Saw it for the second time today, and greatly enjoyed both viewings. My first was in Oakland, and while I usually hate any moviegoing distractions, it was tons of fun hearing some of the black audience members cheering, tsk-tsking, and generally vocally engaging with the characters.
It's true that, in many ways, the movie is made of borrowed parts: thematic parallels with
Thor 1+
3, and an action climax that pairs
Ant-Man's stop-the-weapons-exportation mission with
Avatar's previously neutral force riding to the rescue. What's more, the movie sets itself
many tasks: introducing Wakanda pretty much out of the blue into an established cinematic universe, telling a compelling Wakanda story, telling a compelling T'Challa story despite him being a grown-ass man and wise/compassionate from the start (having already overcome some demons in
Civil War),
and laying the groundwork for Wakanda's tech changing the MCU world as we know it, as well as giving the groundlings (myself included) their requisite dose of action. In all these challenges, I think it succeeds with high marks across the board.
That said, this being a discussion board, I
can nitpick a few small things...
- The effortless defeat of the convoy soldiers in Nigeria could have been skipped over with a few quick cuts.
- I would have liked a note of concern for civilian safety during the car chase, which, again, was fairly effortless and could have been trimmed.
- Why was Ross not kept sedated while being healed? I'm glad he wasn't, as he ended up being a great character who recalled Phil Coulson's relatively carefree pre-TAHITI persona, but even after Klaue told him the truth about Wakanda, this seemed an odd oversight.
- When it was being argued that the world was changing, and getting smaller, it seems to me Okoye should have mentioned the outside world/The Avengers' tech catching up with Wakanda, as we've already seen other heroes hold their own against T'Challa. I totally respect the distance between this movie and the rest of the films, but this seemed like one moment where a brief reference would have not only been appropriate, but improved the scene at hand.
- The final fistfight between T'Challa and Killmonger was kinda meh.
- With 2-3 minutes saved by trimming the action sequences, I would have appreciated a funeral/medical scene for the casualties of the battle at the end, as well as
some view of ordinary non-combatant Wakandans besides extras in the coronation scene and that one street.
- Speaking of which, It was a bit lame to have T'Challa and Nakia walk and talk in the same city street for both their conversations.
But these are minor points. For my grade, I'll go with a
B+. One of the better MCU films, but not in my personal top five, as I prefer the quippier, more banter-heavy heroes and flicks. That said, I
am very interested to see where the series (and indeed MCU) goes from here. Moreover, it goes without saying that the movie's astonishing cultural acclamation and box-office success is wonderful for black and minority audiences at home and abroad. The MCU should absolutely have become more diverse before this 18th film was released (there's zero reason Peter Quill, Scott Lang or Doctor Strange all needed to be white American males), but making such a big splash within the MCU and in the real-world is a welcome consolation.
And I definitely give the movie points for, in the first MCU Wakanda story, already blowing up the cozy magical isolationism that has (to my knowledge) never even been
debated in J.K. Rowling's Wizarding World. (Seriously, Hermione is outspokenly political and Muggle-born and raised, but never once even discusses the idea of openly engaging with the non-magical world? Lame!) Finally, if
Agents of SHIELD gets a sixth season (a big
if), it'd be awesome to see Coulson and Co. dealing with Wakanda-related scenarios...
And, here's to Coogler for that mid-credits jab at Trump, following the several ones from
AoS. Now, let's get a female POTUS to succeed Ellis, shall we?!
