Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120214809#Comment_120214809

I think the Celestial is dead now rather than asleep. The plan was for Druig to put it to sleep, but Sersi ended up turning it to stone or marble instead.

But there are rumours that the body of the Celestial will be part of the plot of an upcoming film.

johnny_ultimate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120214864#Comment_120214864

In some key ways, Wakanda Forever is the best the MCU has been in ages - its thoughtful, elegiac tone; the strong performances; a genuinely intriguing antagonist; even one or two alright setpieces in the first half. But whereas I was willing to at least partially forgive Black Panther 1 for its obvious limitations, I couldn't here. The bad action / fight scenes; the complete failure to follow through on some of the themes clearly articulated; the painful MCU cruft... it's just maddening to see these films with ostensibly good and interesting ideas unable to break out of the formula mould they're stuck in.

In hindsight, it also really doesn't help that it arrived in such close proximity to Avatar 2, given both films have significant water-based action scenes involving blue-skinned characters :P Unfortunately, the sheer clarity and vibrancy of Avatar's action really highlight the low quality of the Marvel 'house style' action and effects work.

FunLover18

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120214864#Comment_120214864

I'm getting superhero fatigue fatigue 😂

Slydice

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120214066#Comment_120214066

I'd say it's, at least, worth it for the scene where Angela Bassett just outdid herself.

You'll probably know it when you get to it. The rest of the film couldn't match it I don't think.

Not sure if the sound system in the cinema was a make or break for it though.

helimachoptor

Watched it a few days ago, really impressed.

The two BP films for me are two of the better films in the MCU.

Foxtrol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120214534#Comment_120214534

Can definitely understand it.

The core of the movie is driven by characters dealing with grief and I doubt many who have waited until the Disney+ release are connected enough to T'chala to stay engaged. This is especially the case as other elements of the movie have plenty of flaws.

Foxtrol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120215153#Comment_120215153

Thank you for describing my ailment

pixelburp

Watched this in three sittings, and have to be honest in saying that it not only met my low expectations, but exceeded them too. By some distance the strongest, most impactful and emotionally coherent MCU film in years. Better set pieces, and Ryan Coogler seemed to have more control this time, his hand with the action improved; even the last act Union Mandated CGI slugfest wasn't as arbitrary as they have been, with good personal stakes underpinning the action (though it was always going to come off second best in the year that saw Avatar 2).

Did make me wonder what Black Panther 2 might have looked like had Boseman lived; as tragic as his loss was, there was no doubt it galvanised the focus of this film into something that had a raw emotionality far beyond what you usually saw in the MCU - or any blockbuster for that matter. Sometimes death in Hollywood added unfortunate marketing and mythology as seen with Brandon Lee & The Crow - or encouraged craven grave-robbing seen with the Pink Panther films after Peter Sellars passed. Here instead we got something respectful & genuinely mournful between the cast and script trying to honour the legacy.

I still think the air has gone from the balloon of the MCU somewhat, and not sure post-EndGame Marvel have offered a direction worth following - but this was a reminder why and how the series worked when it worked. It even looked like a proper movie sometimes, with art direction and all that good stuff.

flazio

If you're interested in the thinking behind the the movie from Cooglar, Feige and some of the actors, there's a 6 part podcast series out.

https://open.spotify.com/show/25H3VGTKQUo1ImawOBVbvD?si=8LV6wLRUQ7GG9BUz700ZGA

FunLover18

I heard an interview with Coogler and the original script was going to be a father son story about T'Challa and his son.

Foxtrol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120267639#Comment_120267639

It really sounded great. Would have been the first and at this stage only real look at the deep impact of the blip on one of the heroes.

They ended up some of those concepts in the bait and switch in the advertising for

Spoiler Warning

Quantumania

Slutmonkey57b

I am working my way back through the phase 4 stuff and generally speaking it's not as bad as I heard it was. I thought quantumania and Dr strange were perfectly fine, for example. This is good but it's way off being a masterpiece and not as good as the first, which is understandable given they had to completely rejig things. However they were trying to stuff three plots together and in many ways ignored most of them to concentrate on the fact that boseman is gone which I think makes sense for the fans. I don't really see why new iron man girl needed to be in this, for example, and I don't think it served her character well. There's the usual internal logical inconsistencies but overall probably a tie between this and no way home for best film of phase 4 and a tie between eternals and thor for worst.