Black Is King

The audio and imagery of this film are breathtaking. And yes, I said "film". Non-narrative films exist. Knowing that this is a visual album with a loose-thematic basis in The Lion King, I don't know how you could be disappointed. Mixing imagery, cultures, and languages from every corner of Africa gives Black is King a very pan-African feel that mostly works well. Black is King is first and foremost a celebration of blackness and it is beautiful, although not as subversive or deep as Lemonade. It's not a perfect film, but it is great and definitely worth the watch! Also: There is nothing political or "anti-white" about this film; neither is there any connection to BLM or anti-state-violence activism within this film as previous reviewers have erroneously implied (not that there is anything wrong with being political or critiquing state violence in a film, most films are political, grow up about it). If you didn't make it past the title, please refrain from leaving a review.

After giving us Hamilton on Disney+ they go and spoil it by showing this pile of narcissism in the form of an overblown music video. They manage to go one step further from their terrible real life adaptations of classic animation with this. I fully support the Black Lives Matter movement, but, I thought it was about equality and no promoting the idea that black people are better than white people. Perhaps Beyonce and Disney would like to put more effort in helping the poor and suffering in Africa by spending the money they wasted on this on providing clean water, proper education for the children and medicines to combat the terrible diseases afflicting many Africans who live in countries where their politicians live in splendour and the children die because of a lack of clean water. I'm so disappointed in Disney for doing something that benefits one incredibly rich black woman instead of helping BAME people both in America and the rest of the world.

WARNING: lengthy post

I felt so many emotions watching this, I took notes. I thought the negative comments were from non-black conservative trolls until I decided to watch it for myself. I was excited. At first. Then I felt embarrassed. It was as if Beyonce became indignant because The Lion King received mixed reviews that she decided to take matters into her own hands, only to deliver another "Carmen" or "Obsessed" aka an effort that no one really wants to see again. Ever. When it comes to movie-making SPECIFICALLY, this one makes no sense. Some of the music videos do not correlate with the spoken word. It loosely follows The Lion King and branches off into a poetry-laced jungle haunted with mysticism. The rosy words are overly self-indulgent to the point it made me feel like melted ice cream. There were many lines about how black skin is made from the stars and how our fluffy hair is strands of wisdom, blah blah blah. It was alot of beautiful gibberish that is meant to uplift insecure women of color. In the process, the movie neglects many things. For one thing, what about light skinned women? The song "brown-skinned Girls" excludes women who are biracial (black+white) or multiracial/black like Beyonce, who prides herself in not only being black but Creole. When it comes to the "BLACK" part of Black is King...are we only talking about brown skinned to deep-brown-skinned africans and african americans?

The other thing is, this film does not represent Blackness well at all. In many scenes, there's a lot of stunting going on, flashing riches, sass and beauty.

That's not blackness. Even more heart-breaking, the part that REALLY mattered, the part about taking care of your family and working hard, is mentioned briefly by some unknown speaker. Once that's over, it's back to rolling hips and dramatic outfits... Which brings me to my next point...

Beyonce's power is her beauty. She should model often because she is incredibly beautiful, however have you noticed the only reason why people love the film is because it is aesthetically beautiful? That's about it. When it comes to choreography or story-telling etc, Black is King lacks majorly. It kind of became a fest of rolling hips and sultry gazes and synchronized flowy movements but that's nothing original nor inspiring. To be fair, it was an honest effort and better than anything I could ever do. And what was up with the whole River Baby/Moses situation?

The dangerous parts about this movie are the spiritual or religious and supremacist beliefs that seem to be promoted throughout. Speakers whisper words such as "I am the creator of all things" and exalt blackness to a royal and even celestial level. "I know I am a god," "Blackness should be equated with glory." Why though? Black is beautiful indeed, but no amount of "research" could ever make me feel above others (white servant included--seen in the music segment "Mood.") or that I am a god myself--complete with a "mother Mary" like painting of myself (major side-eye...). That is dangerous ideology. Royalty is not determined by skin color, Divinity is beyond humanity, and racism does not always or usually stem from jealousy or intimidation. This just screams "REVENGE!!!" I am not empowered by this movie, I feel like apologizing for this movie. I will give another warning, though, and that is to beware: Jesus isn't white, but black isn't god either....

Now I'm closing. Watch this movie and be wowed by the outfits and beauty. That should be celebrated. But when it comes to great story telling, black excellence, black royalty, black heroism, black love, overcoming tribalism, racism,war...

Just watch Black Panther, bruh...

Its just one giant musci video, and not the good kind. the one that just has a few shots of the characters singing, and some eyecandy in between. and the music doesnt drive a distinct narrative, so the it all feels directionless. it tries to mask itself with the lion king, but fails dreadfully. it just uses snipets of the movie in between songs, and tries to the the songs after each snippet. but the songs end up not driving the story further, thus each snippit with each song comes off as disjointed.

2/10: just listen to the music, you dont need these visuals

85 minutes of the most visually arresting, mind-blowingly opulent and strikingly powerful visuals ever put to film. It's truly that good.