Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

This is a film to rally the faithful. But it needs more than that to justify the sub-title 'Vanguard of the Revolution', when we're looking at a movement that was fatally split in half through conflict between its leaders, in the style of most far-left groups, and which has effectively ceased to exist. "We were making history" enthuses one supporter. Hmm...True, director Stanley J. Nelson Jr. has made quite a strong case that the split was skilfully and secretly provoked by the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover, who openly declared the Panthers to be a prime threat to national security. But there's nothing new about divide-and-rule, and a united party leadership ought to be proof against it.One philosophical survivor of the movement sums it up well in an ironical post-mortem. "The strength of the Panthers was its ideals and its youthful enthusiasm. The weakness of the Panthers was its ideals and its youthful enthusiasm." At times, the movement can look like a dress-rehearsal for the Nation of Islam, with its solemn drill parades. At others, it just looks like hooligans on the rampage. Those seeking to be convinced by cogent and consistent argument are liable to come away disappointed. "I'm important enough to be arrested. I'm a real Panther now." says one of its senior officers, as though he was fourteen years old. And when Bobby Seale fails to be elected mayor of Oakland, the Panthers cry "He's going to be OUR mayor!" Finally, you're better not looking too closely at Cleaver and Newton. Especially Cleaver, who went careering round in circles, and ended up as a right-wing Republican, voting for Reagan.

BLACK PANTHERS is a salutary piece that should be shown as a reminder to every politician past and present that racism is alive and regrettably flourishing throughout the United States. Perhaps they should bear this fact in mind before making racist and inflammatory statements in their campaign speeches.With the help of extensive archive footage plus first-hand reminiscences from those involved, Stanley Nelson's documentary tells the story of a movement that grew out of the Civil Rights Movement but favored more active forms of intervention. Protests might be kept largely peaceful - at least in the early years - but members of the movement were quite prepared to carry weapons, especially in California, where a loophole in the law allowed them to do so. The overwhelmingly white police force took strong exception to this, but there was little they could do within the confines of the law ... except to beat up miscreants in the name of preserving the peace.Ideologically speaking, the Black Panthers had a lot in common with the liberation movements that sprung up all over Africa during the Sixties. Many nations freed themselves at length from the shackles of colonial rule: the Black Panthers wanted to do the same for African Americans within the USA. They garnered considerable support from within the African continent, and managed to attract a huge following for their various demonstrations. The media found some of them highly attractive with their Afro hairstyles and alternative modes of dress through which they expressed their unique identities.In a chilling reminder of the anti-Communist movement two decades previously, the government - especially under Richard Nixon - tried to limit the Black Panthers' activities through the work of J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI. Although not exactly described as such, his determine to root out so-called "subversives" reeked of an anticommunist witch-hunt, taking place in a country that publicly speaking liked to proclaim its commitment to democratic values.Perhaps the document was a tad one-sided, as it tended to concentrate on the Panthers' commitment to eradicate racism while not exploring some of its more violent tactics. But then perhaps they could be justified; the days of the African American passively turning the other cheek or peacefully resisting in a manner prescribed by Martin Luther King were long gone.My first memory of the Black Panther movement and its significance came at the 1968 Olympics, when the African American Tommie Smith raised his hand in the movement's salute just after he had received a gold medal. Although the television companies tried to make light of the incident, it was a clear indication of how the movement had become part of the mainstream rather than remaining on the margins.

This is the story of the revolutionary group, The Black Panthers. Formed in the late 60's, they were an anti-capitalist, left wing militant group formed by disenfranchised black citizens originally in Oakland, California. Their formation was a result of the continued harassment and police brutality their people suffered in American cities at that time. It was a separate incarnation from the Civil Rights movement which had been specifically about redressing the actual lack of equal rights for black people in the American southern states. The Black Panthers were formed to stand up for blacks in the more 'equal' urban areas who were still put upon by the white authorities and who still suffered much racism. They famously had an image of openly bearing arms and their overall approach was of a more confrontational style than that preached by Martin Luther King. Just as important, their look became very chic, dressed all in black, wearing berets, leather jackets and shades, they also sported afro haircuts in an unashamed way for the first time in contemporary America. The idea was to visually show that black was beautiful in its natural form. The look certainly resonated with images of the group making the front covers of various magazines; it remains iconic to this day.The film is made up by a combination of extensive archive footage from the time and current interviews with past members of the group. It tries to understand some of the motivations and ambitions of the group, while looking at some of their opponents such as the head of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover who seemed quite obsessed with eradicating the group. In one telling clip he even states that he doesn't consider the concept of justice as being all that important and that law and order was what he was all about. So it's perhaps not so surprising that this philosophy led to an infamous incident where a prominent member of the Black Panthers was murdered by the Chicago police, an event that is thought to be related to the FBI chief in some way. For some reason though, despite the very interesting subject matter and the dramatic backdrop that the late 60's / early 70's America provides, I felt something lacked from this telling of the story. It never seemed to be as dynamic as it should be and while I learned a few things, it never felt as engaging as it should be and so I left a bit disappointed on the whole. This is certainly an interesting subject though and it does cover quite a lot of ground but I felt it could have been more dynamically told.

Because I'm old as dirt, I recall reading about the murder by the Chicago Police of Black Panther Fred Hampton in his bed while he slept, clearly part of J.Edgar Hoover's national program to undermine any leadership of the Black Panther Party. I was a senior in high school, and promptly tossed aside the Beowulf paper I was writing for one on the Black Panthers. This documentary gives you the full story that overlooked in civil rights discussions: the idea of militant blacks bearing arms was too frightening, although it sure made Martin Luther King's marches seem quite suddenly acceptable. I suspect it is the frightening aspect that has kept the Black Panther story stuffed in the closet of civil rights history. The documentary portrays how carefully the Panthers attended to legal rights regarding guns, how they stood witness en mass whenever police pulled over black in the neighborhood (Black Lives Matter) to ensure just treatment. Very well portrayed was the diabolical and successful program of the FBI and law enforcement to cripple the organization. Important viewing for all Americans.