More of the Same

Rating: 5/10 (21 February 2018)

Once again I probably shouldn't get too excited over movies that I see trailers for because I an inevitably disappointed. Then again, I've probably reached the age where seeing a movie is just another of the endless number of processes that I go through, and since I have seen so many of them many of them cease to be all that interesting anymore. As they say in South-East Asia, when it comes to movies they are pretty much all same same (but different).
I guess that is what the case was with regards to Black Panther - it was pretty much same same. In fact, in a way, it reminded my somewhat of The Phantom, though that probably has more to do with there always being a person around to take the mantle of the Black Panther, though in this case it is the king of Wakunda. The story goes that a meteorite hit Africa and five warring tribes discovered the power of the minerals in the meteorite and decided to come together as a kingdom. However, they also chose to shut themselves off from the world, and for most of history have been hidden from the eyes of everybody else. In their mind Wakunda is basically just another basketcase African country.
Okay, there is a little twist in the plot, but in the end it is one of those good guy vs bad guy movies. Basically a prince of Wakunda betrays the country and is killed. His son then decides to seek out revenge, comes back to the country, challenges the king and wins. The king (who is also the Black Panther) then recovers from his wounds and returns to take back his throne, and I suspect you can work out where it goes from there. However, there is one theme that runs through the film, and that is how they should use their technology - should they help the world, or should they continue to sit back and watch.
This isn't really much of an issue in the globalised world in which we now live, but I guess there is always that question of how one should interact with the world. The thing is that since Wakunda is an African nation, there is a lot of debate within the nation as to how they should react, considering that Africans tend to be, in the most cases, at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder. Yet, it also seems to be a debate between arming them or hiding, yet there is also the possibility of there being a third way - using one's technology to educate them.
Of course the problem with education is that one needs to want to be educated, because if one doesn't want to be educated then there is going to be a bit of an issue. Still, that isn't really what the film is about, but rather how they should interact with the world. Of course, when one is hiding away in their own little bubble, one fails to see the reality of what is beyond one's borders. This is why many of those who leave Wakunda as spies end up being challenged by what they see, and becoming angry at the failure of the Wakundans to actually do anything about it.
Anyway, the film wasn't bad, though it did drag on a bit. Interestingly it seems to be set apart from many of the other Marvel films in that the focus is entirely upon the Black Panther - none of the other regulars make an appearance (except for Stan Lee, but he makes a cameo in pretty much all of the films). In a way they may had done it that way so as not to tie to too much into the timeline at this stage (particularly since the Black Panther does change with the king).