Film Review : Black Panther 2 - Wakanda Forever"

 

A Black Panther movie, without Black Panther is pretty pointless. To pay tribute to an actor who plays a character, does nothing to movie a story line forward, since Tchalla did not die like this in the comic books. Nore does Chadwich Boseman exist in the comics. There was lts of empty sentiment portrayed by morning actors who were trying to translate their grief to the screen. They were more effective when displaying how they had grown into the roles of the characters they were portraying which is typically the sole strength of sequels. The key selling point for me was Namor. Sadly, he is portrayed by an actor the size of his female co-stars which makes selling his super-human strength difficult. I have a feeling the director had never read a Sub-mariner comic in his life, as it felt with characters like Namora and Attuma, they were names of characters Marvel specified should appear, so they got checked off, without any thought as to who they are as characters. Without the same steroids and personal trainer that Hemsworth used Namor was left looking like Peter Pan as he flew around.

The same could be said of Man-ape, whose comic depiction, is more of a villain, but at least he acted like more of an ape this time around. The rest of the returning cast maintained enough charm to convince anyone that is overly enamored with their movie mythos that they were getting what they wanted while the void left by a lack of Black Panther was a gaping hole in the movie. IN the last thirty minutes when a new suit is donned by the girl who takes on the mantle it did not have the desired impact, though the big CGI battle scene was better than the worse CGI in the first movie. It seemed like it was natives vs spaceships, but I for my life cannot Remember the plot as to who was fighting who thus underlining the lack of impact. Here the line was more finely drawn.  The first movie suffered because Kill Monger was just a mirror reflection of Black Panther, and they ended up fighting in color coded suits

The first movie was less than stellar but the charisma of Boseman was enough to compensate for an eager audience who just wanted to see hm get his own movie, The costumes which were another key selling point of the first movie were on par and the underwater visuals enough to make those scenes worth watching once. I do not see this Namor siding with the X-0men There was also no Storm or Dr. Doom as people had hoped meaning Marvel does not subscribed to all the fan service. This film was much less hyped than the first Black Panther, and the response to it online reflects the lack of impact it had. Seeing any Marvel character on screen at any time does scratch an itch for me not matter how badly it's done. 

But when this story was told in comics it held way more impact, thought it also proved Wakanda was not forever as the flooding was more severe. He we just had children screaming because there feet were wet which seemed to play into certain racial stereotype, you would think Marvel would want to avoid, but since the Disney machine sees diversity as a marketing buzzword with no real empath for the audience, the Machine of the Mouse just wants the coffers full and to sell toys to the It's a Small World demographics, as it equates to it's a big pay day. Never mind the fact that the tradition of emasculating black men on screen continues by turning the role over to a female, and undoes what was achieved on the first movie, or the subtle race baiting that Mexicans are coming out of the water to take over the black community. If we service one target group it makes all the other stumbles ok, ... it's not well that is what your dollars are telling Disney you want. that aside I downloaded this movie on Saturday, and it took me until Tuesday night to force my way through it. A great movie I can watch in one sitting, as my enthusiasm wanes the longer it takes. 

Review : Werewolf By Night

 In one episode, the one-hour special was better than She-Hulk, Ms. Marvel and Moon Knight combined. The main reason for this was focus. There was no wasted time. This might not seem like a bold statement, when you consider it introduced three of my favorite Marvel characters Jack Russell, Elsa Bloodstone and Ma-thing to the live action universe, in a manner that respect the source material, though they should have sprung for the red hair dye for Bloodstone. Elsa is likely my 2nd favorite female super-hero after She-Hulk, A show which has been plagued by a lack of focus and wasting complete episodes. 

Filmed in black and white to pay homage to the Universal Monster movies, after all the title character is basically Marvel's Wolf-man.  There was not a great deal of him in wolf form, but what was there worked. He was in his hybrid wolf man like form, which I prefer over showing were-wolves as just big wolves. Man-Thing's potential as the Nexus of all realities is not really hinted at and he comes across as the new Groot. But I can live with that, and he looks fabulous. The show was way more violent that I expected from Disney, with Elsa taking an axe to someone's head, my only complaint is in the test of hunter's ritual they could have used characters from the comics. 

Fiege has hinted at the fact the dark corner of the Marvel Universe this opened the door for is going to factor in going forward, I liked the fact you see Wendigo and Sasquatch in the opening sequence. Maybe one day we will even get Frankenstein. I think the big take away is we can at least look forward to seeing the main protagonists showing up in the bigger picture at some point. They were more interesting than anyone Marc Spector encountered in his series for sure.    

Review : She-Hulk Attorney at Law

Jennifer Walters is my favorite female super-hero. With the Hulk being my all-time favorite. I bought the first issue of “Savage She-Hulk” when it came out in 1980. With that said, I have been looking forward to a live action adaptation. Though considering how Mavel has treated the source material up to this point, it has been balanced with well-deserved skepticism. Her comic in the 90s took a fourth wall breaking comedic turn. I knew this was the direction they were going with it. While comedy is not my thing the show felt like it got the job done in that regard without trying too hard like the most recent Thor movie. CGI was bound to be an issue. I would say it looks better than the Ang Lee Hulk movie, but not as good as Ed Norton's “the Incredible Hulk” . The visual fx issues Marvel has been plagued with since most notably the Black Panther movie, comes with therate at which they pump these things out with. I personally do not care how real my big green monsters are looking as the suspension of disbelief is already out the window, as it should be.

 I think actress Titiana Maslany does a great job as Jennifer Walters, perhaps better in her human form, but there is room for her to grow into her big green persona. The trailer made it look like they were going to try to elevate her character as better or stronger than the Hulk, which would be a deviation from the comics and this is not the case, even when they tussle, she is only fighting a Professor Hulk, or the merged version that feel more like the mid 80s version. Once again, the MCU tends to deviate, but they at least got that part right. There is plenty of social commentary that Disney/ Marvel and let's face it Hollywood in general panders to, but not enough to become a distraction. The villain situation might prove tricky despite hearing the Wrecking Crew will finally appear. Titania, who Jameela Jamil portrays, makes a brief appearance, and feels like she is on par with a villain from the Power Rangers. Not sure if a more comic book accurate look will come about for her, but perhaps it might aid in the feel of the character who is little more than a henchwoman to begin with. 

The series is very rooted in the Marvel Universe and feels less apologetic for being based on a comic book than the bulk of their output thus far. Ruffalo might be a little too comfortable in his role, and I have only found him as a passable Bruce Banner preferring Norton. I am sure budget wise that is more than likely his only appearance. I also do not like origin stories but feel this one was handled as best as they could and came close to the source material. The ship from planet Skaar has online buzzing about a World War Hulk set up, and I am fine with that not happening as key characters like the Sentry have not been introduced, then there is the whole no Tony Stark thing. But that is a future we are not in yet, and it is unlikely the world is even going to make it that far, so I am thankful for the first episode and if they maintain what they started here, that should make this the best Marvel show so far for sure.

Review : "the Sandman"

Neil Gaiman's 1989 take on the Sandman, was one of the first comic books I paid attention to that was not costumed superheroes fighting. It was darker and more surreal, which is what the Netflix adaption managed to capture the tone of. How true where they to the comics themselves, well that is another matter. The teleplay was adapted by Neil Gaiman, along with Allan Heinberg and David Goyer and a rotating room of writers handling the other 9 episodes, which speaks to the often hit or miss storytelling that plagues the show overall.  This results in the last four episodes to having the consistent momentum that powered the first few episodes that hooked me in at first even where things like gender flipping John Constantine was in play. Sure, Johanna is in the comics and the Victorian version of the character is shown, this version is used in place of the more popular male one in the modern timeline.  Like most comic book adaptation's if things had kept closer to the books, they would have been better as the further from the comics it drifted the worst it got as well. 

The shows strongest point was the casting of Tom Sturridge as Morpheus, which captured his look as well as generally feeling like the character.  The Corinthian was also well portrayed by Boyd Holbrook. Aside from that the only casting risk that worked was Gwendoline Christie's role as Lucifer. DC's take on this character was popular in the Television depiction, but Christie's performance was more in line with the comic books. But this did not work as well with the changes to John Constantine, who has already seen two previous incarnations brough to the screen. The most unfortunate mistake made was the casting of Death, which only worked in wardrobe but not on any other level, as the acting lacked the characters' charisma, and since this was one of the series most iconic characters. This might have been why they were only featured in one episode I do like John Cameron Mitchell as an actor since Hedwig is one of my favorite movies, I am not sure his role was all that needed. 

There were portions of episodes and themes from the comics that came across nicely such as Morpheus' 100-year friend and his trip to hell. Then there was character development too focused on character that were not part of the endless, which could have been edited down to make room for the more important comic in fact as the series progresses, we break away from the focus being on Morpheus and moves into trying to make you sympathize with characters who never show their worth to the story as a whole. Desire and Fiddler's Green. The series does allow them enough time to work in multiple stories from the comics, which readers will readily recognize, and people going in cold won't know either way what is accurate or not. There were engaging and entertaining episodes, but the show loses its momentum and focus as it progresses and uses magic to bandage the plot holes. You are going to read a lot from fans on social media who cannot find faults in the show, because they have waited so long to see this brought to life that they will watch this through rose colored glass and nostalgia will trump objectivity, when this take what we can get from Hollywood kind of thinking is what made this show suffer in the first place. 

Film Review " Thor Love & Thunder"

Thor is one of my top five Marvel characters, which makes this frustrating for me. Of all the Avengers to be brought to life on the big screen during the Disney era of Marvel, Thor has yet to have a movie with a tone that suits his comic book persona. They are too silly or trying too hard to be a sci-fi movie and putting elves in spaceships. The first movie being the best of the previous 3.  Though it was apologetic to the fact that Thor and his family members are gods. He was also depowered most of the film, going to show the writers did not understand how to write the character as he is. While Ragnarök, is highly entertaining, the comedic elements brough in felt like forced attempt to tap into what Guardians of the Galaxy does. 

"Love and Thunder" adopts the Mighty Thor storyline from the comics where jane Foster takes up the hammer, in some ways, this movie makes more sense of it than the comics did. Since Thor is not deemed unworthy. He was already stripped of his powers in the first film, so to do this is would have gone to the well too many times, instead it is because Thor tells his hammer to always protect Jane which is why she is drawn to it. They did stick to her cancer from the comics.  But this is the only place where the writing exceeds the grasp of the comics, as Gorr the God Butcher is brought to life rather terribly.  It is more of problem regarding the writing than Bale's performance. Though Bale plays him more like Pennywise than a cosmic serial killer. 

Hemsworth has always done a decent job, though aside from fat Thor, his depiction in the Avengers moves felt better than his solo films.   He has bulked up and looks the most like the comic book Thor in this movie, though acts the least like him Even with his drunken escapades, the comic book Thor who is much less brutal than the deity Thor from Norse Mythology, is more stoic and not comic relief. Here thanks to director Taika Waititi, who should have stuck to comedies, the silliness tries way too hard and none of it made me laugh. Not that I like comedies in the first place. Visual there is plenty of eye candy when it comes to some of the scenery and Russell Crowe's Zeus works for him aside from the accent. But all the other actors just feel like they are there for a paycheck and just trying to act like they are having fun. 

The story is a bit of a mess with too much recapping to fill in the gaps, but the biggest problem is the ending. That is a lot considering the action scenes are the worst of any Marvel movie... note movie as they are still better than the terrible ones in Ms Marvel.  Ending have not been a strength of any Marvel movie. The same can be said of this movie. The last 15 minutes which should be the most climatic, was instead an excruciating snooze fest. Yes, the appearance of Hercules in the post credits scene might have been the movie's high light, the CGI used to make the five-foot ten actor playing him look as Hercules should was impressive and gives me hope for the character as long as they do not make him a joke, which would require Taki to exit the franchise , which after this bomb it is hard to expect Marvel to want him to stay , but they do not seem to learn from their mistakes and continue to double down on ruining the Marvel legacy 

Review - Ms. Marvel Episode 1

 

We have already discussed how being under the wing of Disney has played in Marvel's favor in terms of media payoff. They are like the entertainment mafia. If they can't pay for it then they have built in social armor to defend their lackluster efforts by creating the narrative that if you do like what they do you are a racist, or a fascist or some other baloney. With this show the armor applies. However, it is not as bad as I feared but not great either.  The acting is the CW level and writing not refined enough for an editor to have given this the green light on a Disney level production making it feel at times like a live action "Turning Red". The first episode shares some of the same plot points. Its strength is how it embraces being in the Marvel Universe. The very fact it does not apologize for being a comic book adaptation puts it above the shows and movies that do. The use of animation is also another strong suit. But these struggle to balance out where it is flawed. It might not apologize but it fails to see what made the character work and finds it mirroring Shang Chi  

In her origin where to have introduced the Inhumans again would have given them a chance to reboot even softly their place, especially since the Dr. Strange Sequel left the door wide open for them to do so. Could they go back and say this bracelet was an artifact from the Inhumans? Sure, but I do not see them going that way and it is like going to be some kind of djinn magic. The diversity problem is another issue because much like Shang Chi, when you try too hard, you end up working off the worst stereotypes and playing like this is yet another American child trying to reject their heritage, which is not what they comic does Kamala embrace who she is on that side but is trying to not let her family be affected by the fact she has superpowers. Another problem is this character is so new, she lacks enough depth to her story to even have a rogue's gallery or an arch nemesis to put her against. I can see this becoming a similar problem to the one the second season of Jessica Jones faced.

It's Wonder Years meets Sabrina at times in terms of narrative. There is no real chemistry between characters which is a problem that has plagued the Marvel stuff for a minute, now nothing has really gelled aside from Spider-man since "Wanda Vision" .  Even in Dr. Strange's sequel things were awkward at times with America Chavez, who is a character that would have worked in this series. God knows Chavez could not hold her own movie or series. Instead we get her high school friend  and brother.  The action almost nonexistent with just one scene , where she saves the day from falling props. Damn those are some high stakes to wanna make ya keep watching. With the Inhumans there would have been more threat, Marvle has tons of alien races we might still see get involved and they could always bring in someone she faced in the comics while a member of the Champions. Who know it was entertaining , but frustrating at the same time so I have mixed feelings, but not as dismal as it appeared.

Film Review : "Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness"

 Calling this film Dr. Strange vs Scarlet Witch would have been a more fitting title. Would I have preferred a villain like Nightmare or Mephisto?  Sure, but I will take what we got here. If anyone is going to complain about anything it would be the depth of the story. This lack of depth gave it more of a comic feel and made me think that director Sam Rami might have read some Dr Strange comics from the 70s. Marvel said it was going to be a horror movie, and it was not. Is there talk of demons and a darker tone than say the Avengers movies? Yes, but that does not make it a horror movie, so do not go into this expecting that. Yes, I know there have been comparisons made to "Army of Darkness" but the iconic Sam Rami film might be connected to "Evil Dead" but it's not a horror movie either. Is it a lot of fun yes, but does it scare you ? No thus not a horror movie, the same can be said for this movie.  

The movies biggest enemy was the internet that had set up expectations that everyone was going to be in the movie, and I think the What If Series was helping to set the tone. With that said the number of new characters introduced into the MCU felt right, it did not feel cluttered. The guest appearances of the cheer rousing Reed Richards, who got the loudest applause of any moment in the theater and his Illuminati partners gave me a lot more from these characters than I had bargained for going into this movie. Black Bolt looked and felt better, though I am not sure that mentioned the Inhumans, where the Fantastic Four was mentioned. 

The end could have relied on America Chavez less, since well it was not her move, she is not a character who can hold her own movie but work well with someone like Captain Marvel. I was glad to see Charlize Theron's take on Clea, who I feel might have worked better than the Christine Relationship which never really felt like great chemistry from the first movie. But Cumberbatch shone in his role as he takes the character seriously and owns it. It never felt like they were apologizing for the source material. The action was balanced, and while all the Marvel movies have begun to take on a uniform CGI glaze it worked here.  

Review : Moon Knight Episode 1

 While Moon Knight might not be my favorite Marvel character of all time, he is like a deep cut from an album no one appreciated until the past 5 years. That is if you read comics. He crosses over into books I read more though I have given his books a fair shake when they come out. I know Marc Spector pretty well. The challenge would be how to make him not come across like Marvel’s version of Bat-man , who wears white. They had to lean into the crazy. I approve of this in theory, how they executed it is another thing. The adherence to the Khonshu theme gets a thumbs up as Marvel has been apologetic in the past about Thor being a god. 

In some of the action scenes I was reminded of the “Quantum of Solace” , a more comedic James Bond. The losing time was a nice touch, but only for a first episode, if they went to the well too many of them it would not work. Overall Oscar could dial back some of the goofiness, just because someone is mentally ill does not mean they are so servile and meek.  Perhaps this is going to be ironed out and will prove just to be one of Spectors alters . I know this is not going to be set in the bigger picture of the Marvel Universe. I do not expect Blade or Daredevil to show up. 

I think there is promise, but it does seem they might be steering this in the wrong direction. If they continue with Oscar bubbling around like a Greatest American hero, then this will fall very flat. I get staying away from being like Bat-man but at some point we need to see what he is really about. This means not shying away from the costume. This means getting a good bit darker than what we have seen so far. I think by not using things like Werewolf By Night they are missing out on opportunities, hopefully the villain won’t fall into the mirror image of the hero trop they have worn out. Moonknight is going to become a household name now, lets hope it is the most accurate depiction and things are ironed out.

Film Review :' 'the Batman"

 Matt Reeves has a pretty clear vision of the Batman he wanted to bring to life. This allowed him to cast Robert Pattinson, as the Dark Knight, and focus on the early noir of the detective days. After all DC stand for Detective Comics. Comparisons to movies like "Seven" could be applied. The gimp version of the Riddler even worked. The less you saw of him the better. This is Batman year two so I f not to get too hung up over the first fight scene that saw just common gang members able to take more than one punch from Batman. Early buzz about the movie made claims that this was the best Batman movie ever on one side of the fence and that it was too woke on the other. In 2022 we have allowed a narrative to flourish that a rich white man would be the enemy, so that would be Bruce Wayne how did they handle this?  

The Riddler was a social justice warrior who wanted to bring this into the light. The politics of this film were much like the riddles the villain set up if you look into the layers the joke might be on you. We find that Thomas Wayne, whose relationship with Falcone leans onto the "Long Halloween" storyline. Wayne whose politics must be left leaning considering how much he gives to those in need, something that is even brought up by a political candidate who asks Bruce to follow in his father's footsteps, askes the gangster to have someone taken care of, which would align him more with the Clintons.  So who is the movie covertly mocking? Or is this an even handed message that all power corrupts no matter than hat they are wearing. 

It was when the Riddler's mask comes off that the movie falls apart, It almost recreates the scene with Heather Ledger and Bale in the second Nolan film. In fact this is where the movie loses the focus it started with and tries to hard to be a Nolan film. The climatic final battle, was too formulaic, We find Batman most in peril because he is hanging by one arm. This is a guy who swings around Gotham , climbing on buildings, he has been doing it for two years, do you mean to tell me he can not do a one arm pull up? Not buying it. Leading up to this i dozed off a few times, as the movie was that captivating, but the parts a slept through needed to be edited any way as it did not miss a beat with the storyline, much of the bloat could have been trimmed and this film given more focus. Lots of wasted potential .Pattinson was better than expected but as a physical prescience, even Keaton was better.  I wished the move kept the tone of the first 30 minutes. 

Marvel's Hawkeye

 

The Disney Plus shows have been a mixed bag. There have been strong moments with Wandavision possibly being the best, though I do like those character more than the others that have graced the small screen. The Netflix material had its moments the first season of Jessican Jones, the Punisher and Daredevil being the strongest and the rest boring to unwatchable. Hawkeye is better than Falcon and Winter Solider. It flows more seamlessly out of the movies and does what only Spider-Man No Way Home has done which is attempted to reconcile those Netflix shows with the movies, by bringing Kingpin in. Matt Murdock was in No Way Home only for 30 seconds at most, and Kingpin's character in Hawkeye is closer to the comics. Renner shows how comfortable he is in the role. Hailee Steinfield works really well as Kate Bishop and is a likeable character, so it happens in a very organic way than Marvel shoving a female superhero down our throats.  

Not to say the shove does not occur and predictably fail with the introduction of Echo. The character has no personality. Which was never really developed much in the comic books, there was talk hyping her up for her own series which is hopefully something Marvel rethinks as that would be watching paint dry as she can work well supporting say Daredevil, but the show does not flesh her out, nor should it since we already have other characters like the Swordsman, who is more charming and interesting. We also get Yelena, the other Balck Widow, who was introduced in the Black Widow solo movie. She has also grown into her role. The show was a bland of action and story that felt very natural along with the staple humor the movies have been known for.

I am far more interested in Moon Knight and She-Hulk as characters, so it makes me hopeful to see those if Marvel can make me root for a character, I am lukewarm on, though I have been reading comics for over forty years so even then forty years with any character and you gain more affinity for than not. It is wise to streamline these down to 6 episodes as it takes out a great deal of filler so it never drags. They did alot right here so hopefully they learned from this going forward.    

The Truth About the Punisher

It is time to clear up some misconceptions about the Punisher. The children of today who are prone to cry about everything raised their tiny fists in the air to take offense at police and supporters of police using the Punisher’s logo as their own coat of arms. While generation outrage is correct in pointing out that the Punisher is not a fan of police, the joke is still on them. If they do not like Police then they really are not going to like Frank Castle and need to wake up to why he doesn’t like them. Frank Castle is not against police brutality. He thinks police are not brutal enough. That is why he kills criminals because he thinks the system is just going to spit them back out on the streets. He sees criminals as a problem that needs to be ended. 

 When Frank Castle first graced the pages of Spider-man in 1974 he was the villain. Over the years that followed he continued to come up against actual superheroes like Daredevil, Iron-Man, Wolverine and Ghost Rider. He was not created with the intention of being a hero, but Marvel has a long tradition of turning villains you acquire enough popularity into “anti-heroes” because why not cash in. It paid off as the Punisher has had longer stretches of carrying his own book than both Captain Marvel and Black Panther combined. He has appeared in three movies and carried multiple tv shows. It is unlikely he is going anywhere since he has made Marvel a ton of money.

 Marvel’s only Punisher problem is finding the balls to point out. this is who the character is and not all products are for all people. A person who does not want to watch a Punisher show or read a Punisher comic has other options to choose from. Just like it is not realistic to like everyone in the world, the Marvel Universe should be no different. You are not going to like every character, but that does not mean they need to change. You are opposed to police brutality, well then, the Punisher is going to be harder to handle as he wants to skip all due process and be judge, jury executioner. Funny enough, in the current cancel culture due process is not really a thing, but I guess that is just a matter of convenience. Most superheroes are vigilantes. They do not go to the lengths Frank Castle does, perhaps even having to hold back because they have superpowers making them more capable of killing than Frank who is just a normal man. I think his dedication and intensity is what makes Frank an interesting character and one of the few sonic book character who does not have powers that I like, typically because the stories are so dark. He has worked as a character for almost 50 years and there are many more stories worth telling with him, if you do not like him or what he stands for then just do not read or watch them,