I don't have a lot to say about Black Panther. It's too clearly a film that isn't meant for me, a statement I make entirely without complaint. Had I been in charge, I might have tried to explore Killmonger's politics further - like Ultron before him, Killmonger was so obviously right in his critiques the film had to work overtime to suggest he shouldn't get what he wanted. But the whole point is that I shouldn't have been in charge. What I wanted out of the film simply doesn't matter.
Given that fact, my feedback seems largely irrelevant. The only relevant metric I can speak to is whether the film demonstrated that it's always been bullshit to argue that a majority-black cast is somehow incompatible with the superhero genre and/or white audiences. On that level, the film is a total success. I doubt it will end up being my favourite Marvel Studios film, but it's comfortably better than more than one of its stablemates, and it's probably above average even by the studio's generally high standards. More to the point, there's no flaw here that's unique to this particular film, or if there is, it's only because a film that tackles a question is necessarily more likely to answer it imperfectly than a film that ignores it. Again, it's not my place to discuss whether any answers actually were bungled.
Three quick points, all of which are quite spoilery, and so are going below the fold:
