I am no movie critic and this is not a review. Just the opinion of some boy somewhere in Africa.
The truth is…
The hype was well packaged and well sold as evident from the numbers ($476.6 million at Box Office) and this is all just down to top notch marketing. The marketing team deserve 10x bonuses for pulling off this great feat. I mean, which black person wouldn't want a black superhero especially in these "black lives matter" times?
Classic "feed them what they want but hold back some".
There are too many things wrong with this movie but I'll only focus on the domain I'm very familiar with and then touch on a few others with references.
Now the problem is…
Hollywood used to feel like the holy grail of movie making and an example for others but this latest attempt at depicting Africa, after the failure of Captain America: Civil War, is actually worse. At some point, I felt I was seeing a low budget Nollywood movie with the somewhat predictable scenes and dialogue. Could that have been on purpose? I strongly doubt it.
There was nothing special about the storyline, to me. It felt all too flat. I heard there was humour somewhere in the movie but it's either I missed it or it has refused to stick and thus explains my inability to recall it. Oh I recall; the scene where T'Challa was testing out his new suit. Must there always be a new suit?
I used to believe Hollywood put in a lot of effort into researching stuff they intend to use in/for movies but I doubt if I’ll ever be of that opinion anymore.
Not after watching a black girl get a Nigerian name (Okoye) and a Ghanian accent to boot. Where on earth is that done? Asides Wakanda that is!
Even Nigerians don’t all have the same accents and the accent of a Yoruba is a lot different from that of an Igbo. So where did a girl with an Igbo name get her Ghanaian accent from?
Also, isn’t there any other way we can know that you’re actually trying to depict Africa without having humans and animals run around in minimal clothings and desert areas? Like seriously?
So there was a tiny scene which was supposed to be at Sambisa Forest in Nigeria, and there were some scenes in Korea yeah? Checking through the credits at the end of the movie, you realise there’s a list of the members of a “Korea Crew” but no “Nigeria Crew”. Interesting. Should maybe explain why they got their accents all messed up yeah?
Or maybe it's a case of "what's there to learn about Nigeria that we can't get from our design labs already or from our shitty media outlets?"
After seeing this movie, I really can’t understand what all the hype was actually about. I can try to understand why the black folks abroad could have been excited, they barely know what’s true and what’s not, but how can African Africans come out of the movie theatre and all of a sudden want to be Wakandan? Total bullshit.
Black Panther isn't a movie about black liberation!
I guess the entire world went agog with the idea of having a black superhero but man, T'challa is too soft and confused to be anyone's superhero. He's definitely not my own hero.
Erik Killmonger would have been a more worthy black panther but he was allowed to die just like that.
After my amateurish rant, I went online to read what others had to say.
Let's begin here...
Even in a comic-book movie, black American men are relegated to the lowest rung of political regard. So low that the sole white leading character in the movie, the CIA operative Everett Ross (Martin Freeman), gets to be a hero who helps save Wakanda. A white man who trades in secrets and deception is given a better turn than a black man whose father was murdered by his own family and who is left by family and nation to languish in poverty. That’s racist. - Bostonreview
The article that contains the above quote focuses more on the inadequacies of the movie as regards Black Americans and the concept of blacks having to kill other blacks to get what they want. I'm not even going in on that because I know not so much about it. So you see how many issues this movie has?
T’Challa is the more balanced soul: a black man, an African, raised by a doting father and mother. Someone who knows his heritage, native tongue and what it is to be loved unconditionally. He is devoid of the insecurities and prejudices most Black Americans battle with daily. I believe those insecurities are brought to the surface in the form of tears or elation by many black audiences when they watch this film. - kpbs.org
Tears or elation? Really? I felt none of that. Am I even human at all? I'm really beginning to actually believe I am not human.
The Good Things About Black Panther
- The Women.
The first good thing noteworthy in this movie has to be the women. It was refreshing to see African women portrayed as being smart, strong, and independent. Gone are the days when African women were shown to be uneducated and weren't allowed to speak or act. Shuri has to be my favourite female character; she was awesome, smart and funny. At least the Wakandans can add that feather to their caps. It's something to be proud of and one that I am proud of.
- Erik Killmonger
This is my best character in the entire movie. Maybe because he is strong and decisive, knows what he wants and goes head-on for it. Could it be because Michael B. Jordan is one fine ass man? 😍 I'm way too biased to be an official critic.
These two, along with the regular Marvel graphics were the good things I could pick from this $200million project.
Now, I know many of you will disagree with my stance, and yes I added the only references I could find that corroborated my story so please do let me know your thoughts on the Black Panther movie and why you like it or otherwise.
So I'll go easy on you because of the quoted text above...
I like your point of view but then how about we see the good in the bad. If they had not chosen/made a reference at all to Nigeria, I am pretty sure you would have mentioned that as part of the points listed on your reasons for critiquing the movie. Here is something you don't get, the movie is trying to incorporate several African cultures and create an Africa we so dream of. TBH, this is a major step up from the usual stick and stones mentality they have/had.
Furthermore, if our house of macro which is one the leading special visual effect company in Nigeria were to step up, we wouldn't have to have someone else define Africa for us.
T'Challa's attitude can be perceived as weak, at the same time, it can also be a major strength. Weak in the sense that he is slow to make us his mind and strong that he exhibits self control unlike how some real African kings actually behave.
Life offers choices, we don't say because WE SOLD OURSELVES into slavery (because the black man actually sold his kin more than even those that were forcefully taken away) and we were maltreated, that makes the white man the bad guy. Do you know black people are even more racist than whites, the only difference is we feel it's okay when we do it and not when others do it.
Erik's plan would have caused total breakdown of law and order. Give all the black people guns and do what? Kill everyone who stands in your way?? He ain't the only one pained, T'Challa watched a bomb blast kill his own father by Buckey Barnes and he still helped Bucky eventually. That is the true strength of a leader (African or not) and I am proud he is African .
Let us assume everyone pained now has a weapon, the "enemy" somehow gets their hand on the weapon and it's fire for fire, total breakdown, guess what? we become the savages we are calling others. Based on that Erik, though a firm king, was not wise.
Lastly, instead of yabbing Hollywood for not really involving Africa in the production process or post production credits, how about we tell ourselves the truth...we wake up and friggin develop our own movie industry. When Nollywood reaches that level of visual effect/CGI wonder, then we can talk about (or critique)a multi million dollar budgetmovie running into billions of Naira, but until then, we can only say awesome movie.
P.S. mercy is not weakness, it is the strength that is rare to find.
P.P.S. Maybe Erik should have drunk the potion that also weakened T'Challa too as Erik is well trained. Only then will we see if it was a fair fight.
Thank you
Lmao. We? A movie created by who? The Africans or the ones that have been groomed to always dictate to you how you should act?
This is supposed to be a critique of the movie so there’s no point dragging Nollywood into the gist. It’s just like me attempting to be a gymnast at the Olympics then turn around to give excuses after having a bad outing. E no follow.
Lol. C’mon. I’m sure the story wasn’t that boring for you to miss the fact that the portion was to take away the Black Panther spirit and make him an ordinary human. Trained or not, it isn’t anyone’s fault if you decide not to be trained. As long as they were both human, e no follow.
My issue with Africans. So because there’s no alternative, we should praise what we have by all means? Can’t we think out of the box? Can’t we see things for what they are? It’s why we follow leaders and religions very blindly.
Still not an excuse to take what you’re served hook, line and sinker!
Everything in life has flaws! Open ya eyes mehn.
I agree with this post Black panther is far from a perfect movie but it is also far from shit
Fi you know I love you yeah? I wanted to be silent about this shitty opinion of yours but since you chose to post it for all to see thus souring a beautiful experience for so many people who value your opinion, I have decided to add my own opinion to counter yours. You said
I totally disagree with you. You were either very distracted or you were prejudiced against the movie even before you watched it. The story line was simplistic yet brilliant. It was basically about T’Challa committing everything to right a wrong that his Father T'Chaka had done thus saving his kingdom from a tyrant who was hell bent on proving the strength of Wakanda to other nations out of hate & definitely not out of love or out of a wish to help other people. T’Challa’s Father had made a mistake in the past that birthed a monster and T’Challa corrected it by killing Killmonger. He also chose to learn from his Father’s errors and at the end we saw him begin a movement to provide the much needed aid to other nations.
It was a movie that was shamelessly African and rich in nuances of the African culture. There was an award winning statement in the movie where the dead King T’Chaka told his son, the new King T’Challa, that he was a very good man and it would be difficult for him to be a king. This is the truth in reality. Good men rarely make good kings/politicians because when the time comes to make tough decisions, they often choose to do what’s right than do what’s best. And this was eventually what T’Challa did when challenged by Killmonger. He chose to let his powers be stripped away, to fight a man who was obviously wicked and hell bent on destroying everything. As the king, he could have simply ordered him killed and his orders would have been obeyed. But he chose to fight fair and lost it all, thereby proving his father right. However the fates smiled on him and gave him a second chance and he was helped by N’Baku whom he had shown mercy in the beginning by not killing him after he had challenge his right to the throne.
He used both his strength and his good sense to defeat Killmonger and despite allof killmonger’s atrocities, he still showed him kindness by helping him fulfil the longing to see the beautiful sunset his father had promised him. What better leader could a people ask for?? You said Killmonger would have been a better king, that’s almost as treasonous as saying Adolf Hitler was a good leader!
In your critique of their accents you said
Guy what planet are you from??? Wakanda is a fantasy country and they reserved the right to pattern their language and accent after any African country! The fact that they chose to pattern some of their names and some of their accents after Nigeria was laudable! If you had taken time out to watch the movie without bias, you would have noticed that they patterned the accents of the different STATES/TRIBES in Wakanda after different African nations, some Ghanian, some Nigerian and several others. As Nigerians we chose to identify with them a great deal because three of their names sounded like ours Okoye, N’Baku and N’jobu. I’m sure Suri, Nakia,T’Challa & T’Chaka must be patterned after some other African country too. The movie may have had issues which people disagree with but ultimately it was a fantastic one and I must declare that I LOVED IT!
That movie with its flaccid, drab, middle-of-the-road plot has absolutely no reason to get that much hype. I think chief among the reasons it is enjoying all the spotlight is because it's a black majority superhero movie. I don't get why rave reviews can't be given to movies and art because of its content instead of because of its race?
The herd mentality!
I will see it ooo
Oga Fi
I thought I was the only one who felt the hype was too much. A lot of effort was put in place, I'll give them credit for that but I didn't feel the movie as much as I enjoyed the trailer. Maybe I'll stick to watching only trailers. Lol.
If you feel you are angry from seeing such a movie, try "Black Lightening", after watching a few episodes of the series, I got an headache from disgust.
The sweet thing about the whole black pant issh is that I didn't watch it at the cinema. I just jejely went online and downloaded it the day after its premier. So my vexation for the movie is minimal.
Have you seen "Roman Israel J. Esq."? Denzel Washington was the lead. If you haven't, please do n maybe you'll write an awesome review about it.
Wakanda Forever! 😂
@learnandteach01
I was going to give a very cute reply to this but since you said “Wakanda Forever”, go to Wakanda to get your reply 🙄
LMAO
Lol...
Epic response
Oh finally somebody speaks my mind on this movie. T'challa?? was that the possible best black panther available? well, vugar (gentle jack) will always remain our first black super hero. anyway, erik killmomger's leadership skills cannot be second gussed. on a scale of 1-10, i'l give the producer a 6.
The movie becomes the talk of the town due to the black man origin behind it. I was talked into watching it last week by a friend.
Africa heritage
African are fond of doing ritual during coronation and installing of new kings, this is evident in what was given to T"challa to drink by Zuri representing the oracle. Since the coronation involves the chance of anyone from the clan challenging the king for the throne i was expecting the same concoction to be given to the challenger. Perhaps m'baku was also given the drink he might have be a worthy challenger.
We see better part of Asian and Europe clearly shown to us in the movie but the only beautiful africa side we see is people dwelling among mountains and using animals as friends without any sign of healthy living. Let forget that we are told wakanda is a superpower but was there any African country like wakanda today? Even if there is going to be the European country will have broken their back bone.
Between T"challa and killmonger
Killmonger shows the always boiling blood of an African soil. T"challa shows strength from mercy. Mercy is not a show of weakness rather an appeal in solving difficult situation. Killmonger has the right to be a better person back home but he chose to be a tyrant.
He created the path he wish to walk in and with the mercy of T'challa he was granted his last wish though he had the opportunity to survive but refused it.
Lesson: Threading softly and allowing not allowing the sin of others to create bitterness helps in life.
Agent Ross
He was a fine secret agent who will eventually give wakanda a problem. African can easily trust anyone. T"challa thought he is saving a life but i see him digging a pit by bringing in Agent Ross for cure. He has technical be able to gather information from shuri about the technology of wakanda and there is a possible future of an imminent attack on wakande once Ross go back alive.
Argument: Is this portraying our strength or foolishness as a black?
The hype definitely messed it all up. For me, it's not a movie I can see more than once in fact.
The hype is always necessary, since its the first time a black super hero is shown to the world
the hype you talk of is a Hollywood thing, and it was necessary because its the first time a black super hero is being portrayed to the world
That's the funny thing, We Black people are always making a fuss out of nothing. There's nothing bad in that, but cliche stuffs like that should be clamped. Besides, making big box doesn't count too, cause a lot of peeps have been saying so as well. Disney just wanted more money and they got it real good. It's still counting too. LOL.
Well, I saw the humor and I liked it. I thought it was cool.
But now dt you mentioned it, there's really nothing special about the story line.
About the Okoye name, these kinda names can mean something else in another Afrivlcan language.
Finally, if I saw that writeup about being elated or shedding tears earlier, I wouldnt have gone. Not cool
It's sad to know there's no African crew. But Iliked the movie though
Lol
I sure had issues with the accent. I couldn't help but notice it.
Erik Killmonger would have been a better king but he had so much hate in his blood not befitting royalty. He was more about avenging his father's death. I don't blame him anyway, but he didn't have the interest of Wakanda at heart.
I totally agree with you on the women.
Shuri is also my best female character.
I like Nakai too.
Overall, it isn't a bad movie just over hyped that you would expect way much more.
You did a great job reviewing the movie.
Or rescuing the millions of other blacks out there from oppression? I'm not trying to be a conspiracy theorist but don't you see what's happening? Teaching you to be selfish instead of selfless. I'd rather feed the world than be content in my little corner.
Yeah I forgot to mention that part...
There was a lot of selfishness played out there. I didn't like that part at all.
But I still maintain that he didn't have the interest of Wakanda at heart.
Never seen the movie. It's hard for me to comment. Almost watched it yesterday though. Will watch it and note all my twinnie said. shining my teeth
Lol. I apparently enjoyed watching the "behind the scenes" clips a lot more than the actual movie 😁
Hahahahaha savagery!
No need to waste my 2k plus popcorn money.
You should go see it. You just might love it like the others
I wii wait and download
Hahahahahaha😂😂
I cannot laugh ooo
Me have not even watch the film self, but with the hype and everything i taught i was missing out something.
But with what i just read😂😂 watching it wpuld just be a waste of time.
Uncle @fisteganos, so it you they call 'fi'.
Nice meeting you😀💃
Don’t say that. From some of the comments here, it looks like I’m the crazy one so you shouldn’t base your decisions on what I’ve written. Go see it please!
Ohk then.
As for we wey never see am, please let's open a whatsapp group and cry...
@adejoke16 will be admin....
Fi, i just like the fact that you brought criticism to the table. We see things differently. It's all about appreciating every one's opinion and learning from it....
Come lerus goan see am naa
Oya come over! 😁
Right away
Lmao
I can't give my opinion yet, because am waiting to see it via my phone😊
Lmao. We know your type 🤣
Well done ma.
When my people(Nigerians) hype movies and when I get to manage to see it, I get disappointed, imagine the wedding party, THE CEO (oh God! total waste of my time)
I totally concur with this point @adejoke16
Thank you!
Drinking viju milk with popcorn and enjoying black panther
what were you saying?
LOL
Are you seeing it presently?
Nah,just whyning
U have just discouraged me from watching, maybe I should shelf the idea of watching it nigbayen?
I swear!!
Err... you might just love it like every other human.
You should probably wait for the hype to die down.
Sorry for your time
Now I feel like crying 😭 😢
Pele oo
LOL
There is absolutely no accounting for taste. We have folks around here are damn in love with the movie.
In any case, you did a great job by taking time to see what the movie is about. I really like your determination
Definitely! And the things that tickle our fancy could be so diverse in nature.
Now I'm wondering what demon made me check your review... I have lost interest in the movie now
Baby we will see it via our phones, don't loose interest yet!😁
So people are talking we can contribute as well.
Awwwn. You’ll be fine
Just see it with an open mind
In my own opinion, i love the story line, i love the performances, the costume design.. I f**king love the movie!!!!!😂😂😂😂
Lmao. Well I can agree with you on the costume design. The visuals were generally top notch. I mean, the budget was $200million!
Now I need to check this thing called movie out and see what it really looks like instead of continue reading everywhere online about it.
When my boss talk about it? I need to check it out
This one thing that pisses me off about Holywood movies. For crying out loud, Africa is not a savage continent where everybody is running around like animals half naked
They'll never learn. It's in their blood.
Now here is a 'bullish' way to look at it...i totalky relate to it! I tell friends to see the movie with a really large open mind otherwise its just your regular movie.
Now, how i saw it... I vame with the mindset of coming to learn and not critiquing.
Etc.
Disclaimer: all of those points and more made sense while i watched, can't really say now...looool
Your points are valid. I just saw the movie less than 12 hours now and I can barely remember it fully anymore.
Loool...
So true, damn you write bro!
I'm never speaking to you again.
Lmao. Couldn't have been more apt! 🤣🤣🤣
I find the comment section interesting; I know I would. No surprises here :)
C'mon! That's all?
Add some more fuel please! 😄
I'm staying out of the kitchen on this one.... CAN'T handle the heat 😬
Omg! Movie spoilers in the house. I have not even seen the movie what do I do now😢.
But the issue of a Nigerian in Ghana accent... fi c'mon now, naija babes do british acent these days now🙄
Well let me not talk much until I see the movie😎
#WakandaForever 🤷♀️
Mhen! I love this comment section and I should go watch this black panther. Then I'll know which side I'm on. Maybe the Fi side or the other side...