by Thundercracker » February 16th 2018 5:09 pm
Very solid movie but I don't feel it's the masterpiece many of the reviews are claiming.
The art direction, cinematography, costumes, cast and music were all standouts. The film has some very unique and beautiful imagery.
If there's one area I feel Ryan Coogler could improve on if he returns for a sequel would be the action set pieces. They were not bad but I just didn't feel they were anything that we haven't seen before and the hand to hand fights were a let down and lacked a certain intensity and ferocity. Winter Soldier still holds the title in that department. The final fight between T'Challa and Killmonger was also rather tame and the CG on the panther suits was kinda spotty during this scene. I did get a kick out of armored rhinos stampeding through the final battle though.
One thing I was unclear on was the whole Killmonger/Klaue subplot. If Killmonger was always intending to use Klaue to get into Wakanda, why not just kill him to begin with? What was the whole point of stealing the old vibranium axe from the museum and then breaking Klaue out of CIA custody only to kill him right after that? I'll have to pay closer attention to this on the next viewing.
I also don't feel Killmonger was as great a villain as is being proclaimed. Yes, he had more of a sympathetic background and motivation but I didn't find the character all that memorable overall. Michael B. Jordan gave a good performance though. I was kinda more disappointed that they killed off Klaue to be honest. I liked how bonkers Andy Serkis portrayed him.
No mention of the Soul Stone. However given the huge siege Wakanda is under in the IW trailer there's still a chance it might be hidden there, unless Thanos just wants to take Wakanda out due to its huge supply of vibranium. While I think it's sort of ridiculous the possibility of three stones being hidden on Earth it would make sense for the Soul Stone to be buried in Wakanda given that the purple heart shaped herbs grant the panthers the ability to commune with past panther souls. The herbs may be imbued with some of the Soul Stone's power. We'll see.
Despite my minor quibbles it's still a very good film for T'Challa's first solo outing and another fine addition to the MCU saga. Get out and see it.
