Black Panther (2017)

I heard a lot of great things about this movie, and so decided to see it at the theater, hoping I wouldn't be disappointed... and I wasn't! It really was that great.

Granted the story all plays out in an incredibly short time, to the point there's an all-out civil war that lasts but a few minutes, and the bad guy doesn't have time to grow in his role before the movie is really over. The threat escalates incredibly fast and then *boom* gone.

But that's the only downside. I love the characters. I love the tribal soundtrack. I like the Wakanda world, with it's rituals, rich history and heritage, and the people who live there. I love how different this is from the regular superhero movies - with the tropical milieu, the tribes, traditions, and the clash between old and futuristic.

I love the idea as much as the execution of it, and when it's all done I love the credits too, with Kendrick Lamar's butterfly-pimping music playing over a hazy and colorful choreography of characters.

It's a work of art, from the project beginning, to the project end, to Michael B. Jordan in his role, to the Black Panther himself, to the fall, to the museum scene, to the chase. The special effects flow seamlessly with the rest of it - only in the final fight does it feel like pretty much their entire world is greenscreened, and the villain does rush things and get a bit out of character... but he comes around.

I really enjoyed this movie! It feels like it could have been a whole trilogy. Like they really could have built up their world a lot more than they did before the final showdown, but I love what they did with it. It's refreshingly different, down-to-Earth, and most of it not in the setting I'd expected at all. Along with Doctor Strange this is definitely the best Marvel movie I've seen in some time. Maybe ever.

rated 5/5: friggin awesome

May, 2021

Black Panther (2017)

It's still good after all!

Watching it again now sometimes I doubted. When it seemed to be more jungle than I remembered. When it really took place almost entirely in Wakanda. When I hadn't seen any other Marvel movie before it, and felt like this being distant from the rest of the world was maybe less of an appreciative break than last time; more of an imbalance... it goes better when appreciated together with all the other movies leading through the Avengers saga.

And I didn't appreciate the special effects jumps either. And the heist scene wasn't as iconic as I remembered - it felt short. And the civil war scene was a little smaller than I remembered it... but overall... they've got it. When the credits come rollin' yeah man.

It wasn't as amazing as last time though, which is a shame, and seems to imply it might not be one for the IMDB Top 250 or similar after all, but it certainly is a good movie still.

Whether the somewhat lower score now has to do with a lack of concurrent immersion in the rest of the Marvel realm that amplify this, or that it's a more one-time-watch kind of perfection I'm not sure.

See review above for even great first-impression awe and appreciation.

rated 4.5/5: almost awesome

posted by Cyber on Tuesday, March 27th, 2018 (10:37 PM) in Movies, Reviews.
1,003 Hits / 587 Words [ Print ] [ Tweet ] [ ]

Comments

Keep track of the discussion via rss? Read about comment etiquette? Or type in something below!

► S3C
Thursday Dec/20/2018

it was a great watch, and the soundtrack was near perfect. Nice to see Michael Jordan in his first role since Space Jam. But like other Marvel movies, the story isn't all that memorable. I wonder what this movie would be like if given a Christopher Nolan crew...

btw why did you change the spam filter, this one is much easier to bypass
► Cyber
Thursday Dec/20/2018

Had to check his IMDB, lmao, but speaking of THAT Michael Jordan, it seems he actually is getting his first role since Space Jam just this year! Year 3000. That's the name of the movie btw. 22 years after his last one.

True, the story isn't one that sticks to mind in its entirety, just bits and pieces of it... but I don't think that's exclusive to Marvel movies, I'm trying to remember the Dark Knight in its entirety too and I do remember more but... some bits fade away. Some scenes were definitely stronger than others here though. Like the intro. It gets a bit heavy on the CGI in the final parts.

But you're not s spammer. ;) I had a separate plugin for that bit before, but have had a firewall with pretty much the same thing built-in, so I decided to get rid of the former. Should load a LITTLE faster the fewer plugins you run. Plus this one actually has some pretty nifty spam-blocking things hidden away. So far seems to be working really well.
► Cyber
Thursday Dec/20/2018

Let me know if you ever run into any weird limitations though. It doesn't use as straight-forward an approach as the other, but should be blocking all bots in the background; not being noticed as much by normal people.
► S3C
Friday Dec/21/2018

Dark Knight had a consistent, top-notch intensity throughout, and even though the story might not be particularly memorable, it was a complete, thoroughly developed, perfect cinematic experience. The Joker character is one to remember for the ages. Several conflicts and story arcs that mesh seamlessly together.

A more apt comparison would be Avatar. Except Avatar is even less original- the premise of "advanced white man with destructive technology integrates with tribal culture" has been done several times before (Pocahontas, FernGully). In Black Panther it was more or less the opposite. But I think Avatar had a more balanced story, where in Black Panther- was uneven like you mentioned. It takes a while to pick up.

Well, if there are hidden spam-blocking tools is the last visible option necessary then...there's a 50% chance of passing this one, the last one you had to guess the correct word...

Now that you mention it, the snowflake script seems to load slower in Firefox. I presume that's due to all my script-blocking plugins interfering with the functionality of websites (despite it being turned off for cyberd) as it runs fine on Microsoft Edge.
► S3C
Friday Dec/21/2018

also lol, Michael Jordan isn't in 'Year 3000'. It's a poorly produced amateur animation (I reckon it would score 2.5/5 on NewGrounds) that appropriates professional music and production company, and famous people's names. I guess you can put anything on IMDB now...
► Cyber
Friday Dec/21/2018

Yes, I agree Dark Knight was pretty much perfect. Story-wise I'm not sure this is lesser, it's more so the surplus of CGI that ruined it for me. I mean: that kept it from perfection. Great actors too. Maybe not Joker-level great, but they also had a very convincing villain here. And a main character you easily take a liking to. But yeah, it does take a while to pick up... maybe it wasn't as long as would've been optimal... the intro in particular feels pretty rushed with how fast you jump onward after that, but the museum scene: THAT kicks it off prett nicely. Reminded me of the Dark Knight too.

Interesting similarities to Avatar!

Well they're hidden BUT also somewhat related to that visible option. :) The system should know if you're a bot not so much by how you fill in the form, but by how fast, etc. It is possible to disable that bit though... good call. i'll disable it for a while and see if it makes any difference.

Oh! I really trimmed that one a couple years back too. Limited flake numbers and all. That's good to know though. Been hoping to really go through my JS some time, pack everything together and compress it better and stuff. Interesting to see if that makes a difference then.

Do you usually use Microsoft Edge?

Nooooooo. XD Aw man... shame... yeah it seems so. Space Jam anniversary thing would've been perfect a couple years back though.
► Cyber
Friday Dec/21/2018

...seems I couldn't disable that box after all though. the whole spam blocking thing's pretty heavily integrated with it...