BLACK PANTHER

 

• Second time seeing it. We watched it when it was nominated for best picture
• I admire this movie for the things that are unique about it. The African setting and the diversity of the cast and characters provide a welcome non-white, non-American focus. The movie is also full of strong, independent, plot-important women. These qualities do make it stand out from the crowd
• Having said that, do I think this movie transcends the Marvel formula? No, not really. I was surprised it was nominated for best picture the first time I saw it, and it still doesn't blow me away after having seen everything that came before
• The action is fine. There are some cool hand-to-hand fights, especially the waterfall scenes. The setting is interesting. Not a whole lot of memorably funny parts. Most of this movie kind of just slips away after seeing it
• However, the one thing that stuck, both the first time and this time, was Killmonger. Considering I've complained about boring villains in the past, the villain in this one definitely elevates the whole movie beyond some of the others. Michael B. Jordan is super entertaining to watch, and his character's motivation has a lot of depth and nuance. Best part of the movie by a fair margin
• I've started taking notes while watching these things, and my notes for Black Panther included me saying, "Same old climax. People just flying all over the place." And it's true! The CGI, weightless, generic climax is something that has plagued a lot of the Marvel movies. I've even started wondering if I'm placing too much weight on the climaxes, and perhaps I should start to judge these movies more on whatever comes before. But is it too much to ask for an engaging, original action movie climax!? What is it about the way they make these movies that the big, final, super important action set-piece, the culmination of the whole movie, is so incredibly forgettable? I can think of only a handful of Marvel movies with memorable climaxes that stand out from the others: Avengers 1 and 2, Thor: The Dark World (I know, I'm surprised it stands out, too), Ant-Man, Civil War, Doctor Strange, and Guardians 2 if I'm being generous. Am I missing something here? Does anyone out there have an argument for the Marvel climaxes being good? Or did I miss any individual movies that should get recognition? I'm open to discussion