M’Baku reminds me of King Theoden from Lord of the Rings:
Lives around white mountains? Check.
A fair and honourable leader? Check.
Head of a culture which is focused around one animal? Check.
Shelters our heroes and gives them protection? Check.
Shows up with an army at the last minute just to be badass? Check.
(Except – no offense to ya Theoden – M’Baku is better.)
I don’t know if this is the case everywhere but before they screen movies in UK cinemas a little certificate pops up showing warnings for violence and sex and all that, and before Black Panther one of the warnings was “one obscene gesture” and I was all OOOOOH I bet that happens in a moment of high emotion, I bet that forms part of the climatic scene of the movie or something
but it turned out to be Shuri casually flipping her big brother off
assorted wakandan scientists: your highness, that sergeant barnes dude in the cryofreeze, he’s starting to wake up. should we transport him to one of our state-of-the-art hospitals?
shuri: nah. we’re gonna stick him in a tent and get the local kids to poke him
scientists: …
shuri: guys hear me out it will be FUNNY AS FUCK
A few more non-spoilery thoughts on Black Panther:
-How great was M’Baku? He was actually my favourite character I think. I really hope he’s back for the sequel, although I honestly can’t see how he wouldn’t be
-It’s interesting how Ross, as the movie’s only white character, acts. He comes off as a decent person but still one who obviously thinks, at least at first, that he’s smarter than the Wakandans. He’s not, and actually he comes off mostly as comic relief, which is a clear inversion of the old “we couldn’t work out what to do with our only black character so he’s the funny one” trope.
-There’s a scene with Andy Serkis and a mirror which I’m positive is a nod to Gollum, heh.
One actually spoilery thought, cut:
Since Killmonger burned all the flowers, does this mean T’Challa is going to be the last Black Panther? Or the last one with superpowers anyway. That would form an interesting subplot for the sequel in fact…