Wholesome Rage: Black Panther

At the time this was written, Marvel's Black Panther was the most highly reviewed movie in history, according to Rotten Tomatoes. Which is surprising, because if you stop to think about it, it's actually a really not-good movie.

Comments

[Greed and Giving]

Don't trust Rotten Tomatoes because they are all biased idiots.

[Raptormind]

I don’t know about you but I just saw it last weekend and I loved it

[PropMaster]

I will say that it wasn't a perfect movie, but it was on-par with Captain America 1, which has a lot of similar issues.

[MrNumbers]

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Well you'd know about me if you clicked the link.

[B_25]

I thought I was the only motherfucker that didn't like the movie. Thank Christ for this.

[thatotherotherguy]

It reminds me of the ghostbusters remake. Lots of people are just trying to push that the movie is either good or you are racist so you better like it.

I haven’t seen it yet but it’s kind of annoying how people try to push opinion throught social judgment.

[MrNumbers]

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Both were extremely cynical cases too: Marvel does nothing to advance actual racial discourse here, and does a lot of regressive stuff. Ghostbusters intentionally astroturfed the sexism stuff to make that the leading narrative.

No, for real, they deleted supportive Youtube comments and mass upvoted the really sexist stuff to bring it to the top for their trailers, to give it that huge marketing hype. Extremely shady shit.

[thatotherotherguy]

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Yeah i guess. Make it about politics so people talk about it and that the news make a big deal about it. Then, you can just pass fair critism as bigotry to excuse the fact that the movie isn’t actually that great.

[superfun]

Honestly,you're right about it not being good.
Its FANTASTIC!

[Blue_Paladin42]

Eeeeeh, while I think he makes a good point, from what he is saying (I have no objective basis for the movie itself, I have not seen it. At this point I can only comment on how this review sounds.) it sounds more like it was an okay movie, rather than a bad one, but he is making a bad movie out of it.

Not thrilled that he apparently passed judgement in 15 minutes either. That's awful fast. It makes it sound like he wanted it to be bad, despite his statement that he was looking forward to it.

[MrNumbers]

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Hey! I wrote that. And it's not that it wasn't a 'just okay' movie I make a bad one out of so much as it was a 'just okay' movie that is sitting at the top of all time, above Citizen Kane, for movies, that made me pissed off and feel very cagey about having to justify the flaws in it to people.

And I spent about a year, two years as a movie reviewer for Novastream.com, and you know, have a film and media degree. It's not that I wanted it to be bad, it's just that I've had a lot of practice at figuring out a movie as quickly as possible, and what I saw at the start made me really hesitant to see more.

You know how when you watch a movie and you see a man love his wife very much, but she doesn't actually say anything that gives her a personality, you know she's going to die because the only thing that's important about her is her relationship to the protagonist? It's just what you get when you notice all the little tells like that.

[Caligari87]

Have not seen the movie yet, but I liked this article. Sometimes reading bad reviews negates my desire to see the movie at all, so I tend to avoid reviews in general (particularly negative-leaning ones). That wasn't the case here. In my opinion you managed to level valid criticisms without being overly harsh, which is a fine line to toe.

All told, I'm still looking forward to seeing the movie. I like the Marvel Cinematic Universe as enjoyable popcorn entertainment (even with its flaws), and I think this'll help enrich my experience rather than hurting it. I'll be able to enjoy the fluff and leave the film with context and understanding, rather than a vague feeling of unease at not being able to pinpoint the problems (as was the case with the Winter Soldier movie).

[Norm De Plume]

Are you thinking (for the editing) about Every Frame's A Painting's discussion of Jackie Chan and how he films Action Comedy?

[Jedimk Pony]

I agree with your review. The villians had my sympathy until he became the King. After that he was just another supervillian trying to destroy the world.

[Winter Storm]

There were a couple of small things that irked me on top of what you said, though they tend to be more story elements.

The cinematic universe introduces Vibranium to us in Captain America 1, as a extremely rare metal who's unique property is that it can absorb/dissipate kinetic energy. Then Black Panther comes along and presents Vibranium as some sort of magic metal Mary Sue. Somehow energy weapons, levitation, electronics, and even instant biological regeneration are all suddenly attributed to a metal that just absorbs kinetic energy. Need invincible body armor? Vibranium. Cure a bullet to the spine? Vibranium. Flying cars? Vibranium.

Contrast that with the technology developed by Tony Stark. There, he ends inadvertently inventing an energy weapon when trying to make a flight stabilizer for his Iron Man suit. The repulsors and the suit are only possible because he was able to overcome the biggest hurdle to that kind of technology existing today, which is energy consumption. The miniaturized arc reactor, based off of the reactor he had created in the past. While the technical specifics of the arc reactor are never explained, it gives a better explanation for the power and limitations of the technology Stark creates. "Weaponized repulsors are only possible with the extreme energy consumption that the miniaturized arc reactor can meet." Meanwhile... "Your spine was healed with Vibranium medicine... because it can." "These cars can fly... because Vibranium." "These spears shoot energy bolts because... Vibranium."

The pseudoscience aspect of science fiction felt pretty neglected in Black Panther. Advanced technology needs reasons for it to work the way it does, even if the reason is just as fiction as the technology. It grounds the idea of the technology in reality even when everything about it is entirely fictional. Captain America's shield blocking bullets and bouncing around for days is explained by the psudoscience, and thus "makes sense". Nothing involving Vibranium in Black Panther is explained, and therefore "doesn't make sense".

[DrakeyC]

I have no comment on your discussion of shooting and editing, my knowledge of film does not extend so deep. However, I do want to point out a couple things.

The movie heavily reinforces the idea that the benevolent dictatorship is the best form of government in a really uncomfortable way.

No, it really, really doesn't. If anything it's the opposite, it shows the precise reason why that system is bad - random psycho who can hit good is able to take complete control of government and there are no checks and balances to stop him. The Wakandans dislike serving him as a whole but go along with it because it's their culture and they are loyal to it. That's a recurring theme in this movie, the struggle to preserve one's traditions and heritage while still moving forward and growing. You see that throughout the movie, the past vs present themes.

Now, will Wakanda move away from a monarchy? Maybe, maybe not, that's for future films to explore, though yes this movie should have explored that idea more.

It was weirdly racist in a way that makes me laugh.

That was the point - Killmonger was so hateful and vengeful that he became exactly like the people that he hated. It's a "pendulum swings too far" kind of thing, he was oppressed and hated by white people so now he hates them back and intends to oppress them. I think it's a bit heavyhanded but it does warn about how one culture's hero is another's villain, and anyone can be racist regardless of ethnicity. It was weirdly racist because Killmonger was racist and motivated by racist views and goals.

The idea of helping people is left as a purely abstract ‘good’ thing

This sentence I just don't get. Because, yes. Helping people who need help is a good thing. It's kinda the whole basis of the superhero genre.

[MrNumbers]

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That's also a good one, but I was also more explicitly thinking of hbomberguy's

[MrNumbers]

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I'll quote Bad Horse's summary on why it supports benevolent dictatorship;

Nobody in the movie ever questions it, it works for good in the end, and it doesn't change.

The movie criticizes dictators, but it doesn't question the underlying government model; just what an individual would do with that power. It implies that the correct thing to do is make sure the right person is sitting on the throne, not that the existence of the throne is a flaw.

Also

This sentence I just don't get. Because, yes. Helping people who need help is a good thing. It's kinda the whole basis of the superhero genre.

It's the abstract portion I want to focus on; They say helping people in need, sure, but they don't show who those people are, and they don't show what that need is. That'd be too complicated. They don't tackle any of the underlying causes or problems of poverty, or how racism perpetuates by keeping a minority group in a segregated community, disenfranchising it, then using the resulting crime statistics to prove they're not people worth helping.

Did you know one in four black men in the US will go to prison in their lifetimes? 25%? That's a real problem.

You want to know what the actual problems of the community that Killmonger came from are? The one they only showed by kids playing basketball with a milk crate for a hoop?

They don't show what it means to help. They don't show any of the people in these situations. They exist only to be criminals or helpless victims devoid of agency when they are shown at all.

They say these people need help because helping people is inherently good, and we agree with it. But the movie doesn't spend any time actually showing the problem they're fixing, because that gets in the way of their simplicity.

[ponygrad]

Remember, RT isn't how good a movie is, it's what percentage of critics find it at least good.

[Kuairu]

The one big issue I had with the movie is just what you pointed out about Killmonger. People like to hype on the fact that the movie was made with an almost all-black cast and all-black staff, but if we're thinking by racial terms here, they still had a lot of white overreach from Marvel and their investors.

They couldn't really explore the machinations behind why Killmonger went from racially motivated lost son of Wakanda to destructive dictator (as if they haven't had a bad leader before and put restrictions in place to stop crazier kings), because doing so would have probably alienated white audiences even more then they wanted to, both in America and in countries abroad, like Europe. In the theatre some people whooped at Killmonger's last line of where he wanted to be buried, because they obviously did have the same kind of hatred inside them just like young KM did.

Also, knowing that Africans now have a bit of a love/hate relationship with African Americans sorta threw me for a loop in how Killmonger referred to other Africans and African Americans as his brothers and sisters.

[Bad Horse]

Dammit, Numbers, I was going to use the same photo in my post.

[Lithl]

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Then Black Panther comes along and presents Vibranium as some sort of magic metal Mary Sue.

Absorbing vibrations is the most noticeable and well-known property of Wakadan Vibranium, but not its only property. Wakadan Vibranium is literally magic, in that it can amplify magical energy. (This is the driving force behind Dr. Doom's actions in the Doomwar story.) It's also radioactive, which resulted in mutated humans (including multiple versions of Ulysses Klaw in different universes), the mutation of the Heart-Shaped Herb used by the Black Panther Cult, and the mutation of the White Apes eaten by the White Gorilla Cult.

There's also Antarctic Vibranium, which emits vibrations rather than absorbing them. The emitted vibrations weaken molecular bonds in metals, liquefying them. Antarctic Vibranium is an isotope of Wakadan Vibranium.

There's also an artificial variant called Reverbium, which amplifies vibrations.

There's also a real-world vibranium, but it's a smart composite material rather than a magical ore. It was created by Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (not to be confused with Elon Musk's Hyperloop One).

[CrystalWaters]

It did kind of leave a slightly bad taste in my mouth, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it or express it as well as you have.

Regarding the benevolent dictatorship issue, wouldn't a benevolent anything be better than the alternative because it's benevolent?
Or is the problem that a benevolent _____ assumes benevolence without it being guaranteed?

Oh! I remembered a problem I can express:
I liked Ulysses as a villain. They had fun with that they were doing without being insane and weren't serious-serious-serious all the time.
Plus we never found out where his arm-gun came from. If Wakandan, who made it and fitted it to him? Is it just setting up for Black Panther 2?

[Blue_Paladin42]

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Oh! I hadn't even realized that was your blog. Well, that's certainly embarrassing. (For me, I mean)
I can understand being upset that it ranks higher than Citizen Kane, certainly, though as was said elsewhere on this blog, take Rotten Tomatoes with a grain of salt. Especially so soon after release. It's easy to get hit with the spectacle of a film and them immediately go rave about how awesome it is. (See: Frozen.) And RT provides a platform for just that. (And a platform for the inevitable hype backlash too. A place like RT just isn't that accurate until the hype of a new release has died down.)

That's fair about being able to "read" a movie fairly quick, but even with that, things can change once a movie picks up steam. Action movies in particular. It sounds a bit like it ended up living up to what you expected, but at the same time, it is worth trying to keep first impressions from coloring your view of a film too much.

[Winter Storm]

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Given how everyone seems to just leave it laying around and walks through the mines without protective gear, I'm shocked that half the population isn't dying from radiation poisoning/cancer.

But see, this kind of information would have been something to add to the movie. They never explain how Vibranium can do all these new things.

[GhostOfHeraclitus]

For me, what's staggering about the movie is what a poor superhero Black Panther is. A superhero is as good as their weaknesses[1] because those make stakes possible, and without stakes, there's no story. The superhero must be able to lose.

Black Panther has superpowers you'd expect from kids playing pretend. He's as strong as he needs to be, as fast as he needs to be, and, oh yeah, his super-suit makes him pretty much completely invulnerable. And his sister is an omnidisciplinary scientist who has access to the amazing wonder-spackle vibranium which does... y'know. Whatever.

Ah, but this is the price we pay for the very first black-actor-led superhero movie.

That isn't Spawn.

Or Steel.

Or Blade.

Or Hancock.

[1] Even the ur-example of an invincible superhero (Superman, natch) has weaknesses. And not just glowing space rocks, either. Superman has been, in the best sorts of stories, defined by the weight of his responsibilities and how they interact with the great powers he has.

[Lithl]

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On Earth-616 (main comics universe), Ulysses got his arm cannon (on his other arm than the one in the movie) from the Belgian government after getting his hand mangled during the assassination of T'Challa's father. Other versions of him in different universes have also had the same (or similar) sonic disruptor weapon (which arm varies), without delving into the history of how he got it.

Most versions of his cannon are not made with vibranium, though.

[Multiversecruise]

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Superman has been, in the best sorts of stories, defined by the weight of his responsibilities and how they interact with the great powers he has.

Im a little late to this discussion, but couldnt the same be said about black panther? The whole story is kinda about his responsibility as king and his people's relationship to the rest of the world. He's the same kind of superhero as Aquaman or Namor. No matter their powers, their most interesting stories involve their people, because they are the king's vulnerability and strength both.

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The first action scene of the movie is Mr. Black Panther 'rescuing' his ex girlfriend from a caravan of slavers holding women prisoner for what is implied to be unsavory purposes. He's about to kill one of the gunmen when his ex stops him, saying that this particular guy is just a child taken from his village and forced to fight. She then tells that kid and her fellow prisoners where they can find safety and remarks that T'challa ruined her 'mission'.

This scene tells us three things about Wakanda's neighbors, in case we dont watch a lot of news:
-lots of sex slave traffic
-lots of child soldiers
-Wakandans could, with their technology, help there be less of the above.

This is further reinforced in several scenes where its explained the reason his ex left Wakanda was because she saw all the terrible suffering around them and couldn't in good conscience go back to living in their utopic city, and instead has been going around helping save people.

Anyway lets round this out with some quotes from the movie:

N'Jobu: I observed for as long as I could. Their leaders have been assassinated. Communities flooded with drugs and weapons. They are overly policed and incarcerated. All over the planet our people suffer because they don't have the tools to fight back. With Vibranium weapons they can overthrow all countries and Wakanda can rule them all the right way.

(This is referened again whenever Killmonger or Mr. CIA talk about how secret soldiers destabilize governments and stuff all the time to keep some countries down)

N'Jobu: No tears for me, son?
Erik Killmonger: People die every day. That's just part of life around here.

(This "around here" quote was poignant cause it was happening in a place that looked like that run down neighborhood with the jury-rigged basketball hoop you mentioned.)

Erik Killmonger: I want the throne. You are all sitting up here comfortable. Must feel good. There's about two billion people around the world who look like us and their lives are a lot harder. Wakanda has the tools to liberate them all.

Oh, check it out: this one is more about Ghost's point:

King T'chaka: You are a good man, with a good heart. And it’s hard for a good man to be a king.

Basically another "great power = great responsibility" kinda thing

[Post Script]

Black Panther was the most important cinematic shrug in all of history. Never before has a 'meh' resounded across the world with such force.
Also, Blade came out decades earlier, was a far, far better Marvel film, and nobody made a fuss about the film starring a black protagonist. This occurred in the 90's.
We are going backwards,