (but with much disappointment), the one word to describe Black Panther is: overhyped. Black Panther in itself is not a really interesting superhero, but Marvel has proved in the past that it did not mean that the movie had to be dull. Captain America is even less interesting than Black Panther, but they managed to work around that by making the movies not about him but rather integrate them as a major plot arc in the MCU. No such thing here. Actually the opposite, they tried to make it NOT a superhero movie. So you get your _James Bond_ scene, your _Fast and Furious_ scene, your _Independance day_ scene, but not that many _Marvel_ scenes. I think it lost its way by trying to look more blockbustery. There are several good points, **the movie isn't bad, it's just uninteresting**. The whole middle half of the movie was actually boring. The cast in general is good. The fight scenes are generally ok. The Wakanda city looks really impressive from afar. Too bad you never actually see it. Visually, everything is pretty neat (if you don't mind CGI everywhere, I don't). Of the main characters, Shuri is definitively the more interesting. She's Bond's Q, but alot livelier and funnier. You also see her much more as you would another Q type character as she's also the main character's sister. Her role in Wakanda is huge. She seems to be the main engineer, urban designer, lead inventor, the vibranium reference expert, and all by herself as we never see anyone working in this huge lab. She seems also to be the person to go to when you need a doctor, instead of say, an hospital. That's maybe a little too much, but it's not like there are no equivalent in Marvel universe. Definitely would love to see her working with Stark and Banner. The best character by far, although in a way too minor role, is Klaue. It seems he could have been one of the best villain of the whole MCU. Extremely original, fun, half crazy with a Joker-like vibe, every one of his scene was perfect. On a similar vibe, M'baku turned out to be a pretty cool [spoiler]vegetarian :)[/spoiler] character. [spoiler]So it sucked when he was quickly dispatched to be used as an entrance ticket to Wakanda.[/spoiler] But Killmonger is actually a pretty cool antagonist too, obviously a lot less fun and original, but still. That is, if you totally ignore the ending [spoiler]where he turns out to be a little child crying on the inside that was just mean because he wanted his daddy and see a sunset in his homeland.[/spoiler] COME ON ! Seriously ?? Way to fuck up an otherwise ok character. The others are less interesting. Okoye is the cliche super loyal royal guard. Her husband sucks (what a waste of a good actor). Nakia is sold as an interesting character, but apart from [spoiler]picking up the plant[/spoiler], I don't think she does anything. Forest Whitaker plays Forest Whitaker as usual, a little less crazy, a little more mystical, but that's it. Martin Freeman's character looks like he could be interesting but firstly it's a little biased (because what character wouldn't be interesting with Martin Freeman ?) and secondly here he's mostly used to make the point that the token white guy should know to stay in his place when the black leads know best. I loved whrn it was mentioned that he was a foreign agent, with a duty to report what he saw, that's something that's usually blatantly ignored for plot reasons in this kind of situations. He wouldn't be a very good agent, or even person, if he didn't do his job. However, after that, nobody ever think of it again, least of all himself. The plot, it can even be called that, was pretty weak. The intro scene looked cool. The whole Wakandian ceremonial stuff (which makes a huge part of the movie) is ridiculous. The casino scene was a rip-off of a rip-off of a Bond movie. The car chase was ok looking but boring. I kept waiting for the real story to start. The only time where a little story happens is when [spoiler]Killmonger takes power and Nakia and co go to find M'Baku[/spoiler]. The final fight was ok, but a long way to be on level with other Marvels. The ID4 scene is totally out of place. The final duel is disappointing as it's in a full CGI place that's totally unadapted to make use of their powers. There's a minor point about the place of Wakanda in the world, but it's just extremist protectionism, staying hidden not matter what, on one side, that goes directly to "let's conquer the whole world" on the other. Nobody seems to have though anything else about it until then. A little plus: the kinetic energy absorption/emission added into the suit allows some really cool effects and fight actions, the only thing making it a little interesting. However he [spoiler]doesn't even use it against Killmonger when it's the one advantage his suit has over the other's. And what's the point of activating the train and the suit disabling thingie, they don't even fight once when it's on.[/spoiler] And a huge issue for me. I really don't buy Wakanda. Asgard actually makes more sense than Wakanda. 1) First the obvious: nobody knows about it. So no neighbouring country ever tried to go there. And nobody saw any sign of it growing. Because it should have been already pretty huge by the time they invented a technology that allowed to cloak the entire country! 2) They have vibranium, sure. But they don't sell it or exchange with other countries. Which means they are also self sufficient on absolutely everything else. 3) They're total non interventionist. So war and famine in other african countries ? Nope. World wars with tens of millions of deaths ? Nope. An alien race attacks the planet and they're the only ones with an equivalent level technology ? Nope. What a bunch of assholes. 4) We have a nice view of arriving in Wakanda, and then that's it. We never see the city. Well there's a scene where they walk in small streets full of dust, but that hardly fit with the skyscraper's skyline. Why would they keep streets this way with their technology. 5) Even if technology evolved, it does not seem the society did. Lots of antiquated tribal rituals and decorum. The kind of stuff that a society that advanced should leave behind. I mean sure it's fun for children and costumes and the once in a while ceremony, but advanced society usually get rid pretty quickly of superstition and religious ceremonial bullshit. The most important point of that being: 6) They still haven't been able to figure out that maybe, just maybe, having two half naked guys fight to the death with spears on a waterfall is _not_ the best way to choose a leader ? Also the king~god thing. Isn't that weird when everybody knows that it's just due to a technology that only the royals have access to ? 7) They still need to collect the heart shaped herb and crush it with a mortar ? They haven't found a way to extract the active element, industrialize it, even synthesize it as it's vibranium based ? [spoiler]Though they probably miraculously will now, as it's supposedly completely gone.[/spoiler] Storywise it's definitely the weakest of the MCU. Because it looks good and I really enjoyed Shuri and Klaue, I'd rank it slightly above Iron Man 2 and Thor 2, but the only other time I felt bored watching a MCU movie was the Captain America part of Civil War, and the first half more than made up for it. Not here.

Now Marvel has officially made a blaxploitation film. And before some liberal goes on about me being an entitled heterosexual white male and thus racist, let's set it straight. I love black characters done right. Spawn is one instance. Static is another. Static Shock the Animated Series is an amazing instance showing black communities, their problems, gang violence - and the good people trying to help. Black Panther is another thing entirely. It's self-serious and unfunny. It's ham-fisted in its message - using a stereotypical "African" accent just to nail in how "black" the characters are, and even the (quite terrible) song in the end sings "I hate people who feel entitled". The only white protagonist is referred to as "colonizer". There's no character buildup for the villains - so much that they might as well be cardboard cutouts. The mandatory strong independent female characters - remember, if you can only define a character as a "strong independent female", before defining who they are as a person, that is a comically bad character. As bad as the "testosterone-fueled bad-ass dude" and the rest of them. The CGI is cheap, the soundtrack is bland and not memorable. It is a sad time when movies think of not offending the overly sensitive audience, instead of telling a good story.

A letdown in what seemed to be the forever entertaining stream of Marvel movies. Everything about this plot was predictable and mostly un-entertaining. There were great parts to be sure, but overall I was severely underwhelmed. Other Marvel movies with unoriginal writing at least had good, refreshing humor, and good acting. This lacked all of that. maybe 2 enjoyable parts to laugh at.