Sunday, February 18, 2018

Black Panther (2018)

Director: Ryan Coogler
Writers: Ryan Coogler, Joe Robert Cole
DOP: Rachel Morrison
Cast: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o

T'challa, after the death of his father, the king of Wakanda, returns home to the isolated, technologically advanced African nation to succeed to the throne and take his rightful place as king.

Wakanda is a resource rich nation with abundant supply of a metal called Vibranium and they have chosen to keep this a secret from the outside world by adopting the veneer of being a poor farming nation. While the condition of rest of Africa and African Americans all over the world is poor, they see no reason to come to their aid out of fear of exposing their secret. One of their own (Michael B. Jordan), unknown to them, has a radical plan to overthrow the king and arm the oppressed against the ruling classes all over the world. So it is basically kind of like the Dark Knight films.

Like almost all superhero films, the premise is pretty fucking stupid. But the ones that work are usually films which doesn't take itself too seriously. That is not the case with Black Panther. I had seen Thor: Ragnarok recently and I don't remember the Norse characters in it putting on a fake Nordic accent. In Black Panther, even though most of the business takes place in Wakanda, the characters have a fake English accent, which is supposed to be African,  that takes you right out of the film. It is especially bad because many of the dialogues in it are blatant expositions and it was like watching a poorly dubbed film. Expected much more from Ryan Coogler, whose debut feature 'Fruitvale Station' was an excellent watch.

PS: Martin Freeman plays the token white guy among the 'good' side.

Rating: 2.25/5

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