Black Panther

Black Panther is set in the Marvel Universe in the present day and year. The hype created around the movie was huge. And the trailer was mind-boggling, to say the least. I have been very much looking forward to watching this movie. As this is a part of the Marvel universe, my excitement was a little bit more and as soon as it came into the theater, the first thing I did was book the ticket without actually thinking about anything else like what if I had some other plans. As it might be, I did have a plan the morning of the movie day, but I thought I could still make it to the movie in time.

Backstory: A little while ago a meteorite hits the earth in central Africa on a place called Wakhanda which was rich in Vibranium. This metal had rare properties and was later found out that it had a lot many applications ranging from providing power to the whole city to creating weapons. Even the Black Panther’s suit has vibranium in it. Over the years, vibranium got infused into the soil and the plants of which gave superhuman abilities. The one which was only consumed by the royal family. A little later, the Wakhanda people have spies all over the world.

Despite having such a rare metal and making the best use of it by sharing it with the outside world, they decided to hide it from everyone. Strike 1 for being selfish. It had been so for generations together and it was the custom that was being followed ever since. But the people who are being the spies in another country, wait a second what the hell are these spies for? Anyway, the Wakhanda people realized that there was a lot of discrimination against their kind of people. And hence a few rebellious people wanted to even the odds with the technological advances that they have, especially that vibranium as a weapon was more powerful than bullets. Their idea was to fight and take over the world. That’s Strike 2. When you have a hell lot of metal to use, your first thought is to hide it and the second thought is to use it as a weapon.

The old king dies and his son is supposedly the next in line to become the king. They have a ritual to fight, even though it was supposed to be based on the intelligence, combat skills, leadership qualities and all that. But they just decided to fight on the waterfall. The prince wins and becomes the king. Whoa, mind blown. Meanwhile, another Wakhanda citizen’s son whose father was killed by the old King because he wanted to use vibranium as a weapon and take over the world, resurfaces and travels to Wakhanda and challenges the kind for combat. The fresh king loses the fight and as per the rules, he was the king of Wakhanda. But no one likes that. So, they start a rebellion to overthrow him. Meanwhile, the lost fresh king’s body resurfaces in another part of the kingdom who upon giving that vibranium infused fruit lives on to fight another battle. So this time they manage to overthrow the evil king to take over the kingdom. As per the rules, during the fight, none of the opponents should have those superhuman abilities but the lost king had already taken the fruit to become alive and was challenging the new evil king to fight for the rightful place on the throne.

While a lot many on my facebook feed argued that the movie was indeed great and that HARD HITTING MESSAGE was an icing on the cake. What message? Clearly, I might have been asleep for the major portion of the movie I guess. Having said that, this Vibranium reminds me of Tony Stark, the Iron Man who created clean energy and if I remember it correctly, he was going to give it for free. Because that’s what a superhero does, I guess.

In short, you will like the movie, but might not like the story on which it is based, and also the acting either. I didn’t feel like it was up to the hype it had created and moreover it being a Marvel Avenger branch.

What I liked: Superhero powers, Vibranium, Blank Panther suit which could absorb energy if you punch it or get shot at and then dissipate it later.
Should you watch it: Your choice, it isn’t something I would back
Worth your time: Might be.

Rating: ♦♦♦◊◊
Story: ♦♦◊◊◊
Screenplay: ♦♦♦♦◊
Action: ♦♦♦♦◊

IMDB: Blank Panther
Rating: 7.9/10