The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)

~Paul~

~Paul~

r1ver said:
it was structural goo. All performances were indeed lovely but it was just such undisciplined storytelling. I’ll admit I have unusual taste for Marvel films - I loved Multiverse of Madness and Shang Chi which often get a hard time.
I have to say I’ve just read plenty of very negative reviews of Wakanda Forever since I got home so I’m not entirely isolated.
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Shang Chi is brilliant and is in the upper half of most people's MCU rates I would think.

That's a shame that you didn't enjoy it. I haven't read any very negative reviews, and certainly none that would put it at the very bottom of the pile (under Incredible Hulk and Thor 2??) but obviously very few movies cater to absolutely everyone. Did you enjoy the first Black Panther?
 
R

r1ver

~Paul~ said:
Shang Chi is brilliant and is in the upper half of most people's MCU rates I would think.

That's a shame that you didn't enjoy it. I haven't read any very negative reviews, and certainly none that would put it at the very bottom of the pile (under Incredible Hulk and Thor 2??) but obviously very few movies cater to absolutely everyone. Did you enjoy the first Black Panther?
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I preferred the first by a long way, though I think this one is better looking (but so dark - felt really underlit for at least half of it).
 
dodoriazarbon

dodoriazarbon

This was lovely, great fun, brilliantly thoughtful and respectful in just the right ways, centered multiple compelling women, and made Namor about 10x more interesting in terms of back story than his comic origins, while adapting his personality basically perfectly? How they tackled that adaptation, and the films willingness to explore grief, made this a really worthwhile MCU entry. After some real wobbles this gave me the ooh Ah ah sensation again.

The looks were all on-point. So much about the design of the film caught my eye.

Interesting how by the end…

they basically have only begun Namor’s story. Attuma introduced but nothing done with yet, Namora clearly pissed to a degree about how it all went down… give us Namor vs The Fantastic Four vs Attuma’s own Atlantean forces in their film!!!
 
Macsun

Macsun



Pretty solid opening. Just falling short from overtaking MoM. I do think repeat viewings will push it over a billion. This movie is the perfect bookend to Phase 4 with Shang-Chi starting it all (sorry I don’t count Black Widow). Coogler needs to be applauded for establishing some of the most compelling characters in the MCU.
 
~Paul~

~Paul~

A billion will be a stretch now, but I hope it does do it. MoM just missed out and it had a much higher global opening. Like you say, it'd come down to repeats. I've not seen it yet, so I can't speak for that appeal.
 
dvno

dvno

It is a good movie, but worse than the first one. They treated Chadwick's death with respect and honor, and the set pieces are good (even if the last one feels quite... dry).

The movie has two big problems it can't overcome:

1) not achieving the same wow-factor of seeing Wakanda / afro-futurism for the first time : Talokan is quite drab, dull and visually boring, and the civilization feels quite visually/tonally derivative.

2) lacking star power and chemistry: the explosive trio of Chadwick + Michael + Lupita elevated the first movie beyond regular Marvel fare. Letitia is very far from that. Her character is quite unlikeable (think Harry Potter in the 5th book - she has very valid reasons for her rage, but do the text makes us care?!) and she doesn't have the spark and charisma to tide you over the poorly written plot.

Angela Bassett, Lupita Nyong'o and Danai Gurira all deliver great work, but they are not the namesake hero - and for that, this movie pales.
 
Cake

Cake

I just hated underwater shots. I don’t know how I thought they would be handled, but every actor looked like they were holding their breath in a pool.

Also, I thought the underwater scenes would be so much more visually stunning. But they were dark and murky… if you’re going to provide a “sun” at least let it do its job.
 
Lander

Lander

The Black Panther films are two for two on villains who could do ridiculous things to me.

dvno said:
It is a good movie, but worse than the first one. They treated Chadwick's death with respect and honor, and the set pieces are good (even if the last one feels quite... dry).

The movie has two big problems it can't overcome:

1) not achieving the same wow-factor of seeing Wakanda / afro-futurism for the first time : Talokan is quite drab, dull and visually boring, and the civilization feels quite visually/tonally derivative.

2) lacking star power and chemistry: the explosive trio of Chadwick + Michael + Lupita elevated the first movie beyond regular Marvel fare. Letitia is very far from that. Her character is quite unlikeable (think Harry Potter in the 5th book - she has very valid reasons for her rage, but do the text makes us care?!) and she doesn't have the spark and charisma to tide you over the poorly written plot.

Angela Bassett, Lupita Nyong'o and Danai Gurira all deliver great work, but they are not the namesake hero - and for that, this movie pales.
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I completely disagree about the film lacking star power and energy. Letitia did a fantastic job in portraying a maturing Shuri who was consumed by anger. Bitter for a good part of the film, I liked her character arc. The cast was stacked honestly, as much as the original, although Michaela Coel was under-utilised and I wish she’d had a bit more of a role.

Talokan was quite drab and visually unappealing, I would definitely agree on this. It certainly didn’t have the wow factor of Wakanda but it didn’t really pull me out of the film.

I really can’t wait to see more of Namor going forward because Tenoch is utter sex on legs to be quite honest. What a babe. Member of the Avengers please.

Also, the untitled Wakanda series with Danai, do we think it’s going to be Midnight Angels?

Loved it, and it particularly showed the improvement of not having the incessant Marvel humour beaten over your head constantly.
 
ALEX

ALEX

Yeah, I loved it!

There are scenes where that you can actually feel the air being sucked out of the room. It’s a strange feeling for a Marvel movie, but ultimately I found them the most successful moments of the entire film.

I do think they could have given the final action sequence more set-up, and the bit where Shuri and Namor just drone back peacefully felt a little anti-climatic.

There is only one thing I hated about this and it KILLS me, but… Okoye’s Midnight Angels suit is rotten. They did her dirty.
 
LetsGetToIt

LetsGetToIt

santajaws said:
I don't think I've ever finished a Marvel movie that felt silent, or heavy?, after the mid-credits scene. It was so quiet for so long and I swear everyone could hear me sniffling and crying. But I loved it. And I loved the woman that stood up at the end of my showing and said, 'everyone in this room is crying right now' before she left.
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I was stunned by the silence at various points. It was dead silent during the opening logo dedicated to Chadwick and like you mentioned, the end scene. The only time you heard anything in my screening was during jokes.

I've always gone on opening night and with the latest Spiderman and Doctor Strange, it was almost unwatchable because people were cheering and screaming during spoiled moments (like the 3 Spider-men appearing). I didn't even experience that during the last two Avengers film, so I did appreciate with Wakanda Forever that the audience was more respectful so I could actually hear everything that happened.
 
UltimatColossus

UltimatColossus

I'm watching this tomorrow and I am very excited.

Box office wise it didn't have a great Monday in the USA (its first Monday is lower than both Thor Love and Thunder and Multiverse of Madness and is about 1/4th of what the first BP made on its first Monday) which means its legs may not be that great but I am hoping that isn't the case.
 
scottdisick94

scottdisick94

I do kinda feel like the final
final boat setpiece and the Wakanda attack setpiece could be swapped. The Wakanda attack was brilliant, and I feel like it had more legs than they gave it credit for. I kinda wish that was the finale and the boat attack was the mid-film action scene. Swapping them would’ve changed what happened to Angela though, so I don’t know.
 
~Paul~

~Paul~

UltimatColossus said:
I'm watching this tomorrow and I am very excited.

Box office wise it didn't have a great Monday in the USA (its first Monday is lower than both Thor Love and Thunder and Multiverse of Madness and is about 1/4th of what the first BP made on its first Monday) which means its legs may not be that great but I am hoping that isn't the case.
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It is a hefty drop but the first Black Panther only made $40m on the first Monday because it was the President's Day holiday I believe. I'm sure the whole weekend it opened is a holiday 4 day weekend.

And November weekdays are typically lower. Particularly when compared to summer releases, as kids are in school etc. The real test is the 2nd weekend drop.
 
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