When we get to beast... the animation isn't bad but it isn't impressive, it feels a bit cheap, the beast looks a bit like the cowardly lion and the servants are a clever idea that just comes off a little creepy
The end phase feels like the movie has gone on a bit too long, poor action, it's focus isn't on the characters we wanted to see and there is an element of females being put in certain trope roles. There were some nice touches and moments
Me: 5.5 Sis: 6.0
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Watched Black Panther, had liked him in past Marvel film, heard really good things which may not have helped, I found it fine but overhyped, my sister liked it up to a point
In terms of building my interest in the Black Panther team and lands, it worked. The opening helped set up Wakanda, it fitted in it's magic and technology smoothly, the visuals were good and I loved the costumes of the tribes that both stood out and felt real. The royal family had fun dynamics, there was humour between them, I enjoyed the performances of Chadwick Boseman, Danai Gurira and Letitia Wright. It is good that I want to see more of the land, more of the tribes but I did feel characters like Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o), Okoye (Gurira hiding it via her performance) and W'Kabi (Daniel Kaluuya) feel underdone as characters compared to where they should be.
Outside of exploring this new part of the Marvel universe, the adventure was... likeable enough depending how much stomach you had for the lengthy final battle (my sister got bored, I was unusually enjoying it). Humour is good but dries up for big end phase, the adventure twists and turns are predictable but performed competently, I thought action was hit and miss in terms of execution but not best judge of that. The themes? Interesting ideas that lacked the proper time to really explore, it showed tantalising glimpses of the grounds that could have been covered but it got squeezed out and one side wasn't helped by its main advocate
On the race angle, I do indeed hope it is a huge advancement. It does feel rare that a big budget action/superhero movie not only has a black lead but black director, black baddie, majority of side characters being black and I think we can all imagine what would have happened if Black Panther had merely done ok. Hopefully the sheer critical and financial success will see more such films cast, that it seems to have inspired people can not be dismissed (I'm really hoping Shuri inspires people into sciences long term). Credit to Marvel on taking this gamble, they deserve the financial payoff and credit they got but I do feel as a whole, their films and some of their TV shows are guilty of siloing. That default is white male lead, white girlfriend, white support characters (tilted towards male) unless the film/show is specifically "the lady show, the Asian one, the black one" (Marvel/Netflix shows a strong example). They need to do better at having their cast diverse as standard, of not defaulting on Peter Parker's rather then Miles Morales, of diversifying the support. I think Marvel are becoming more aware of that, the new shows are better at it, Thor's recent film showed some attempt to rebalance, Spiderman had a diverse cast and hopefully over time as the old guard fade out, they will be better at it.
Both: 6.5