T’Challa did seem excessively affected by Whitaker’s death, I thought. He had a more immediate problem, namely his own imminent demise.
One thing I was struck by (and not for the first time) was how good Stirling K. Brown is. He is compelling to watch. He had a small part but his ability shines through.
I was extremely disappointed in the first stinger. There have been a few bad ones in recent MCU movies and this continues the trend. The stinger should be a treat for the audience for sticking through the trailer. This felt like it was a scene that was rightfully cut from the movie that they had lying around. The scene on the basketball court covered the same ground. Give us a surprise. Something about Thanos. Show an infinity stone in Wakanda. Anything. The second stinger didn’t really cover new ground either. We knew he was there.
Hey there’s still an old Phil Coulson!
He wasn’t supposed to be a big part in Civil War. He is the bridge between the two movies and parts of the MCU. Like Claw and his Vibranium in Avengers 2.
Also capital murder of the guards in the museum. Didn’t pull the trigger but he was part of the robbery. Who knows how many murders and other crimes off camera. The museum was not his first job.
Well, given his habit of putting a small scar on himself for each kill, I think we can safely guestimate hundreds. He has a decent little death-speech, but sympathy? I’m not feeling it.
Plus he killed Klaw, who was my favourite character in the movie.
He was a special ops soldier for most of his life, not saying he is innocent as we did see him participate and commit murders, but they did refer to him as one of the most lethal soldiers they’ve ever had.
Well, if he develop the notch-on-my-pelt habit early on, I kinda suspect that during one of the mandatory military medical exams, somebody would have noticed this rather disturbing habit and put him on extended medical/psychiatric leave.
It’s what they do in Once Upon a Time and to a certain extent the Arrowverse. You killed the love of my life last season but now you are sorry so everything is ok. Giving a villain nuance is great. All evil can be boring leave a little grey area. That doesn’t make him noble. The death speech tried to make him sound noble when his actions were the opposite.
It’s possible, but duels and trials by combat all have seriously hardcore rules of engagement. Since this particular challenge was announced as ‘to yield or death’ that makes it seem likely that the victor is responsible for ASKING for a yield, or accepting one (see earlier T’Challa literally begging M’Baku to yield) and that Erik wasn’t doing things ‘properly’ by going straight for the death stroke.
There’s not, but there IS a nice little bit of a princess* and her unicorn.
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- Not actually a princess, but one hell of a warrior goddess in her own right.
I enjoyed that the movie had scenes set in Oakland, since that’s the city most associated with the Black Panther Party.
The director is from Oakland, too. His first movie, Fruitvale Station, was set there (and starred Michael B Jordan).
What does one have to do with the other? Oh.
To be fair, it may not be common knowledge that the Black Panther character predates the Black Panther movement by some months. I know I was surprised to find that the character is even older than I am.
It was a briefly a concern for Marvel:
I rather like that last sentence…
Three issues with that:
(1) does he believe he’s going to be immortal? Won’t he want to have an heir at some point? It seems awfully short-sighted
(2) It’s also an awfully reckless act as far as establishing his legitimacy is concerned. Imagine that someone manages to be elected president of the US who absolutely 100% intends to become dictator for life, but whose election is looked on with suspicion/hesitance by large portions of the population. It would be ridiculous for him, within days of winning the election, to order all election-related apparatus in the US permanently destroyed
(3) And perhaps most importantly, what was the payoff for that scene? Did it end up mattering at all?
Like I said, I enjoyed the movie overall, so this is a nitpick, but it did feel poorly thought out on all parts.
My takes:
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No he does not want an heir at any point. After he’s done there can be elections for all he cares and likely he is opposed to the idea of kings other than as the means to his end. His interest is in putting those he feels are the oppressed on top and killing those who are now on top and all those who might sympathize with them as well by use of Wakendan technology. Personal power is not his goal but the means to his goal.
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Legitimacy schlimitagacy. Having enough control to implement that war is enough for him. He don’t give a … hoot … about winning hearts and minds of those opposed to him. As Panther (and assuming no T’Challah as Panther too) he can force his will on them.
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Payoff was the significance of the one last dose being given to T’challah. Longer term the payoff will very likely play out in future movies. Before T’Challah dies either their system of leadership must change (from fight to death challenge to be allowed to have the strength of the panther and rule partly by way of that physical strength, to … something else, maybe something more democratic and less warriorcentric?) or they need to find some hidden supply of Prince herb rootstock or seeds. As it is now he is the last Black Panther. And while I’d prefer a more democratic system I’d really like to see Shura as Panther someday (sooner rather than later please!)
Remember that it’s necessary to have a significant sympathetic secondary character die mid-film so that the protagonist can fall to their knees and shout NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
It’s practically a law.
Zuri’s not just some guy or some relative, he’s Wakanda’s highest ceremonial official and an important keeper of tradition. Zuri represents something more important to T’Challa than his own life–continuity, legitimacy, tradition, hope for Wakanda’s future.
But he used to be a spy.
I only mention that because I didn’t realize that it was supposed to be the same character. Maybe he said his name too fast or I wasn’t paying attention. It’s not helped by the fact that the younger Zuri is played by an actor who is about 5 inches shorter than Forrest Whitaker.
The younger actor is Denzel Whitaker. I assumed he was going to be Forrest Whitaker’s son. Nope, no relation.
For Gyrate: another notable point in the second post-credits scene is that
children call Bucky “White Wolf,” which is the moniker of another Black Panther comics character. Not sure if Bucky’s going to change his name/MO, or if the kids are comparing him to an as-yet-unintroduced character they’re familiar with. (The other super-powered weirdo white guy in Wakanda.)
Saw it last night.
I only realized it was the same character when he gave his account of what happened that day. To be honest, while I didn’t have a hard time keeping the characters straight (the techie little sister, the general, the love interest, etc.), I had a difficult time with the names. It’s hard enough for me to remember names from cultures I’m familiar with-- Give me a bunch of names from an unfamiliar culture, not in writing, and often spoken in an unfamiliar accent, and I’m hopeless.
On Killmonger’s ultimate fate:
First of all, there’s no way he could possibly not be imprisoned. He’s a very dangerous man, even if they give him the un-panthering-potion, and he will stir up trouble. And second, they made it very clear in the movie that the conflict between the two cannot end until one either dies or voluntarily yields, and if there’s one thing that Killmonger absolutely will not do, it’s yield. If, at the end of the movie, he had genuinely decided that T’Challa would be a better king than him, he would have jumped off the cliff, because that was the only way available to him to make T’Challa’s rule uncontested.
As for the Wakandan outreach, here in the Real World, Africa is already sending missionaries to the US.