Black Panther seems to be Marvel’s most successful movie. It has a 97 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and even briefly was the site’s best movie of all time before an update removed the movie from the top 100 list. It’s made more money in the box office than any other film Marvel has made and according to the critic consensus on Rotten Tomatoes, “Black Panther elevates superhero cinema to thrilling new heights while telling one of the MCU's most absorbing stories — and introducing some of its most fully realized characters.” How did I feel about the movie?

It was alright.

For starters, this movie is wonderful for racial diversity and representation in the film industry. However, the simple fact that it has this doesn’t change how I feel about the movie. It doesn’t elevate the quality of the film itself to me. I would’ve felt the same about the film if it were made by any other racial group or if it were made by aliens from outer space. We have to keep in mind that this movie is about magic space rocks creating a civilization so Disney and Marvel can sell toys to make a profit. It doesn’t reach the level of Get Out or 12 Years a Slave for equality and diverse representation.

Being just good is the issue I have with Black Panther. It was only alright. It felt like a standard Marvel superhero movie. Marvel films are good and entertaining, but let’s not lie to ourselves. They’re not doing anything groundbreaking or revolutionary in cinema like The Godfather, Schindler’s List, The Lord of the Rings, The Matrix, and Alien; just to name a few films.

I waited patiently for Black Panther to become amazing, and it just never happened. T’challa felt underdeveloped and uncharismatic compared to other Marvel heroes. He really only has one or two scenes when he expresses genuine emotion and it doesn’t help when he disappears for 20 minutes of the movie on a plot point that insults the audience’s intelligence. He’s practically invincible with his suit on so there’s hardly any stakes or suspense in any of the action scenes. His villain, Killmonger is far more interesting but Killmonger doesn’t get major screen time until the third act. He doesn’t challenge T’challa physically or through his ideals and values until the third act unlike great villains who make their presence felt through the entire movie like the Joker in the Dark Knight or Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back. The entire third act only happens because of some questionable character motivation from T’challa’s second in command.

Something I found contradictory was despite Wakanda’s amazing technology and advanced lifestyle, they are a very primitive people. To be King, all one must do is challenge and defeat the current king in ritual combat, and then all of Wakanda must follow the winner. Considering how technologically superior they are to anything we’ve seen in reality, I felt like they should’ve had a more intellectual system. Generally, the visual effects seemed a little dated. They don’t do anything special. Like I said, standard Marvel movie. When Killmonger was on-screen, the movie was at its best. I wish there were another 20 minutes of scenes involving him because it felt like the film forgot about him for an hour.

Don’t get me wrong, the movie certainly isn’t bad. The performances are good and the characters are engaging and the political idea of the Wakanda opening up its technology to the rest of the world was interesting. Its high point is in the middle of the movie when that becomes a focus but it never fully capitalizes on that because it has the standard big action scene at the end. It doesn’t reach the level of a movie like The Dark Knight in regard to those deeper themes within the movie, which is what the general consensus of the movie says it does.

I wouldn’t have been disappointed if this movie wasn’t hyped up by sites like Rotten Tomatoes. I don’t understand why so many people go to this site to judge whether or not they’re going to see a movie.

The way Rotten Tomatoes works isn’t by taking an average score from critics. If 100 critics saw a film and they each gave it a 6-out-of-10, then the Rotten Tomatoes score would be 100 percent fresh. I don’t about everyone else, but I think there’s a big gap between a 10-out-of-10 movie and a 6-out-of-10 movie.

250 best movies of all time and Star Trek doesn’t even make the list. IMDB gives Black Panther a 7.9-out-of-10 which is far closer to the quality of the movie. It’s pretty good, just like most other Marvel movies.

To sum it up, Black Panther was pretty good. If you like Marvel Movies, then you should like this. Oh, and Rotten Tomatoes needs to disappear from the internet.