(Cedrica has joined me in reviewing and discussing movies, old and new. I welcome her aboard.)
Scobe: The Black Panther is up for an Academy Award. What do you think?
Cedrica: No way it wins although it is a good movie, far better than the Shape of Water which was last year’s winner. Comic book movies are too popular so therefore how good can they be? The Academy usually goes for what it considers a “deep” movie; not all the time but enough times that we can make fun of that institution. Some movies win the Academy Award as best picture and they aren’t even in my top twenty list.
Scobe: Certainly Shape of Water was deep since it dealt with a creature who lived in depths. Hold off on this right now and we’ll discuss this movie in the future.
Cedrica: Must we?
Scobe: Yes.
Cedrica: I do have a small problem with The Black Panther. I thought Michael Jordan’s character of Eric Killmonger was too streetie – if that’s a word – and not up to the task of taking on the real Black Panther in an epic fight. The character didn’t ring true. His character wasn’t big enough; not iconic enough. Think of how awesome the Abomination was in The Incredible Hulk (2008) to get an idea of how to structure a fearsome villain. Yes, Killmonger was given the same powers of the Black Panther but he didn’t have that epic quality about him. Jordan is a terrific actor but this role was not a great one and an actor can only do what he does. He was great as Creed.
Scobe: They gave him a back story where his intelligence and intellectual accomplishments were great but you feel that didn’t translate into his character in the movie. He was too below the quality of the other characters. The warriors and the heads of the other tribes had stature. The civilization had stature. His character didn’t.
Cedrica: Correct.
Scobe: The Black Panther is an godlike character and Wakanda is a super civilization. I did think all the other characters had that epic quality if you will. You may be right about Killmonger. He should have been more awesome.
Cedrica: You read my mind. Chadwick Boseman is amazingly good as the Black Panther. The script – with that one exception – is well written and the direction, cinematography, music are all first rate. I’d give this movie 3.5 stars out of four.
Scobe: I give it a four out of four. Killmonger did not ruin it for me.
Cedrica: Three and one half stars is not a ruined movie. It’s a better movie than Shape of Water.
Scobe: In that you are not all wet!
Movie Ratings:
4 stars: Top of the heap!
3.5 stars: Great movie with a little flaw
3 stars: Good night out or just as good watching on the television.
2.5 stars: Passing an evening without big regrets in the morning.
2 stars: Maybe one or two things are decent in this movie.
1.5 stars: Got a good book?
1 star: Being kind.
0 star: Seriously? I mean, seriously?