Black Panther (February 16, 2018)

[Shenrien]

The legends said it was true, and here it is.

[DrClout]

I would have let the kids in for this attempt.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[6souls]

[Andalusian girls]

finally scoped this, surely one of the best Marvel outputs but a couple steps removed from greatness. as previously stated the acting was exceptional all around, the movie was quite funny at times without resorting to endless Whedonesque quips, the world building was excellent and characterization likewise, Killmonger is maybe Marvel's best ever villain, Andy Serkis's South African maybe its funniest, really all the things stated in Xno's celebrated post. the film clearly had more to say than your average blockbuster, and succeeded spectacularly simply at representation in a cinematic world defined by white males, and a few token minority sidekicks + sexualized white females. it may infuriate the Ben Shapiros of the internet but is a welcome change of pace.

but
the internal dialectic was confused. Michael B Jordan's character (and his father) explicitly represented the current of black militancy that has long been present in the American colloquy (young Malcom X, Black Panthers, etc) who believe black liberation will only be achieved through violent means and view whites only as oppressors rather than as potential allies. historically juxtaposed with this was the Martin Luther King-inspired movement of nonviolent resistance, the attempt to progress within a reformed system and by winning over the majority to one's side. but in the movie Wakanda functioned not as the alternative to Killmonger's rampaging ideology but as A) an idealized power fantasy of an uncolonized African society, and B) as a surrogate for America on the international stage, a refutation of the isolationism that has always butted heads with the international leadership and engagement role the U.S. has struggled with in the postwar period.

most superhero films lack even a fraction of Black Panther's ambition and such internal dialectics are more often the domain of Dostoevsky novels, but though i applaud the effort it rendered an ideologically muddled project; a film that often speaks past itself. part of the issue may simply have been one of time, the movie crammed so many characters, relationships, plot, and world-building into two hours there simply wasn't enough space to fully breathe life into so many themes (though that wouldn't really solve the central conflict of black militancy V American engagement abroad being nonsensical). would have much preferred to see a two-part effort, with Killmonger ascendant as the end of a cliffhangery part 1, but i suppose Marvel's Infinity War timeline left no room for such. nor for that matter would their aversion to creative risk-taking.

all in all 5 Marcus Garveys out of 7. a few missteps from greatness, but this is maybe the first Marvel film that even attempted to reach the depth of substance of Nolan's Dark Knight efforts.

[Andalusian girls]

oh and Marvel's need for visual homogeneity between its projects left us with another muddled contrastless affair. whoever color corrects their films should be shot. Zack Snyder makes maybe the worst films known to man but any 5 seconds of Sucker Punch is more visually pleasing than basically anything Marvel has put on screen.

[Tyrath]

Do you like BvS and Justice League color scheme too?

[Anoat]

Did anyone notice the one line where

Spoiler: show

Killmonger was like "Are the spies ready?" and dude was like "The spies in New York, London, and Hong Kong are ready to fight." That had to be intentional, as those are the three cities Dr. Strange established held the sanctums on Earth.

[Fhloston]

Movie was fucking fire. My biggest complaints

Spoiler: show

The final fight was weak. Watching the tribes fight was more interesting. I feel T'challa should've talked a bit more to Killmonger since he was as pissed about his father's death and cover up as him. That final line with choosing death over bondage tho. Killmonger didn't go out like no bitch lol.

Also W'kabi's wishy washy character felt poorly written. "I'm mad cuz you failed the mission, I'ma back the new Panther. Ok NVM my wife is mad."

Movie score, supporting cast, plot, it was all great. Hard to tell what's in my top MCU films now since they keep getting better and better.

[Alistaire]

Because this was bound to happen

[Andalusian girls]

Do you like BvS and Justice League color scheme too?

didn't hate myself enough to subject myself to Justice League, recall BvS being oppressively dark but some of the black/white contrast was quite effective, particularly in the opening sequence. only got darker and shittier CGI-wise from there.

[chazzyphizzle]

i hope zack snyder eventually accepts that he makes badass montages and terrible movies and just becomes a opening montager-for hire

[Gredival]

i hope zack snyder eventually accepts that he makes badass montages and terrible movies and just becomes a opening montager-for hire

Snyder is actually pretty decent as a visual cinematographer in general. Like compare the bombing scenes from Civil War and Dawn of Justice and the execution of DoJ is actually superior (Synder has the scene progress outward and it feels like your view basically expands with the blast radius of the explosion vs Russo brothers using the generic cut away that is stylistically homogeneous of Marvel).

His films always look like how he intends them to look, and that's generally not a bad thing, but the problem is that he's really bad at telling actual stories about actual characters. And because the director gets to implement and change the script as it's filmed, you can't even just give him a good script and pray.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

[SephYuyX]

[Anoat]

Up to $700 million worldwide as of this morning. It also now has the #2 position for second week performance of all time, behind The Force Awakens. Confirms my theory that most white people stayed him on opening weekend and instead went this past weekend.

[Zetanio]

I disagree. I think people have gone twice.

[Zealot]

I saw it opening weekend and would have seen it again if I'd had the chance. This one is going to break the $1B mark, maybe by next week.

[Zetanio]

I saw it opening weekend and would have seen it again if I'd had the chance. This one is going to break the $1B mark, maybe by next week.

Definitely. Next week latest.

[Melena]

just 2 white guys.. prob be the lowest grossing marvel movie yet!

Just because I love hammering this quote. 108 Million in week 2. Second highest Domestic week 2 for a movie ever. Only The Force Awakens grossed more in week 2. Third highest Marvel movie now, behind only Avengers/Age of Ultron and expected to end as the highest grossing Marvel movie yet. At least until Infinity Wars hits.

[Dantrag]

Sadly I haven't seen it yet. Hopefully this week!

[Anoat]

In two weeks, Black Panther made more ($700 million worldwide) than Justice League made in it's entire theatrical run ($650 million worldwide)