My thoughts on Marvel's Black Panther
I've waited the entire weekend to pass before penning this post so you've had a decent chance to see it and if you haven't, please watch it before reading ahead!
Full disclaimer: SPOILERS!
1. I really missed the "money shots" in this film. The cool slow motion shots, the 360 degree camera pans, the prancing and trapezing. I mean, he's a panther for pete's sake. Where was the action! They had him in hand to hand combat and fist fights when he could be scaling mountains and buildings. I feel like they did a great job in spiderman with this and would have loved to see that here.
2. I loved the time and effort they've put into the costume, make-up, props, weapon design of all the characters. It's very native and organic to African culture and the effort clearly shows.
3. I really wish they took more time to set up Freeman's character. I feel like he dropped out of nowhere and was the generic american human representative. I loved what they did with Agent Coulson in The Avengers and Shield and wish they had a sequence in the beginning to set him up. When you have an actor like Martin Freeman who has that much gravitas, you need to justify him.
4. I LOVE that besides Tchalla, all major characters were women. Stereotyping got a kick in the butt here. Strong defined woman characters of a scientist, an army general and a spy, played by women was a delight and relief to watch. All three actors were fantastic in their portrayal and a big shoutout to them!
5. My biggest disappointment was the lack of a character arc for Tchalla. We don't really see him go anywhere. If he disagreed with his dad about the child, we don't really see him do anything about it. He fights when he has to but there's no initiative, no drive from him at any point in the film. He just exists. He needed to have that one moment where he becomes panther and owns it. That was missing and he just didnt go from hero to superhero for me.
6. I expected more in concept art for Wakanda as well. The city did feel a bit dim especially in comparison to the uniqueness in costume design. Asgard in Thor has a certain grandeur and nativity that we missed here. The main tower or kingdom was extremely generic and could have had a few architectural elements of African culture.
7. The plot could have been more riveting that a badly handled family feud. The villain was just not powerful enough and even he lacked that one moment where he went from bad to evil.
Progression in the characters individual storylines is crucial to make the overall plot click. Claw seemed a more powerful villain character and probably the combination of two would have made it evil enough? Also, Michael needed to work on his facial. If you're going to be angry for most of the film then you need more than one scrunchy face expression to portray it.
8. The Wakanda Tribes introduction sequence was also beautifully done. The black sand particle effects were gorgeous, the visual effects worked well in most places save a few scenes. I loved the tech and tools design as well.
9. A good background score is one you don't hear.Though it was good in most places, it did feel like generic african music in a couple of places.
10. I would have very much liked to see the issues of racism being addressed a little more in depth in the film but I understand that that wasn't the only purpose and jeopardising storytelling for it would be kind of counterproductive to the filmmaking process.
11. Kudos to Marvel for getting behind a character like Black Panther and making a film with majority of African-American cast and crew happen. The world needed it.
