BLACK PANTHER REVIEW

Super heroes in Hollywood has been going on for over 60 years, but a black superhero had always been something of an exotic idea. From Spawn, to Blade, Luke Cage and Black Lightning. The black super heroes race has been great but mostly lackluster. Now enter Black Panther.


Black Panther is the result of an idea, the answer to a question "What if there was a country that was never conquered by the white man". The answer is the mythology created by writers Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Which spawned a series of comic books. Now on to the movie.

The movie is based on a simple plot, prodigal son Kilmonger (Michael B Jordan) coming home to stage a coup d'etat for the throne of Wakanda the fictional country where this story unfolds. The movie is riddled with African culture and references to different countries in Africa, such makes Black Panther feel more African than Hollywood.


There were strong performances from the entire cast, Chadwick Bossman who plays T'challa the young King of Wakanda, Angela Basset (Ramona) T'challa's mother, but the main comic relief came from Letita Wright (Shuri ) who played T'challa's sister and quarter master. The performances where top notch, bringing authenticity to the story, but one person fell short of praise though and that's Michael B Jordan (Kilmonger) who's performance felt forced and completely out of sync.


Kilmonger had a legitimate reason to be a villain (can't go into details since it's a spoiler free review). But still his portrayal of the character fell flat on it's face as he spent more time growling and sneering at the camera than selling us his motives. Though he is presented as a very deadly opponent, we hardly felt worried about the safety of the good guys whenever he was on screen. In fact Andy Serkis (Ulysses Klaue ) a supporting villain prove to be more of a problem and entertaining villain than wannabe hip-hop Kilmonger who made more noise than a pubescent teenager. 

Now taking nothing away from the movie Black Panther is a release from every other superhero movie ever seen. It's graciously separates itself from the entire marvel universe by giving us something of an epic in the likes of star wars and lord of the rings. Director ryan coogler managed to capture the true essence of a young man ascending to power to rule over a country he loves. There is something of a hero's journey in which T'challa goes through which changes him and also opens his eyes to the question what is power if it cannot be used for good.


A country with the technological advancements to improve the life and lives of everyone on earth but it is kept secret for fear of the lifestyle of Wakanda's bring corrupted by Western Civilization. Black Panther is a movie filled with action culture and drama sometimes its actually feels like you're watching a shakespeare movie but in Africa. This is one movie I would recommend to anyone who is new to superhero movies or who just wants to see something different from what's already out there.


I would be publishing another article on the black panther movie to really give you an in-depth view into the core story of the concept of the Black Panther.


8.5/10


YAY!!!


- Awesome performances

- watch out for Shit

- Okoye is awesome

- Great fight sequences

- Finale was great

- Rich in culture and tradition of Africans though mostly fictional.


NAY!!!


- Michael B Jordan sucked

- The love story was amiss 

- We wanted more Ulysses Klaus

- We wanted more Forest Whitaker

 CLICK FOR TRAILER VIDEO 

HEADSHOT REVIEW

Headshot, the title sounds about right, but the tone is far more brutal. Indonesian martial arts Superstar Iko Uwais stars as Ishmael/Abdi. A hit man who gets his head shot for trying to leave his crime family, however he survives and is nursed back to health by Ailin a beautiful doctor. Upon waking up he loses all memory of his life prior getting shot, and takes the name Ishmael. But just as life begins to look great for Ishmael his past, his evil step father Lee, begins to hunt him anew. 


Headshot is not for the faint of heart, it is one of the most brutal martial arts expositions ever shown on TV, I dare say it's almost scary most times, example is a tumb in the throat, very graphic in full detail, and also the most brutal use of an ak47 I've ever seen. 


The story though not new, is told in a fresh new way. Where his memories don't actually move the plot but rather the actions in the present make up the entire plot. It's a story about romance and family, though the family consists of evil siblings, it's a sort of good prodigal son approach. Not much in the way of twists and cliffhangers, all that is in the fights. Fights that contain twists and cliffhangers is what makes Headshot an epic action movie, the best of 2017/2018.


Headshot was directed by Timo Tjahjanto and Kimo Stamboel aka the Mo Brothers. Oddly they have never directed an action movie before. The script was written by Timo in two and half weeks and Iko Uwais led the fight choreography for the movie for another 3 weeks given each fighter his own unique fighting style according to the background story of the character. So expect to see an exhibition of Silat, wushu, Murray Thai and straight up brawling.


5 Reasons To See This Movie


1) Iko Uwais: excellent martial artist and choreographer, what he lacks in flashyness he makes up for in brutality.


2) Story: very fresh take on the memory loss plot line. Plus it's also like a prodigal son story.


3) Fight Choreography: this movie has fight scenes that will keep at the edge of your seat, and will make your girl scream like she saw a horror screen from The Conjouring (a horror movie)


4) Great Characters: the bad guys are excellent, you will have genuine worry and fear for the well being of the hero. A diverse selection of evil, cruel martail artists.


5) It's Not Hollywood: Hollywood makes incredible movies but it's really watered down in one way or the other or studio politics comes into play and makes a barely applaudable movie that even the director would disown, claiming that his vision was altered in the editing room. See the mess that was Fantastic Four, Sucide Squad, Justice League, that's an extreme example though. But the Asian cinema is pure and true is doing action movies better than anyone right now. A great example of the best of Asian action cinema is Headshot.


8/10


I wish the love story was better though.

 Click To View Trailer