My (extremely late) Black Panther Review

Posted on May 16, 2018 by Viktor VonGlum

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What I loved: The film was a successful genre mashup IMO: it was a super hero flick infused with spy film and Shakespearean drama element. Shuri served as T’Challa’s Q supplying him with advanced technology. T’Chaka’s slaying of his brother and abandonment of his nephew felt like Hamlet with N’Jadaka serving as the title character. Loved that the significance of Klaue and shades of N’Jadaka’s and M’Jobu’s connection to him were preserved in the MCU. Wakanda and its people were a wonder to behold with the Afrofuture aesthetics! I loved how seeming primitive items like a spear & the border tribe’s cloth were quite advanced. Those war rhinos stole the show during the final battle scene! Can you get more epic than riding a war rhino into battle (maybe a cyborg raptor riding a rocket rhino)? Also loved how elements from Priest & Texeira’s run (the Dora Milaje), Hudlin & Romita Jr’s run (Shuri), Coates & Sprouse’s run (Djalia) and Coates & Stelfreeze’s run (kinetic energy redistributed through the Panther suit and the technologically advanced beads) were seamless incorporated into the film.

What I didn’t dig: The death of Klaue & N’Jadaka because that they were such great villains and their absence created a void. In the same manner that Cottonmouth’s death in the Luke Cage series created a void in the sense such a rich and complex character was snuffed out too quickly. I rather Klaue or N’Jadaka get the Wilson Fisk treatment in imprisonment and rebuilding a base of power. Imagine if N’Jadaka was sent to a Wakandan prison and rallied his prisoners (W’Kabi in that number) and possibly prison officials to his cause. This could build up to the recent Nation Under Our Feet arc on film. Revealing Wakanda’s true status to the globe would put a massive target on the nation. It would make the super powers suspicious of them and probably institute plans to destabilize their nation (using men with training similar to Killmonger to accomplish it). I also don’t believe that sharing Wakandan technology with the world will improve it, especially in nations where a huge divide between poverty & prosperity exist. The rich would be the only ones that benefited and would probably try to make more money from their ingenuity. On the flip side, unstable & warlike nations would more than likely try to weaponize those innovations as well.

Where can you get: Your local BestBuy/Walmart/Where ever DVD or Blu-rays are sold