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such_heights) wrote2018-02-16 01:23 pm
such_heights) wrote2018-02-16 01:23 pm
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Black Panther
This really was the afrofuturist, feminist, anti- and post-colonialist superhero film of my dreams, I loved it so much.
Note: there are, as usual, two mid/post-credits scenes.
An incomplete, and spoiler-filled, list of things I loved below. Seeing it in a packed cinema on opening night was absolutely the way to go - everyone was so into it. The woman sat next to us apologised at the end for being so excited, as if that's something that needs apology!, and we agreed we'd happily just stay in our seats and watch it over again.
Some of these quotes are approximate but they all made me and the whole audience crack up:
+ "Another broken white boy for me to fix!"
+ "Hey, Auntie."
+ "No I'm just kidding. Actually, we're vegetarian."
+ The whole exchange between Ross and Klaw about mixtapes and soundcloud, which was probably the highlight of white people doing things in this film.
+ Nakia grumpily sliding to a halt in her car seat next to Okoye
I really appreciated that it didn't have in-jokes and references to other MCU films aside from replaying T'Chaka's death in Civil War and a blink and you'd miss it Bucky reference. We don't need comparisons to Iron Man or Thor or whatever, this is absolutely its own standalone story that makes the whole world much richer as a result.
Every character in this film was so well conceived, well written and well acted. It's a stunning cast and I really understood who everyone was and why they did what they did. It also effortlessly puts the rest of the MCU to shame for its female characters - you've got male leads here but also four very different women who are all key to the plot and go on their own journeys. A matriarch, a prodigy, a spy and a warrior, with different skills, perspectives and personalities and a range of different relationships with each other, god I loved them all desperately. There were few all-male group scenes, and plenty of women talking to each other and advancing the plot. And yet we still got plenty of time with T'Challa and Killmonger and their dads, almost like this stuff is not that hard.
I love T'Challa so much by the way, because the sensitive hero trying his best to do the right thing is always my jam. He's just so *good*, and his compassion for Killmonger right to the end was really moving. That last scene between the two of them took my breath away.
I think the entire audience fell for Letitia Wright as Shuri, she was so so charming and delightful. Having the super smart wise cracking inventor genius being a black teenage girl is honestly the best thing, and Wright crushed it. Her sibling relationship with T'Challa was also almost unbearably cute.
I loved Nakia, and it was great seeing Lupita Nyong'o as a romantic lead, because her face is so good. I will take fic shipping her with basically everyone, please and thank you. Specifically I feel like I could really go for a v-shaped poly T'Challa/Nakia/Okoye story. (I guess W'Kabi can come back and join the mix once he's had time to think about what he's done and the bad bad decisions he made!)
Michael B Jordan as Erik/Killmonger broke my whole entire heart. Easily the MCU villain with the most compelling motivation, both personally and ideologically. I mean, cool motive still murder, but it added so much more to everything he did. I love that there were no emotionless big CGI fight scenes, the stakes felt real every time. The final battle being Wakandans teetering on the edge of civil war was so much more heartrending than the heroes battling endless hordes of monsters. Every life lost in that battle felt awful.
IT WAS SO GOOD I LOVED IT LOTS. *flail*
Note: there are, as usual, two mid/post-credits scenes.
An incomplete, and spoiler-filled, list of things I loved below. Seeing it in a packed cinema on opening night was absolutely the way to go - everyone was so into it. The woman sat next to us apologised at the end for being so excited, as if that's something that needs apology!, and we agreed we'd happily just stay in our seats and watch it over again.
Some of these quotes are approximate but they all made me and the whole audience crack up:
+ "Another broken white boy for me to fix!"
+ "Hey, Auntie."
+ "No I'm just kidding. Actually, we're vegetarian."
+ The whole exchange between Ross and Klaw about mixtapes and soundcloud, which was probably the highlight of white people doing things in this film.
+ Nakia grumpily sliding to a halt in her car seat next to Okoye
I really appreciated that it didn't have in-jokes and references to other MCU films aside from replaying T'Chaka's death in Civil War and a blink and you'd miss it Bucky reference. We don't need comparisons to Iron Man or Thor or whatever, this is absolutely its own standalone story that makes the whole world much richer as a result.
Every character in this film was so well conceived, well written and well acted. It's a stunning cast and I really understood who everyone was and why they did what they did. It also effortlessly puts the rest of the MCU to shame for its female characters - you've got male leads here but also four very different women who are all key to the plot and go on their own journeys. A matriarch, a prodigy, a spy and a warrior, with different skills, perspectives and personalities and a range of different relationships with each other, god I loved them all desperately. There were few all-male group scenes, and plenty of women talking to each other and advancing the plot. And yet we still got plenty of time with T'Challa and Killmonger and their dads, almost like this stuff is not that hard.
I love T'Challa so much by the way, because the sensitive hero trying his best to do the right thing is always my jam. He's just so *good*, and his compassion for Killmonger right to the end was really moving. That last scene between the two of them took my breath away.
I think the entire audience fell for Letitia Wright as Shuri, she was so so charming and delightful. Having the super smart wise cracking inventor genius being a black teenage girl is honestly the best thing, and Wright crushed it. Her sibling relationship with T'Challa was also almost unbearably cute.
I loved Nakia, and it was great seeing Lupita Nyong'o as a romantic lead, because her face is so good. I will take fic shipping her with basically everyone, please and thank you. Specifically I feel like I could really go for a v-shaped poly T'Challa/Nakia/Okoye story. (I guess W'Kabi can come back and join the mix once he's had time to think about what he's done and the bad bad decisions he made!)
Michael B Jordan as Erik/Killmonger broke my whole entire heart. Easily the MCU villain with the most compelling motivation, both personally and ideologically. I mean, cool motive still murder, but it added so much more to everything he did. I love that there were no emotionless big CGI fight scenes, the stakes felt real every time. The final battle being Wakandans teetering on the edge of civil war was so much more heartrending than the heroes battling endless hordes of monsters. Every life lost in that battle felt awful.
IT WAS SO GOOD I LOVED IT LOTS. *flail*
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Also, when Eric is dying and says he wants to be buried in the ocean like the enslaved who jumped overboard I just . . . holy fuck. Holy fuck. The layers on which that movie was working . . .
I can't even find coherent thoughts yet, I am just so moved.
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I'm happily inhaling all spoilers--my wonky memory means this info will only enhance my movie-going experience.
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