User Reviews

My assessment of Black is King is that it's a cheesy but well-made film - many of its sequences worthy of Ron Fricke - with several little asterisks at the side. But before we get to those, know that I admit my exclusion from the actually-intended audience; in a sense, I'm not even the one you'll be hearing from in this review. I know how unsafe it can be to tackle the Queen Bee herself.

Beyoncé Knowles is one of North America's most untouchable celebrities (and given how she portrays herself here, she knows it). The furthest you can go without awakening the mob is saying you aren't personally enthused by her, but still recognize that her factory-made mainstream-appeal platitude songs are objectively great (not to mention unique and politically defiant artistic feats). Is the worship warranted, you may ask, or does her name seem to have been picked randomly from a roster of other photogenic PoC multi-talents? Don't ask questions. Just consume product, and then get excited for next product.

Following the past summer's political revolts, it's especially tricky to scrutinize her content on the thematic level, at least when you don't belong to the group whose history and rights are being discussed. For this particular convo, my voice isn't called for. I get that.

Therefore, when it comes to the Disney+ "album film" Black is King (not to be confused with next summer's repartee from the "true right", White is Power) I don't ask that you take my word for it. Instead, listen to the voices you claim you want to hear.

NPR, just to name one outlet, were wise enough to bring forth African viewers' opinions, some of them negative, on Disney's well-timed musical (based on a 2019 Beyoncé album that was, in turn, inspired by the loathsome photorealistic take on The Lion King, which was inspired by a fantastic 2D-animated film that few outlets have the courtesy to mention). One particular viewer, opining that the film is "crap", was pretty tired of the decidedly Western notion that celebrating African heritage must entail "animal skin costumes" and "climbing in trees" - a perception even Hergé moved past. The Washington Post, meanwhile, mentions a Nigerian college kid who reminds us there is more to Africa than lions and tribal face paint.

Once again, I get that all this activism was really about giving a voice to black folk - letting them know they're heard and that they, contrary to racist opinion, have greatness within their history. But sanctimonious Instagram activists are rarely happy to learn that said black folk aren't the monolith they ironically perceive them to be, as not every voice is on their side; whether it's about anti-police riots or Disney movies that might actually fail to add nuance to the perception of African-Americans.

Self indulgent terd. It averages out to a 5 but most of the reviews are a 1 or a 10. The 10's would have given it a 10 if it was Beyonce taking a dump and the 1's are probably just tired of all this. The only way you can a feel for how it is you have to have a free review forum...like this!

This is breathtaking music to the ears and eyes. A representation of black beauty, diverse African culture and history. It is a shame that resentful and insecure people have voted this movie down without having seen it. She included people of all races, focusing on one specific race that needs a little more love and celebration. If you don't understand how important and monumental this movie was, I hope you will in the future. This one is for the history books!

Directed by Beyoncé Knowles Carter and dedicated to her son Sir! I hope to see this movie at the Oscars.

Black is king was obviously created by people who see black as a synonym of strength, power and humanity. Seeing this much representation literally made me cry, thank you Beyoncé and every one who worked on this amazing project.

Black is King is mildly enjoyable for its entire duration, but it's not investing in the slightest. Great cinematography doesn't necessarily make a great movie.

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...

I love it so much. It touched my heart so many times and made me cry. It made feel so powerful. Everyone should watch it. Long live the queen bey!!

Basically a bunch of dancing with boring backgrounds. There's no "wow" moments. I expected some great cinematography, but it literally gave nothing more than you could shoot off your iPhone.

'Black is King' is a visual masterpiece - from the makeup and hairstyling to the costumes to the set design and all the way to the cinematography, stunning visuals spread throughout its runtime. However, there's no real thread and a more tangible plot line in the grander narrative that holding it together, leaving the film a beautiful object to behold but feeling disjointed.

An amazing but necessary celebration of Black Heritage and History. Beautiful sound design, editing and cinematography work together to make this groundbreaking piece of work. Arguably Beyoncé's magnum opus.

First of all, I wanna clear something up : Black Is King is not a movie per say. Don't expect to see a movie with a real story because you will be disappointed. It's more an ensemble of music videos that illustrates the "Lion King : The Gift" album.

But this film is a masterpiece. Every clip is a artwork and makes Africa shine in the most breathtaking way. Beyoncé putted a lot of work on this and you can really feel it. I was stunned by the beauty of every plan, every outfit, and every song.

However, I don't understand why Beyoncé made a "film" out of this album. This format is not appropriate for this kind of work. She should've rather release a visual album like for "Beyoncé" or Lemonade". Every interlude is long, annoying and the link between every clip is not obvious. I felt like she tried to put every song in a kind of storytelling, but it didn't work. She should've release every clip on Youtube or something because a movie on Disney + is just pointless and, morefurther, doesn't give the visibility every song and every clip deserves.

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.

This woman can do no wrong. She's such a creative artist. This film provides amazing visuals as well as an in-depth look into African/Black culture. This is for all people NOT just black people. Enjoyed this film in it's entirety. Thank you Beyonce and Disney!

Beautiful cinematography, amazing music (nothing else is expect from Beyoncé herself), and an INCREDIBLE message. This is what music should be. This is what a visual album should look like. A masterful piece of work.

I'm a straight white male and the film has changed my view on life I never been sooo proud her she is my hero This visual album surpassed all the expectations. Just pure wow! Thank you soooo much Beyoncé for sharing us your visionary gift Beyoncé rules the world

I thought it was visually stunning and the music and dancing were great, however this music video (folks need to take a chill pill about it "not being a movie") was super confusing. And I do know the Lion King story.

I come from a country where we actually do have a thing such as a king and a queen, where royalty is viewed as something extremely special and representing of *our* culture and history. For that reason, and what the title of this 1 hour and half long "artsy" music video implies (that a race in and of itself can be linked to something superior), I am indeed offended by this choice. I think it's disrespectful to the meaning of my culture and several others, and a hypocritical nonsensical message, and as you've noticed by now, adds nothing but division after there are so many of us from every race supporting the whole Black Lives Matter movement with passion, and will strive to continue to do so. To remove all the humanity and make it about being supreme and "royal" is beyond me.

Of course, I think it's great to strengthen the bonds and the history and the culture and roots of people of color, especially with someone high profile like Beyoncé doing it thereby having everybody seeing it. But this is simply not it. There is nothing educational, barely anything artistic except for extremely glamourous shots and vibing music that ends up just being the background, as does the actual Lion King aspect which fades out quickly.

To the ones who keep defending Black Is King by saying that it's *Beyonce*, the "film" has no ill intentions, and we all don't have a right to feel offended or disrespected here (funny how that goes), you don't even have to watch the movie to get it. Just go straight to the trailer and they literally have the *only* noticeably white (male) in the whole thing stand as a servant in the background to a table full of fancy-dressed women of colour having a party. People have tried to furiously defend this but, quit beating around the bush. It's obvious that it's not there by coincidence, it's obvious that it's supposed to be some reversed sh* of what black people went through back when they were forced to be slaves and back when they weren't allowed bigger roles in films and tv and had to represent something like that there. But with its message in today's society, 2020 folks, reversed racism (well, racism), *really*? It's not alright. Not for the movement, not for the people, not for the cultures.

I actually happen to be a big fan of Beyoncé's music and art style (well, the previous), having loved and supported her since I was a kid when I first heard her, so to see her put out something like this... I can't even describe what I feel but it's such a letdown she would go this route.

She could've saved it all focussing on the beauty of the actual African culture and the roots and what it looks like in different places in Africa today, all the different people there, and cut that nonsense offensive title, maybe boost up her music so it doesn't feel like background as much and boost up the Lion King story, and it would've been so good. But that didn't happen.

It's like she finally took all the praise about her being a goddess with beauty and music out-of-this-world to her head and dropped it in one "film" and decided to promote it as African culture supporting all the people of color out there, giving their race a title of royalty and add in a few vain messages about strength and beauty and empowerment and that's it.

Beyoncé's status does not make her free from criticism, and this time she messed up. She deserves to know that and acknowledge she's really forced this whole movement two steps backwards in terms of adding to the discussion, and a lot of supporters of her and of the movement and in different cultures feel offended by what she put out. Please don't just hold her to another standard and let all the people offended by this slide by while you are trying to tell us none of what we think and feel is legit to this situation. We don't move forward by moving backwards.

EDIT/note: After making this review and gaining the huge likes/dislikes, someone has gone out of their way to dislike *all* my other reviews (50+). I know that for a fact since there are so many of them and several of them are just years old with previously 0 votes or some that has seen no votes for a while and are about lesser known pieces, etc.. To see this is unbelievable. I've also come across threads on Twitter dedicated to hanging out reviewers on this site, where you can actually see the usernames, speaking hateful about what is initially someone's bare experience and opinions on this film and what's surrounding it, and suggesting ways to downvote and change the rating etc. Is this the level of mob mentality and hatefulness we have gone to? As a reviewer on this site, too, I have no way of speaking back either to claim respect or do anything about it. Had to share this since it has gotten way too personal, not just for me, and you should never get consequences like this for speaking up your view and experience. I respect every single dislike and every single like on this review but I have to ask for you to be fair. That's all. Wishing good out there, and please ignore this segment while determining whether to like/dislike the actual review I have here. Thank you.

I'm white, and this film just touched my soul. So tender, raw, beautiful, brilliant, show-stopping.

Picturesque, artistic, musical, beautiful, seductive, provocative. This film was a lot of things-a movie wasn't one of them. It's more or less a string of music videos interspersed with dialogue from "The Lion King." I think if you view this piece as you would view a painting-a work of art consisting of images and colors that are in harmony and/or contrast with one another-then you can appreciate it a lot. As a display of Black and African beauty it was fantastic. It could be said that it's a little self-serving for Beyonce, but I won't question her motives or intentions. It's a film I can watch once and appreciate, but it's not something I'd repeatedly watch.

As a black man, this whole film reeked of racism. The title alone is enough to turn you away and the hour and half long film appears to be a desperate attempt at some sort of award. No thanks.

The cinematography is amazing, on top of the powerful message the film presents. A retelling of a story that will uplift all young kings and queens. Take this journey and enjoy every minute!

It is an age of call for change, and an age of inspiration for opinion. So why would Hollywood not take the shot to make a memorable ad venture to cash in on the moment. In the age of streaming and "opportunity" movies are trying to still exit at a fraction of the budget and the choices that come with. Leading the way in this movie is the Queen Bey herself Beyoncé who is taking on a lot roles in this movie in an attempt to culture up the streaming service and inspire change. Will it work? Is the Divided commentary true or is there a go between the two worlds. Yours truly is here to give his opinion on the latest movie:

Movie: Black Is King

Directors: Emmanuel Adjei, Blitz Bazawule Writers: Beyoncé, Yrsa Daley-Ward Stars: Folajomi 'FJ' Akinmurele, Adut Akech, Yemi Alade

LIKES: Visuals Culture Representation Some Of the Music Short Run Time

DISLIKES: Not Really A movie Not a Fan Of the Music at some points Abstract Approach a bit too abstract The Lion King Clips/adaptation not needed Could have used other singers and numbers The Monologues Politically Charged Over Anything else Limited Audience Enjoyment?

SUMMARY:

In this divided world of review I have found a few things that I agree are strong components that most should agree on. The visuals in this montage of Black culture are beautiful, a varying array of camera techniques that help add finesse and diversity to a movie with sort of a common theme. Overhead shots of the lands allows you to capture the majesty of the African realms, before falling down into the "journey" of the little king running through the streets of the various realms. Filters help further from bringing back the 90's style of filming, dark filters to add the dark dangers of the night, and others to bring out the vibrant colors of the costumes, body paint and setting. That spectacle was the most captivating for me and one can find artistic and non-artistic appreciation for the choices they made. As sort of stated in the last like, the culture of this film is certainly a big them of the film. The audience will be subjected to a collage of black life interspersed with the one central character working through it, and seeing that transform to the America side of things is going to be a source of power for many. I have to say that I enjoyed the costumes, the body paint, and some of the dance styles more than anything else, but others may find more to enjoy that I cannot appreciate. The music that is in this film I feel fits many of the sequences, and some of them had me feeling the rhythm, style, and energy of the song better than others. I can't state the names of the songs or what parts without giving away too much, but those that had more upbeat tempos, or an R&B softness to describe the love aspects of this culture were the things I appreciated the most. Finally, it's nice that this visual diary was only one hour and twenty minutes long for it made the things I did not enjoy less impactful due to not being dragged out.

On the other spectrum of dislikes for this film, I again found things I agreed with that I did not particular enjoy. For one thing, its presentation in advertising and samples states the movie of the year, but this is not a traditional movie. Black is king is more of an abstract collaboration of art styles that tries too hard to be unique for me and is too loose for the plot that was promised. This very artistic nature means that without an appreciation or relevance to the culture, a bias toward the movement, or loyalty to the artists and culture... you may not appreciate the plot presented. While the theory of adapting the Lion King to this style seemed promising, I did not enjoy the random quotes from the film, the thin transitions between human and animal characters, and the divergence from the Lion King really did not deliver on the potential it had for me. Yet, part of this struggle came from trying to balance the Lion King through a new soundtrack while injecting the political fervor of the movement. Black Is King for me seemed more about the musical numbers and compilations than any actual plot and I think many will agree that this style is not going to be for everyone. As stated, not every song and numbers was a winner for me, some of the more hardcore rap and hype rap just not my speed when talking about the struggles and journey of this human Simba. Second, Beyoncé takes center stage for most of the numbers, sometimes stealing the show right with her ravishing moves and beauty, and other times seeming to be a self-glorifying, look at me number that was lost to me. Given the number of artists out there to represent the story, and could surely have designed numbers that felt more towards the lion King motif they wanted. However, I think that adding that showmanship may have gotten in the way of the other aspect of this movie, the political motivation and inspiration. The title is only the start of the political fervor in this film, and I can't say that I agree with the others who say that is not what this movie is about. The monologues alone are loaded with plenty of lines geared towards inspiration, some poetic and beautiful, and others a bit too strong for me and matching the social media posts I've seen. Eventually the visuals and numbers mirror this and get into a call for change that starts again mirroring the movements you see on the internet. Without he story and balance I appreciate, this component started too grate on my patience and take me away from the beauty the visuals were keeping me in. This brings me to the final point, is that this last paragraph sort of makes me think this is a limited audience appreciation and that I believe leads to the dividing results.

The VERDICT

Both sides of the argument have fair points in terms of the quality of this movie. Visuals are beautiful, a strong and diverse approach to let you see the beauty of black culture and the various components of the ethnicity. With some on the mark numbers and a soundtrack that again represents the culture well, I feel these are the positives to the film that I watched. However, removing the political bias, the fervor, and other components that are needed to get into the moment is where this film failed for me. The very abstract approach to storytelling is going to be lost to some, and the Lion King integration was cute and clever but not executed well for me. With the story sort of lost, the movie then is again a music video empowerment piece that gears towards a certain audience mainly and goes from inspiring to overzealous for me with the political charge. Thus, if that is what you want, then hop on Disney + and binge watch it with glee. However, if you are like me and want balance, integration, a story, or at least more of those artists who could blow this representation out of the water, then even one viewing might be a bit much. I'll say this... if you go in there with the idea of hating or loving it purely for the name, Beyoncé, or the movement, you are wasting your time, because both styles and scoring extremes I don't think are true. With this, my scores are:

Adventure/Drama/Fantasy: 6.0 Movie Overall: 5.0

Black is King is one of the worst "movies" I ever watched, I don't get what the message should be. Cinematography is less than mediocre, the director(s) is clearly lacking professional knowledge and talent, the "acting" is really bad and the claim to be art is just ridiculous. It seems to be a overproduced vanity peace for silly costumes, nonsense quotes and a protagonist who is so out of touch and unable to realize what's really going on in the world right now. Very weird time to release a vanity piece like "Black is King". In my opion, Beyonce is overrated and has been for years.