Can't wait to see Black Panther
It's hard not to get excited about Black Panther. Actually I get excited over every Marvel, DC and Star Wars movie... but especially Marvel movies because they are consistently good to excellent (not a single bad one so far).
Black Panther can be considered a fringe superhero. He's not as famous as Spiderman, Superman, Batman or even the Hulk. But as a kid I did read some Black Panther comics so it'll be pretty cool to see it on the big screen soon.
So far, the reviews have been fantastic. It debut on Rotten Tomatoes at 100% with 76 out of 76 critics liking it. At the time of writing, it's down to 99% because one critic disliked it. Film critic Ed Power gave it a negative review because he felt that Black Panther did not beat up enough bad guys.
“What he doesn’t get to do much of is jump around beating-up bad guys,” Power wrote. “That’s a shame. Marvel has finally given us an African superhero. The hope surely was that he would be allowed do superheroic things.”
But Power is not the only one to have commented about the fight scenes. A few critics, including ones who liked the movie have criticized it.
David Edelstein says: "Black Panther’s fight scenes are better than in other Marvel films, but they’re still a disappointment from the maker of Creed."
David Erhlich says: "Given the gravitas of Coogler’s storytelling, and the visceral physicality that he brought to the boxing scenes in “Creed,” this comes as a very unpleasant surprise. It’s not just that the choreography in “Black Panther” lacks coherence, but also that every fight scene is undone by awful CG."
Having not yet seen the film, it's hard to tell whether criticisms about the fight scenes (quantity and quality) are justified criticism. But given that 79 out of 80 critics actually did like it, it probably means the lack of fight scenes involving Black Panther is not a problem in this movie. Perhaps what it means is that this movie actually has an intelligent and interesting plot which doesn't require Black Panther to beat up people so much. We'll see.
There's no question Black Panther will be a huge hit in the US. There is already so much anticipation for it. Time magazine even put the movie's star Chadwick Boseman on the cover of its latest issue. But movies that do fantastically well in the US don't necessarily do well here in Malaysia. The Last Jedi is a pretty good case in point. Apparently Jumanji sold more than twice as many tickets here.
Traditionally, movies with a black lead actor doesn't do great at the box office here. Black Panther doesn't just feature a black lead but its cast is primarily black and a big portion of the movie is set in Africa.
Of course it's not the Africa that we have seen in National Geographic but in the hyper-modern country of Wakanda -- which doesn't really exist although there is a place called Wauconda in Illinois. Glimpses of the fictional Wakanda in the Black Panther trailer hints that it could actually be the most technologically advanced country in the world. Certainly in the comics, that is the case. So there's a bit of a science fiction element here.
Will it do well here? I don't know but I'm pretty certain I'll enjoy it. Can't wait for Tuesday to come around!
Black Panther can be considered a fringe superhero. He's not as famous as Spiderman, Superman, Batman or even the Hulk. But as a kid I did read some Black Panther comics so it'll be pretty cool to see it on the big screen soon.
“What he doesn’t get to do much of is jump around beating-up bad guys,” Power wrote. “That’s a shame. Marvel has finally given us an African superhero. The hope surely was that he would be allowed do superheroic things.”
But Power is not the only one to have commented about the fight scenes. A few critics, including ones who liked the movie have criticized it.
David Edelstein says: "Black Panther’s fight scenes are better than in other Marvel films, but they’re still a disappointment from the maker of Creed."
David Erhlich says: "Given the gravitas of Coogler’s storytelling, and the visceral physicality that he brought to the boxing scenes in “Creed,” this comes as a very unpleasant surprise. It’s not just that the choreography in “Black Panther” lacks coherence, but also that every fight scene is undone by awful CG."
Having not yet seen the film, it's hard to tell whether criticisms about the fight scenes (quantity and quality) are justified criticism. But given that 79 out of 80 critics actually did like it, it probably means the lack of fight scenes involving Black Panther is not a problem in this movie. Perhaps what it means is that this movie actually has an intelligent and interesting plot which doesn't require Black Panther to beat up people so much. We'll see.
Traditionally, movies with a black lead actor doesn't do great at the box office here. Black Panther doesn't just feature a black lead but its cast is primarily black and a big portion of the movie is set in Africa.
Of course it's not the Africa that we have seen in National Geographic but in the hyper-modern country of Wakanda -- which doesn't really exist although there is a place called Wauconda in Illinois. Glimpses of the fictional Wakanda in the Black Panther trailer hints that it could actually be the most technologically advanced country in the world. Certainly in the comics, that is the case. So there's a bit of a science fiction element here.
Will it do well here? I don't know but I'm pretty certain I'll enjoy it. Can't wait for Tuesday to come around!
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