Black Panther II - A better Black Panther movie but too stuffed with stuff
I really like Black Panther in the comic books. I wasn't ever a big comic book reader but there was something about this mysterious outsider that drew me in to his stories. He wasn't one of my favorites - Spider-Man, Iron Man, and Johnny Storm held that title but his story was so different than anything else in comic books at the time. He was definitely the only black character I remember ever reading.
Fast forward more years than I care to count and I saw the first Black Panther movie. I really liked it. It stayed true to the source material while taking out most of the problematic stuff. Before it came out I worried how non-comic books fans would react but the response was overwhelming. Discussion of Black Panther and Wakanda took over media discussions for well over a month once the movie released.
It was almost too positive and I got that little annoyed. It was like people were afraid to say bad things about it.
Representation has long been a problem in Hollywood and that certainly translated to comic book movies when they gained in popularity. The irony is the first 'modern' comic book movie to do well is Blade, with a black man (Wesley Snipes) in the lead role. It was the first real hint to Hollywood the genre wasn't just limited to the campiness we saw in the late 80s/90s Batman films. It showed comic books didn't need to be tongue-in-cheek. People would flock to see them if done right.
Blade -> The Matrix -> X-Men -> Sam Raimi's Spider-Man Trilogy -> Nolan's Batman Trilogy
This is the progression of comic book movies at the start of the 21st century. Each of these movies built on each another and their budgets grew as well. As budgets grow however, the pressure grows to ensure success. Hollywood wants a sure thing and as the $$$ got bigger, representation was put to the side.
Fast forward more years than I care to count and I saw the first Black Panther movie. I really liked it. It stayed true to the source material while taking out most of the problematic stuff. Before it came out I worried how non-comic books fans would react but the response was overwhelming. Discussion of Black Panther and Wakanda took over media discussions for well over a month once the movie released.
It was almost too positive and I got that little annoyed. It was like people were afraid to say bad things about it.
Representation has long been a problem in Hollywood and that certainly translated to comic book movies when they gained in popularity. The irony is the first 'modern' comic book movie to do well is Blade, with a black man (Wesley Snipes) in the lead role. It was the first real hint to Hollywood the genre wasn't just limited to the campiness we saw in the late 80s/90s Batman films. It showed comic books didn't need to be tongue-in-cheek. People would flock to see them if done right.
Blade -> The Matrix -> X-Men -> Sam Raimi's Spider-Man Trilogy -> Nolan's Batman Trilogy
This is the progression of comic book movies at the start of the 21st century. Each of these movies built on each another and their budgets grew as well. As budgets grow however, the pressure grows to ensure success. Hollywood wants a sure thing and as the $$$ got bigger, representation was put to the side.
- Laurence Fishburne's Morpheus was black but the hero, villain, and leading lady in The Matrix was white.
- Halle Berry's Storm was the only black character of consequence we see in many heroed X-Men movies.
- The main cast of Raimi's entire Spider-Man trilogy was white.
- Nolan's Batman gave us Morgan Freeman Lucius Fox as a side character.
That was really it.
Marvel was late to the party with Iron Man in 2008 which set off the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The titular character Tony Stark was played by Robert Downey Jr and Terrance Mann, a black actor, played his sidekick James Rhodes. This movie's huge success pressed for a second movie, with the role of Rhodes being played by another actor, Don Cheadle.
Over the next decade Marvel released a dozen comic book movies with only one more black character of note, Anthony Mackie's Falcon as a sidekick to Captain America.
None of what I'm writing is news to any person of color. Lack of representation has been a shame on Hollywood for a long time but not one totally without legitimate fears. The majority of comic book fans are white and male and people of color have shown they will attend these movies. As these movies are billion dollar enterprises, the creators are tasked to ensure they make as much money as possible.
Hollywood assumed putting a black man (or a woman) in Spider-Man's suit would create a backlash and lose them ticket sales (though Miles Morales and Spider-Gwen success shows they might have misjudged the public).
Fast forward to 2018 and we see Black Panther released to universal acclaim. No complaints at all. It was good but the lack of any complaints made me wonder if we saw the same film. (Massive spoilers for Black Panther starting here).
A better path would have been to focus more on Killmonger's journey. Don't make him irredeemable. Most disagreements in life aren't that clear cut. At the end, he and T'Challa could have redeemed each other and worked together.
As it turns out, it would have been better for the franchise as well. Marvel didn't know that Chadwick Boseman had been diagnosed with colon cancer in 2016. Shooting on the first Black Panther movie didn't start until 2017 but he didn't tell them. He didn't tell anyone. His death came as a shock to the entire world because by then the image of his powerful Black Panther character had become much bigger than comics.
It's now five years later and Covid has changed the moviegoing experience. Marvel needed a sure hit and ironically they know their best opportunity post-Tony Stark is a movie based on Black Panther. the problem is Chadwick Boseman is dead. They could have created a great movie where Killmonger tries to fill his role but that's impossible because they killed him off already.
The next obvious choice is Shuri, T'Challa's sister in the first Black Panther movie. In the comics she took on the Black Panther role when he was indisposed but the studio didn't say much about the story leading up to release of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
One thing I didn't mention above was how the first Black Panther movie wasn't just a celebration of race diversity. It was a celebration of gender as well as the true breakout stars in that movie were the women. Letitia Wright's Shuri, Lupita Nyong'o's Nakia, Danai Gurira's Okoye, Angela Bassett's Queen Ramonda, and the king's protectors, the Dora Milaje stole the show.
They are the focus of Wakakanda Forever and it again is getting rave reviews. I do think the story at its core is better than the original. On the other hand, Chadwick Boseman isn't replaceable.
To carry the film, they handed the reins to Angel Brissett and she performs admirably. I thought all the actors did a pretty good job but as my title above suggests, there's just too much. Here's the movie in a nutshell (big time spoilers -- like all of it).
First off, I'm sure you noticed some patterns. T'Challa had a chance to kill his father's killer and let him go. Shuri had a chance to kill her mother's killer and let him go. Killmonger fought to save his people. Namor is evil and fought to save his people. The main battle in this movie was between people of color. Every main actor in the movie was a person of color and all the new actors were person's of color.
When I left I wondered if this was Marvel's version of 'Plessy vs Ferguson'. They added a super smart black girl from MIT with little explanation. It felt like their point was -- see, we aren't racist -- we put all the blacks in the same movie. Separate yet equal right?
That's mostly tongue-in-cheek but it kind of bugged me. They also essentially told the same story as Black Panther but fixed the part about making the villain irredeemable. Namor is fighting to protect his people. I just wish we had more time with him and frankly, I wish we had more time with Shuri.
Her decision at the end just didn't feel earned to me. Nothing happened to ease her anger. She just changed her mind.
That happens in life but in a movie it's better if we see character development. The problem was we kept getting interrupted by weird story offshoots to Riri and Okoye's girlfriend. Everything felt forced.
One of my problems was working to avoid spoilers for this movie and this time I was successful. I'm sure that was part of my confusion. But viewers shouldn't need to do homework to enjoy a show. Every movie needs to stand on it's own merits and we shouldn't need to read comics, blogs, or watch other TV shows to understand the happenings on the screen.
After I watched the film I looked up Riri and found out her character is based on a recent comic run for a character called Ironheart. She's the new Ironman. Disney has a Disney+ television series for her that is beginning to shoot soon. I also found out Okoye's girlfriend is a character named Aneka. Aneka and Okoye will be the stars in an unnamed Disney+ show based on the Dora Milaje warriors. It starts shooting next year.
Grrrrrr....
I like Disney+. I like it a lot but most of the Marvel TV offerings have been bad. It's like they forgot how to make TV shows when 'Agents of Shield' and 'Agent Carter' ended. With a few exceptions all of their shows have been a lot of flash without much substance.
Now it seems like they are screwing up their movies to do lead in's to TV shows. I will no doubt be among those watching them but I wonder about the millions of others. How many people are watching Black Panther 2 and saying 'well ... that was confusing.' Will they watch Black Panther 3? Will they watch the next Marvel movie? Will they subscribe to Disney+?
The public has been patient with Disney all through Phase 4 and it still feels like they are lost.
There were a few hints in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever that things might get better in Phase 5. Julia Louis Dreyfus was in this movie and her character as leader of the CIA made some big moves. I expect we will see an announcement soon of a new type of Avengers group under her leadership. Readers of the comics knows where that goes.
As for the movie itself. I liked it but came away unsatisfied. I honestly would have loved if Queen Ramonda was killed earlier which would have allowed the movie to focus on Shuri's journey as queen and the move into the Black Panther. The way this movie progress felt like a repeat of the last, as it fixed a few things they did wrong and repeated others (it was Hispanics vs Blacks this time -- it's almost like Disney is afraid to show black people killing white people).
They also bloated the movie with extraneous characters to get people to watch Disney+. You know what will get people to watch Disney+? Good TV shows on Disney+. Right now they are diluting both properties. It's a poor business strategy and one I hope Disney reverses before it is too late.
I do give them Disney credit for one thing however. It seems like they have crossed the color barrier and there is no going back. It is long past due. My next hope is critics will soon feel it is ok to criticize these movies on their merits and not just see them as good just because they promote inclusion. The latter should be a given.
Marvel was late to the party with Iron Man in 2008 which set off the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The titular character Tony Stark was played by Robert Downey Jr and Terrance Mann, a black actor, played his sidekick James Rhodes. This movie's huge success pressed for a second movie, with the role of Rhodes being played by another actor, Don Cheadle.
Over the next decade Marvel released a dozen comic book movies with only one more black character of note, Anthony Mackie's Falcon as a sidekick to Captain America.
None of what I'm writing is news to any person of color. Lack of representation has been a shame on Hollywood for a long time but not one totally without legitimate fears. The majority of comic book fans are white and male and people of color have shown they will attend these movies. As these movies are billion dollar enterprises, the creators are tasked to ensure they make as much money as possible.
Hollywood assumed putting a black man (or a woman) in Spider-Man's suit would create a backlash and lose them ticket sales (though Miles Morales and Spider-Gwen success shows they might have misjudged the public).
Fast forward to 2018 and we see Black Panther released to universal acclaim. No complaints at all. It was good but the lack of any complaints made me wonder if we saw the same film. (Massive spoilers for Black Panther starting here).
When the credits rolled I couldn't help but feel like Black Panther could have been better. It should have been better. Most of the fighting in the story is black on black. Even worse, I didn't think Boseman's Black Panther character had any real change from the start of the movie. His 'dark night of the soul' moment occurred in Civil War but the writers had to find something to shoehorn in an origin story.At the beginning of the film we see the Wakandan Crown Prince T'Chaka kill his brother who was working with black revolutionaries in the 1980s. We see the killed man has a son and then we fast forward to the present.In the Captain America: Civil War movie the now Wakandan King T'Chaka is old so he has allowed his son T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) to take his place as Black Panther. About halfway through the movie, King T'Chaka is killed which puts T'Challa on a quest for revenge. At the end, T'Challa realizes killing his father's killer will only continue the cycle and turns him over to the authorities. That movie was our introduction to the Black Panther character though Boseman has few speaking parts.In Black Panther movie, we are told a ritual of succession needs to take place. This is where it starts to get dumb because the writers have a problem. You see Boseman's T'Challa already was Black Panther but because he was introduced without an origin story, they had to backtrack.So T'Challa goes through a procedure to have the Black Panther spirit pulled from him so he loses his strength to make it fair for any potential challengers. We are introduced to all the tribes in Wakanda and a celebratory scene occurs where it is assumed the leaders of the other tribes will accept T'Challa as king. Of course, the one bad tribe disagrees and a fight occurs with T'Challa winning. This allows him to take a potion made from a special flower that will again imbue him with the Black Panther spirit. Boom! - Origin story complete.The story now shifts to the kid from the beginning of the movie. We sympathize with him a bit but it doesn't take long to realize he's straight out evil now. He kills people on a whim in fight against the world's racism.Killmonger (Marvel Comics never was big on subtlety) is played by Michael B Jordan and we watch him perform irredeemable act after act. He travels to Wakanda and challenges T'Challa to lead Wakanda. T'Challa again undergoes the 'undo Black Pather spirit' ceremony and they fight. This time T'Challa loses and Killmonger becomes Black Panther who then destroys the flowers which allow the Black Panther spirit to enter a person's body. Killmonger means to be the last Black Panther and forces the tribes of Wakanda to bend to his will. Some do so willingly. Others bristle under their new leader.The problem for Killmonger's plan is -- T'Challa finds one last Black Panther flower.This is screenwriting 101 'Dark Night of the Soul' stuff but the ping-pong nature of story so far has stolen much of its punch. The two Black Panther's fight as the tribes of Wakanda take sides. A huge battle commences with T'Challa winning. Killmonger dies at the end, his final words being a wish he'd been able to let go of his hate. Now T'Challa is the last Black Panther. End of story.
A better path would have been to focus more on Killmonger's journey. Don't make him irredeemable. Most disagreements in life aren't that clear cut. At the end, he and T'Challa could have redeemed each other and worked together.
As it turns out, it would have been better for the franchise as well. Marvel didn't know that Chadwick Boseman had been diagnosed with colon cancer in 2016. Shooting on the first Black Panther movie didn't start until 2017 but he didn't tell them. He didn't tell anyone. His death came as a shock to the entire world because by then the image of his powerful Black Panther character had become much bigger than comics.
It's now five years later and Covid has changed the moviegoing experience. Marvel needed a sure hit and ironically they know their best opportunity post-Tony Stark is a movie based on Black Panther. the problem is Chadwick Boseman is dead. They could have created a great movie where Killmonger tries to fill his role but that's impossible because they killed him off already.
The next obvious choice is Shuri, T'Challa's sister in the first Black Panther movie. In the comics she took on the Black Panther role when he was indisposed but the studio didn't say much about the story leading up to release of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
One thing I didn't mention above was how the first Black Panther movie wasn't just a celebration of race diversity. It was a celebration of gender as well as the true breakout stars in that movie were the women. Letitia Wright's Shuri, Lupita Nyong'o's Nakia, Danai Gurira's Okoye, Angela Bassett's Queen Ramonda, and the king's protectors, the Dora Milaje stole the show.
They are the focus of Wakakanda Forever and it again is getting rave reviews. I do think the story at its core is better than the original. On the other hand, Chadwick Boseman isn't replaceable.
To carry the film, they handed the reins to Angel Brissett and she performs admirably. I thought all the actors did a pretty good job but as my title above suggests, there's just too much. Here's the movie in a nutshell (big time spoilers -- like all of it).
I've only seen this movie once so I'm sure I missed some things. My recap is probably too sarcastic isn places as I really did like the show. But like the first movie, it does have problems.The story opens with Shuri trying to save T'Challa for an unknown illness. She is trying to use science to recreate the Black Panther flower but is too late. T'Challa dies. They have a funeral. Opening credits roll with no sounds. My audience was silent as we see picture after picture of Chadwick Boseman.It's a year later. Queen Ramonda goes to the UN to discuss vibranium, the material that gives Wakanda a huge advantage over other world's techs. The world wants it. Wakanda won't share. Frances tries to steal it. The Dora Milaje catch them and the prisoners are freed with a threat Wakanda won't be as nice next time.The United States finds vibranium on the bottom of the ocean. They try to go get it. Everyone is killed.Shuri is still sad about her brother. She refuses to work on the Black Panther flower. Queen Ramonda tries to cheer her up. A man shows up and tells them to kill the person who made the device that found the vibranium or he will destroy Wakanda.Shuri investigates with Nakia and to their surprise they find the device's creator is an 18-year-old genius college student who goes to MIT and who happens to be a black girl named Riri. We quickly learn Riri is an expert at everything and without any explanation we find out she has an expensive car, a fancy motorcycle, and a super suit that looks suspiciously like the one Iron Man used. We aren't told how she got any of this. We are told nothing. We just need to accept it as fact as a fight between the FBI and Shuri/Okoye/Riri spirals out of control.Just as our heroes beat the FBI, representatives from the man who showed up in Wakanda appear. Okoye is beaten. Shuri and Riri are captured and take to their homeland. We learn the backstory of these people called the Talokan. Their leader is a man named Namor. His people are descendants of the Aztecs but took a potion so they now can only live underwater. Just like the Wakandans, the Talokan have hid their society away from civilization to thrive. They also have vibranium. I noticed at least 4 Talokan soldiers who appeared different/stronger than the others so I'm sure they were Namor's key lieutenants. We are told nothing of their back story.Nakia has a super suit and sneaks past the Talokan defenses (a little too easy if you ask me) and rescues Shuri and Riri. They all return to Wakanda to prepare for a fight. Okoye is hanging out with a girl we know little about. Both don super suits made by Shuri. We don't know much about why they got super suits.A few days later, the Talokan attack Wakanda. Queen Ramonda is killed. Shuri has now lost all her family. 'Dark Night of the Soul' time for Shuri. She figures out how to make the Black Panther flower. She takes the potion. In the dreaming that follows she meets Killmonger who tells her she is just like him - a killer.A huge battle happens at sea. Latinos and blacks are killing each other all over the Wakandan ship. The Wakandans do well at first but the tide is turning. Riri is flying around in her super suit. Okoye is flying around in her super suit. Okoye's girlfriend is flying around in her super suit. Shuri flies Namor away from the ocean where he is weaker. She has a chance to kill him in revenge for killing her Mom. She lets him go. He goes to the ship and tells his people to stop fighting. The remaining Wakandans are saved.Quick end scenes. Okoye and the new girl kiss. Riri goes back to Chicago. Nakia goes back to Haiti. Shuri is queen (haven't they heard of democracy?). She visits Nakia and finds out she has a son. His name is T'Challa.
First off, I'm sure you noticed some patterns. T'Challa had a chance to kill his father's killer and let him go. Shuri had a chance to kill her mother's killer and let him go. Killmonger fought to save his people. Namor is evil and fought to save his people. The main battle in this movie was between people of color. Every main actor in the movie was a person of color and all the new actors were person's of color.
When I left I wondered if this was Marvel's version of 'Plessy vs Ferguson'. They added a super smart black girl from MIT with little explanation. It felt like their point was -- see, we aren't racist -- we put all the blacks in the same movie. Separate yet equal right?
That's mostly tongue-in-cheek but it kind of bugged me. They also essentially told the same story as Black Panther but fixed the part about making the villain irredeemable. Namor is fighting to protect his people. I just wish we had more time with him and frankly, I wish we had more time with Shuri.
Her decision at the end just didn't feel earned to me. Nothing happened to ease her anger. She just changed her mind.
That happens in life but in a movie it's better if we see character development. The problem was we kept getting interrupted by weird story offshoots to Riri and Okoye's girlfriend. Everything felt forced.
One of my problems was working to avoid spoilers for this movie and this time I was successful. I'm sure that was part of my confusion. But viewers shouldn't need to do homework to enjoy a show. Every movie needs to stand on it's own merits and we shouldn't need to read comics, blogs, or watch other TV shows to understand the happenings on the screen.
After I watched the film I looked up Riri and found out her character is based on a recent comic run for a character called Ironheart. She's the new Ironman. Disney has a Disney+ television series for her that is beginning to shoot soon. I also found out Okoye's girlfriend is a character named Aneka. Aneka and Okoye will be the stars in an unnamed Disney+ show based on the Dora Milaje warriors. It starts shooting next year.
Grrrrrr....
I like Disney+. I like it a lot but most of the Marvel TV offerings have been bad. It's like they forgot how to make TV shows when 'Agents of Shield' and 'Agent Carter' ended. With a few exceptions all of their shows have been a lot of flash without much substance.
Now it seems like they are screwing up their movies to do lead in's to TV shows. I will no doubt be among those watching them but I wonder about the millions of others. How many people are watching Black Panther 2 and saying 'well ... that was confusing.' Will they watch Black Panther 3? Will they watch the next Marvel movie? Will they subscribe to Disney+?
The public has been patient with Disney all through Phase 4 and it still feels like they are lost.
There were a few hints in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever that things might get better in Phase 5. Julia Louis Dreyfus was in this movie and her character as leader of the CIA made some big moves. I expect we will see an announcement soon of a new type of Avengers group under her leadership. Readers of the comics knows where that goes.
As for the movie itself. I liked it but came away unsatisfied. I honestly would have loved if Queen Ramonda was killed earlier which would have allowed the movie to focus on Shuri's journey as queen and the move into the Black Panther. The way this movie progress felt like a repeat of the last, as it fixed a few things they did wrong and repeated others (it was Hispanics vs Blacks this time -- it's almost like Disney is afraid to show black people killing white people).
They also bloated the movie with extraneous characters to get people to watch Disney+. You know what will get people to watch Disney+? Good TV shows on Disney+. Right now they are diluting both properties. It's a poor business strategy and one I hope Disney reverses before it is too late.
I do give them Disney credit for one thing however. It seems like they have crossed the color barrier and there is no going back. It is long past due. My next hope is critics will soon feel it is ok to criticize these movies on their merits and not just see them as good just because they promote inclusion. The latter should be a given.
Comments
Post a Comment