Black Panther (2018)

I had the same issue with Collider and also stopped watching when they were all gushing over something horribly bad like it was the second coming. I think it was The Last Jedi, but I can't remember, I think I blocked it out because I was so shocked.

Finally got around to seeing this utterly mediocre movie. Way fucking overrated. Not bad, not great. The action was good but the story dragged in several places for me. This is my brother's take made me chuckle because he is NOT one to say something like this at all.

okay. so i finally watched this.... i enjoyed most of the movie. i have no issues with wakanda whatsoever. however. this movie presents kind of an unsettling dichotomy. i really like michael b jordan so i couldn't figure out why everytime he showed up it just took me out of the movie...

ugh, i'm not even really sure where to actually start... i like wakanda, but there is just so much appropriation with black panther that i don't like the character. we are all familiar with BP putting silver surfer in a kimura lock and how ridiculous that was, it's like marvel says, listen, we don't really have a lot of black super heroes, so we have to make the ones we DO have completely off the charts. the thing is, in this movie black panther made all kinds of statements separating himself from that style of thinking, which i really appreciated. he was baited (whether it was on purpose or not, i don't know) into a lot of race issues but just walked right passed. both in the movie and the audience, there is a certain crowd of people that want wakanda to be some kind of wish fulfillment and justification for slavery. except, here's the deal... wakandans were never slaves. ever. their ancestors were ALWAYS blessed. wakanda is the ultimate #privilege.

the culture is what it is. i've heard people complain about the absurdity of people putting those saucers in their lips and ears and i just say, why not? that's just a cultural thing. that's not a technology thing. a person with a dish in his mouth could look at someone in america with a crucifix necklace and ask why they are wearing a person being tortured and murdered as jewelry. wakanda is functionally identical to japan prior to the 19th century. extremely advanced (in certain things, metallurgy was a big one) and absolutely REFUSED to allow their culture to leave japan or let any other culture into japan. the rest of the world was wearing jeans while they were walking around with swords and kimonos. but no one bats an eye because yellow fever.

so onto michael b jordan... i COULD NOT figure out why he bothered me so much until his last line of the movie and it actually soured the entire movie for me. he said "bury me at sea, with my ancestors that jumped from ships, because they knew that death was better than bondage."

it was meant to be this powerful moment, it was meant to demonstrate his resolve and his belief. except. it was all wrong. all of it. you are wakandan. we already established that your ancestors weren't slaves. it would be like me, a white boy from wisconsin, talking about how unfair it was that so many italians died in ww2. italians aren't my people, they aren't my culture... no one in my family has ever even been to italy, but we're white so we're all the same.

but here's the real kicker because it's what i believe to be the fundamental error in thinking when it comes to minority. death is better than bondage... that sounds all high and mighty except the reason you would be in "bondage" is because you tried to overthrow an entire government and declare war on the world. you wouldn't be in bondage, you'd be in prison. you just compared being in prison because of committing a crime, to being a slave for the color of your skin.

that line of thinking is so utterly bereft of personal responsibility that i cant even continue thinking about this anymore without sputtering into nonsense.

j00t said:

so onto michael b jordan... i COULD NOT figure out why he bothered me so much until his last line of the movie and it actually soured the entire movie for me. he said "bury me at sea, with my ancestors that jumped from ships, because they knew that death was better than bondage."

it was meant to be this powerful moment, it was meant to demonstrate his resolve and his belief. except. it was all wrong. all of it. you are wakandan. we already established that your ancestors weren't slaves. it would be like me, a white boy from wisconsin, talking about how unfair it was that so many italians died in ww2. italians aren't my people, they aren't my culture... no one in my family has ever even been to italy, but we're white so we're all the same.

but here's the real kicker because it's what i believe to be the fundamental error in thinking when it comes to minority. death is better than bondage... that sounds all high and mighty except the reason you would be in "bondage" is because you tried to overthrow an entire government and declare war on the world. you wouldn't be in bondage, you'd be in prison. you just compared being in prison because of committing a crime, to being a slave for the color of your skin.

that line of thinking is so utterly bereft of personal responsibility that i cant even continue thinking about this anymore without sputtering into nonsense.

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He said that because the majority of his life was spent being raised by his mother, and she was descended from slaves.

We’re all descended from slaves. And murderers, rapists, pedos, arsonists, etc...

It’s another reason why this movie is so fucking racist. Reinforcing the chip on people’s shoulders? Retarded. Might as well have some Jews hanging around a well. Or remind the Irish and Chinese how they were treated in the 1800s.

The RLM guys have a huge cult following on this forum. I personally don't get it, but a lot of people here treat their word and reviews as gospel.

Attog said:

He said that because the majority of his life was spent being raised by his mother, and she was descended from slaves.

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yeah, but here's the problem with that. he spends the whole movie combining wakandan heritage with ALL BLACK PEOPLE. he repeatedly said "our people are out there fighting and dying"

YOUR people? what on earth makes them YOUR people? i was really happy about t'challa saying "I am not the king of all people. I am the King of Wakanda" because at least he understands that wakanda isn't the ancestral home of every black person in the world.

i also think it was awfully contrived for wakabi to join forces with killmonger so easily and resolutely. he has a speech earlier about not wanting outsiders inside wakanda, because he doesn't want their problems to come with them. but then as soon as killmonger becomes king, he's like, yeah dude, let's bring all this guy's personal beef to the throne. even to the point of trying to kill his wife and childhood friend.

Deathwing said:

Meh, the Mr. Plinkett thing is I guess off-putting, so I'll give you that. I normally fast forward, it's just the first few minutes anyway. Half in the Bag is not parodying Collider, the Nerd Crew show is. I was pretty sure of that when I initially posted, I wanted to see if you thought that too.

I've watched a couple of their shows. The Nerd Crew is definitely exaggerating, but I didn't really find anything of substance or value either.

Khane Their reviews are usually good and I find I have similar desires in what I want out of movie as they do. I don't take them as gospel though. I don't like Mike's taste for schlock nor Jay's taste for horror films, nor neither of their taste for indie films. I find their channel has the most value to see if you want a watch a movie *after* it is spoiled.

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yeah i'd agree with you on RLM. they are kind of an oddity in that they CLEARLY know the mechanics of filmmaking and storytelling, so they have a fairly respectable sense of criticism in that regard. however, they are SOOOOO into B movies that they can't help themselves to put huge sections of B movie quality antics into their reviews. i mean, does anyone watch their reviews for the plinkett story? it was kind of endearing in the very beginning but they can be done with that now.

and yeah, they are terrible to watch PRIOR to watching a film they are reviewing because 2/3s of their review is spoilers. i find myself agreeing with them on a fairly regular basis, but i'd never watch them for their opinion if i was on the fence about watching something.

Attog said:

He said that because the majority of his life was spent being raised by his mother, and she was descended from slaves.

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i know i already responded to this but i thought of a better response.

"everyone knows that the female's lineage doesn't mean anything."

Just watched it. Average Marvel movie. Very worth making just to get Wakanda and BP in the universe but as a stand alone I was underwhelmed.
I felt like Tchala got his ass beat by everyone for the most part and pulled off a move at the very end to win.

The guys with the plates in their lips made me cringe a bit.