Road to Endgame: Black Panther (2018)

Black Panther (2018)

This movie, like Captain Marvel, is a minefield when it comes to reviewing it.  If you didn’t like Captain Marvel, you’re sexist and hate Brie Larson.  If you didn’t like Black Panther, you’re racist.  How can you critically review a movie if you are handcuffed only to like it and can’t bad mouth it?

I for one believe that a bad movie should be called out regardless of whether or not people will judge you for disliking it.  IF YOUR MOVIE SUCKS, I WILL TELL YOU IT SUCKS AND DAMN THE CONSEQUENC!

. . . That was a pretty dramatic build up for a movie I really liked.

The story is good, if average for a film about a King and the struggle for the throne.  It’s been done in Thor, Aquaman, Lion King, Hamlet, My Little Pony, Winnie the Pooh, Minesweeper. . .okay, I think some of those might be off the mark, but you get the gist.

Killmonger is a great villain, but in the end becomes an Evil Black Panther in the end.  However he is compelling as hell and played by the great Michael B Jordan.  One thing though, and it has nothing to do with the film.  Michael B Jordan stated he thought Killmonger would be able to defeat Thanos because Killmonger is smart dedicated enough that if he set his mind to it, he would find a way to kill Thanos.

I’m sorry, no.  Killmonger is a great villain and pulled off a full scale hostile takeover, but he would not be able to pull off the same thing with Thanos.  Killmonger spent his entire life building up to taking down Black Panther, and ultimately failed.  Thanos has several people spending their entire lives trying to kill him, 2 in fact.  Neither of them have succeeded yet.

However, the greatness of Black Panther is not in the broad strokes, but in the details.  This is a blockbuster movie made by a primarily minority cast and crew.  Most of the time these movies get ignored by the general audiences, or gets treated as an off brand.  However, this movie gets the same treatment and importance as any of the other Marvel heroes.  This is groundbreaking.  And it is really really good.  Not my favorite, because Winter Soldier and the Avengers movies, but I would hold on par with any of the Phase 1 stand alone movies, which is high praise considering they BUILT the MCU.

Now, I know Infinity War is next in release date, but I want to save that as the last movie I see before Endgame.  So next on the list is Ant Man and The Wasp.