Black Panther

It's been a while... I've recently moved house and been without internet for some time (thanks BT for your terrible service!). Anyway, there's been a pretty big release from Marvel...

Black Panther is the breath of fresh air I needed in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Although I still very much enjoy most of the films that are produced by the studio, I have started to waver a little with some of the basic premise recycling. Now don’t get me wrong this film has some Marvel ‘similarities’ but ultimately is its own new fresh thing. Read on to find out my SPOILER FREE thoughts.

For the most part Marvel has suffered a little when it comes to diversity, people of colour usually take a backseat to main characters and there isn’t a really any excuse for it to have taken this long for a black superhero to have their own standalone film within the universe. Marvel aren’t the only problem though, Hollywood in general has been slow to this game for a while and although we have had black superheroes, we’ve never really had anything like Black Panther before; a film with a predominantly black cast representing Africa in a way that’s never been seen in a big mainstream blockbuster and that means something. I’m a white dude, I’ve seen a lot of them on the big screen, I’ve been represented, it’s time to get our films as diverse as the world around us. The cast in speaking is one of the best Marvel has assembled, the main players being: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright, Angela Basset, Daniel Kaluuya, Forest Whitaker Andy Serkis and Martin Freeman. The story follows T’Challa, the newly appointed King of Wakanda, after the events of Civil War he struggles with his new mantle as the country decides if/how it will change under new leadership.

 

The first thing that Black Panther does excellently is give you a real sense of Wakanda, the secretive and extremely modern city of Africa, powered by a massive source of vibranium. Throughout the whole film you get to see a lot of the country and the people that live there. |The film is never afraid to embrace the weirder side of the mythology and it made me realise that Thor really missed an opportunity to establish Asgard in the same way.  Wakanda feels lived in, it feels like it has a history and it’s definitely a place I would like to see more of in the future. If it wasn’t connected to the MCU, Wakanda could have a whole franchise to itself, that’s the kind of scope director Ryan Coogler has been able to create around the character’s first solo outing.

One of the reasons this feels like a fresh film in the MCU is the fact that superhero business is secondary to the main story; a story of monarchy, politics and change. The action set pieces are cool but they don’t stand up to the spectacle we’ve had so far in the franchise, not that this is bad thing - it feels right within the context. The jokes are not as full on and if I was to criticise the film for anything it would be that the small amount of humour mainly lands flat. But this is a more serious affair; bringing in themes that are very relevant in the world right now. This may not be the first time Marvel has woven mature themes into its narrative but it does feel like the first time that they have felt this important.

On top of great characters and an interesting and satisfying story, the film is also one of the best looking and most colourful of Marvel’s so far. There’s the odd bit of dodgy CGI every now and then but it doesn’t take away from breath-taking scenery as you swoop into Wakanda for the first time. Accompanied by a unique music that excellently blends a traditional score with African instruments and hip-hop.

As you can probably tell from the amount of praise of already heaped on the film - I very much enjoyed it. It’s personally one of my favourite MCU films and has calmed some of my fears that the studio isn’t afraid to take so-called “risks”, mix it up and embrace the fun mythology of the comic book source material. The only way stop superhero fatigue is to tell great stories that just so happen to have a superhero in the them and Black Panther is an excellent example of this. Onward and upwards. I’m giving Black Panther a rating of 5/5.

What did you think of Black Panther? Where does it rank in the MCU? Let me know in the comments below!

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Captain America: Civil War

I’ve finally seen it; I’ve finally seen Captain America: Civil War! Read on to find out my SPOILER FREE review of the latest Marvel film.

If you haven’t seen the film yet, then go in blind, it’s better that way. All you need to know is that The Avengers begin to learn that their actions have consequences, and how to deal with those consequences splits the group in two.

You know the cast by now but we do get two fresh faces in the limelight and they come in the form of Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa aka The Black Panther and Tom Holland as Peter Parker aka Spider-Man. They both do an amazing job in their roles and really are standout performances in the film.  We’ll get back to Spider-Man later though... My favourite performance of the whole film goes to Robert Downey Jr, he gives the best version of Tony Stark/Iron Man we have seen since his first solo outing. The Russo Brothers are great at directing actors, in The Winter Soldier they made Samuel L Jackson act in a role where beforehand he was just being himself and they do exactly the same here with RDJ who really breaks new ground and is more than just himself, he really sells that Stark is a man broken and defined by his experiences. The rest of the cast all do a great job as well, nobody stuck out as being bad or less than satisfactory.

My biggest worry with this film was that they were trying to fit too many characters into the story. Was I right to have that fear? Yes and no. This is definitely more of an Avengers film with a slight emphasis on Captain America. I mean it does follow on from The Winter Soldier and Cap is the most prominent role in the film however, there is just so much going on around him that it’s difficult to say that this was his solo film. If anything I would have just called this film Civil War and have it be a chapter within the Marvel Universe that shifted the status quo, because at the end of the day that is all this film does. It’s not a bad thing though, this film kind of proves all the good that can come from an extended and shared universe, this is the kind of film that us fans have been wanting to see from the start and although it takes a little while to get going, when it all kicks off it kicks off in spectacular fashion. That airport scene, oh boy that airport scene!

This isn’t Age of Ultron though, it isn’t just set up, there is a well thought out and interesting storyline here that does make you very invested. Instead of setting up later films, it instead introduces you to a different side of the MCU, mainly in the form of The Black Panther who I have been waiting to see for years and he does not disappoint.  It’s a lot more personal and smaller Avengers film that I think we all kind of wanted from Age of Ultron but didn’t get. The marketing made you choose a side and I was Team Cap throughout but in the film it’s really not that simple. By the end I was switching sides every 10 seconds, they worked the two sides of the argument so well that neither side was wrong, both made sense and you were fully invested in the outcomes, for the first time in a Marvel film there felt like there were real stakes involved. Nearly every character serves a purpose here and they all get their chance to shine, there are a lot of fist pumping moments. However the highlight character of the film for me was also the one who served the least purpose to the plot...

Spider-Man. You all know by now that I am a huge Spider-Man fan so I was very excited and little bit nervous to see him enter the MCU in this film. My Spider-Man has always been older than the high school version that everybody seems to be shipping recently. Maybe it was because when I read/watched Spider-Man he was always older than me and now in Civil War he’s younger than me, either way, I do respect where they were going when they cast really young, it makes sense and it contrasts the rest of the heroes very well. Tom Holland sold it as Peter Parker for me and even more so as Spider-Man, he cool, he’s funny, he’s annoying and even though he’s out of his league he holds his own.  Basically Marvel have made Spider-Man the way he should be. He brings some much needed humour to a film that isn’t as comedy centric as some other Marvel outings. His involvement in the film is purely down to the fact that Marvel and Sony have made a deal, he doesn’t do anything to serve the plot apart from bring a while load of joy and big smile to my face. It’s too early to say if he can top Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker or Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man as he has had barely any screen time, but the signs are looking very good. I cannot wait for Spider-Man: Homecoming next year!

In terms of cinematography, the film looks like an action film, there isn’t much inspiring here, the action scenes are cool and gritty like in Winter Soldier, but it’s pretty standard in terms of the look of the film. The music as well doesn’t add much, maybe it was my cinema showing but I really didn’t feel it was loud enough to emphasise anything. When I was re-watching The Avengers recently the score really emphasised how epic the film was, it worked so well and I feel we haven’t had something like it since.

Another thing that hasn’t been as good since The Avengers has been the CGI. It’s not awful but there are some moments that have the characters (especially Black Panther) looking a bit rubbery. It’s a shame because Black Panther really kicks ass when he doesn’t look like a computer animated rag doll. Most of it looks great though, there was just the odd moment that caught my eye.

I don’t think this was my favourite Marvel film but it definitely is one of their better ones. It’s a lot of fun and really works in terms of emotional investment and character stakes. I wish it had been renamed though as this wasn’t really the third solo Cap film I was hoping for, however it definitely was the Avengers film I was looking for last year. The film is a celebration of a shared universe and really shows off the potential in storytelling you can have with one. It’s not perfect but it’s definitely the best superhero film we have had this year. I am rating Captain America: Civil War a rating of 4/5.

What did you think? Best Marvel film to date? Let me know in the comments below!

Thanks for reading!

Spider-Man Joins The MCU!

Unless you have been living under a rock, you may have heard that Spider-Man is joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe. You probably all know by now that I am a huge Spider-Man fan so I could not be happier with this announcement. And although you may be sick of hearing about the news I thought it would only be right to write a small bit on what I think of this exciting team-up between Sony and Marvel.

So we all heard about the Sony hack from a couple months ago, I believe that this had an impact on the deal that went down between Marvel and Sony. After a disappointing critical and financial backlash from the rebooted The Amazing Spider-Man franchise, Sony didn't know what to do next, and this was evident when rumours of Aunt May spy films started making their rounds on the Internet from the hacked emails. I personally believe that Sony were left with no choice but to hand Spidey over to Marvel in order to get some credibility and much needed life brought back into the character. Now Marvel still don't own the rights or the final creative control of Spidey but the fact that they have barely put a foot wrong in their universe shows that the webslinger is in good hands. 

However with this good news comes a minor setback: Andrew Garfield will not be back to play Peter Parker. Now his take on Peter may not have been the most comic book accurate, but his take on Spider-Man was the best we have had yet. Although I am not overly upset by his leave, I still did enjoy the way he became a great spokesperson for the character of Spider-Man, and you could really tell that he was genuinely a fan of the character. Who knows who they will cast to replace him but if they really wanted to surprise us they could always bring in the character of Miles Morales instead, a young man who took up the mantle of Spider-Man in the Ultimate universe after Peter Parker was killed. This would be a great device to shock audiences, especially if they stick close to the source material and have Spidey reveal his identity publicly during Captain America: Civil War. Imagine going to the cinema without knowing who had been cast and then revealing under the mask is not Peter but Miles instead, It would definitely make an impact! But do Marvel have the guts to keep hush on their newly bought character and could the internet keep is casting a secret? Peter or Miles, I cannot wait to see Spider-Man back on the big screen and hopefully with a more faithful adaptation of the source material.

We might even see the new Spider-Man this year! The post credits scene for Avengers: Age of Ultron has not been filmed yet and is rumoured to feature a new set of Avengers. Maybe this will be the first time we see Spider-Man? Wouldn't that be awesome! If not, we will be seeing Spidey next year in Civil War and then his own solo film in 2017. This unfortunately means that Black Panther has been pushed back a year, which upsets me because he too is also one of my favourite comic book characters. I personally would have held off on a new Spider-Man film and instead made a TV show for Netflix about him. The best thing about the Spider-Man comics is the relationship and everyday life struggles that Peter has to endure as well as being a superhero. I think Spider-Man is a character who is best suited to the serial from of television and would love to see his character developed on that medium before bringing him back to the big screen to kick ass. But hey, that's just me and I'm still super excited to see Spider-Man alongside the Avengers as well as bringing his awesome gallery of villains to the MCU.

What are your thoughts on the news? Are you as excited as me? Let me know in the comments below!

Thanks for reading!

Is The Black Panther Marvel's Next Solo Movie?

If the rumours are to be true, then the unknown Marvel movie set for 2014 could be for The Black Panther. This makes me very excited as The Black Panther is a very cool character to bring to the big screen.

The comics were written by Stan 'The Man' Lee and drawn by Jack Kirby. He debuted in 1966 and was the first ever black superhero in mainstream American comics. If the film was to be made then this would be a first for a Marvel film to have a black character lead the show, rather than just having small parts like Samuel L Jackson and Don Cheadle have in the Marvel cinematic universe.

The origins of The Black Panther go like this; The Black Panther is the name given to the leader of the village of Wakanda. Wakanda is sitting on a large amount of Vibranium and over centuries other countries have tried and failed to invade Wakanda, every time being stopped by The Black Panther. The Black Panther has super strength, speed and stamina. These powers given to him by a special heart shaped herb. Present day's Black Panther is a man named T'Challa. Who, apart from having these super abilities, also has a PhD in Physics from Oxford University and is a trained gymnast. So this dude is pretty awesome! The idea of getting his super powers from a magical herb is slightly odd, but I'm sure that this will be written well enough to fit in to the Marvel cinematic universe.

The script is apparently being written by Mark Bailey who's recent work includes a load of documentaries.  So a strange choice but Marvel usually allow newcomers in to the picture and they haven't been wrong yet!

Though nothing is confirmed I reckon the director won't be an obvious choice when they come round to pick it. My card would be on somebody like Josh Trank (Chronicle) or Edward Zwick (Blood Diamond) to be given this role.

I also hope they go with less known lead. I would love to see John Boyega (Attack The Block) take the lead as he looks like a perfect fit for the character. Being relatively unknown will also help boost him to stardom. Though he is still quite young I think he would be an awesome T'Challa. Another person rumoured that would also be good is Adewale Akinnuoye-Abaje (Lost).

Nothing has been confirmed yet, but I think The Black Panther would be a great character to be given a solo film. Much better than the rumoured Dr Strange or Guardian Of The Galaxy movies, I just don't believe they would fit in. One things for sure, if Marvel do take a gamble on this one, then I will definitely be buying a ticket!

Thanks for reading!