Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Ryan Coogler, November 11, 2022) Movie • Page 23

it's the best since far from home, which is to say it's a C+ instead of a D

 

god forbid someone want a director who is 36 to not have to spend a decade making paycheck jobs for billionaires

 

Alright, I think you're really bad at getting your point across, but I think I get what you're saying. You're saying that the longer he spends making these movies, regardless of if he wants to or not, the less opportunity he has to make original content that you want to see. Which is true, I get it.

I still think saying "for his sake" is a really backhanded way to put it, because it makes it sound like he's not doing what he wants to be doing, rather than the more accurate statement that he's not doing what you would prefer him to be doing.

I also think saying "have to" is playing into this idea that he's not doing things out of choice, which no one here has any possible way to know, so operating from that logic is faulty.

 

I’m not sure how I feel about this. There were aspects of it I liked and it was nice to see a Marvel film attempt something different, but I’ve got to agree with the criticisms, which really does disappoint me to say. I understand the CIA plot is leading into some other potential project where Valentina attempts to go to war with Wakanda, but it served…little to no purpose here? You really could cut that whole subplot out, spend more of that time focusing on the people of Talokan…or just cut the movie down a bit. It didn’t help that I had two bowls of cereal with Oat Milk this morning before seeing the movie so the last third of the movie it felt like my bladder was going to burst. Waiting for the mid credits scene was excruciating lol. I did appreciate the performances pretty much across the board and Shuri’s journey was satisfying. I liked the callback to Civil War with the line about vengeance consuming them. It just felt so scattered overall.

 

I could easily see Coogler having a James Wan-like trajectory where he does a “one for you, one for me and I’ll put my name on whatever other project as a producer so other POCs can have a shot directing a major studio movie.” That’s seemingly what he’s done anyway with “Space Jam” and “Creed.” I could be wrong, but I do not see him just sitting on his hands, waiting for the next “Black Panther.”

 

This was a very long meh of a movie

 

fixed

 

I guess you didn't have theater kids in your high school.

 

some of y’all talk like you’ve never met another person before

 

I guess you didn’t have comic book fans in your high school

or black artists who enjoyed telling black stories set in fantastical worlds and/or comic books. Because, you know, Coogler is doing this just for the money like “every rational person would know.”

 

Whatever. Maybe he really is creatively & personally fulfilled right now carving out his corner of this franchise universe. Seems pretty likely, and if so, good for him.

But, he has exactly one non-franchise film in his filmography, from going on one decade ago. And, he hasn’t done anything non-Marvel since 2015. And, his production company signed an exclusive 5-year deal with Disney in 2021… which thus far seems to be focused on Marvel Studios output.

That’s a lot of his career to dedicate to building this particular studio’s superhero universe. It’s pretty disappointing to think there’s nothing else he has to offer at this time, regardless of how strong bits of that Marvel work has been.

 

I mean... I'd give it a B- or B maybe. Still good for Marvel

The Namor action scenes bump it up for me

 

Other than Kevin Smith, we have mostly been able to keep them from making movies.

 

The reason this issue comes up is because Disney and even the other major studios have been taking these young and promising directors and taking away what could have been. When it was Michael Bay and Roland Emmerich or Brett Ratner no one cared. Every time you make a superhero movie that is time you didn't spend making something else, and given how long the productions are on these films it might even be two movies. I don't even like Coogler's work that much (I hated Fruitvale Station but enjoyed Creed) but I would rather see him do something else than Superhero movie #34.

It comes from love of the medium. It would be the same if a great athlete was spending their time in the minor leagues or a world-renowned chef took a job at Applebee's or a major writer started doing scripts for soap operas. I am so confused by why it is such a big deal that someone said they hoped a director would make better movies.

 

This site is ridiculous sometimes

 

Wish I loved it. The movie was fine for me.

also just like with the first movie the politics of this movie is garbage.

 

love Fantomex. Very disappointing

 

Also just occurred to me that the MCU now has a character named Touissant in their arsenal as they continue to water down the political radicalism of the third world, colonized people, racialized people, etc. fantastic

 

I want to touch on something in this post, where you say no one cared when it was Michael Bay and Roland Emmerich, and that's because they're terrible.

So is the attitude just to let terrible directors make comic book movies? I mean, judging from your second paragraph, I assume that's what it is, that only shitty directors are allowed to make franchise films.

Believe it or not, I feel that good directors should be able to make whatever they want, whatever that looks like. If that happens to be a franchise film, then go on.

Like, I dunno, I want to be on the same side, but the energy I get reading this is the same energy as when music fans get upset at a band for signing with a major label. I know it's more complicated than that, but the dynamic feels the same.

 

i love the scene where shuri, who we established in two prior movies is a tech genius matching the likes of tony stark or whatever, designs a ship to take out her enemy who is a guy that is literally always carrying a spear and she is shocked to find out her prison ship isn't spear-proof