Marvel Seventh Batch

 I am starting to get behind on the MCU because I do not watch all the shows.  I have not made the time to watch Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel or She-Hulk.  Nor have I seen the older shows like Agents of Shield or Agent Carter.  While I enjoy the films and some of the shows it does make for a lot of superheroes and my interests are varied.  So I will likely continue to watch the films and some of the shows if they grab my attention but not all of them.

Spoilers for the three films below

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)

Writer-Director Ryan Coogler had a monster of a job to rework the story he had developed when Chadwick Boseman tragically passed away in 2020 of colon cancer.  I thought Black Panther was the best film by far of the MCU and while I was excited to see where it could go, I also felt that a follow-up had little chance of holding the same power.  When Boseman died, Marvel faced a difficult choice.  They could have recast T'Challa (as they are with Thunderbolt Ross after the death of William Hurt) but opted for the harder task of building the film around his passing.  Coogler had come up with an intriguing premise for the film.  The world now knows about vibranium, thanks to T'Challa's decision to share Wakanda's technology with the world at the end of Black Panther.  It has led some nations to try to both steal it and find it elsewhere.  Talokan is an underwater community where vibranium is discovered by a U.S Navy SEALS and CIA operation.  The king of Talokan, Namor, is played by Tenoch Huerta Mejia.  Namor wants to Wakanda to united with Talokan to declare war on the rest of the world.  When Wakanda refused Namor threatens to start a war with Wakanda.

The film opens with a powerful scene of Shuri failing to recreate one of the herbs Kilmonger destroyed in Black Panther which she is hoping will save T'Challa from an illness.  Suri, who is usually good natured, is desperate and ultimately T'Challa passes away offscreen.  Coogler and cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw uses a handheld camera to capture the raw emotion as Queen Ramunda (the terrific Angela Bassett) enters the scene and mother and daughter grieve together.  Unsurprisingly the  following MCU logo features exclusively footage of Boseman as T'Challa throughout the four films in which he appeared and the usual heroic musical theme is not used.

The first section of the film allows both the characters and the audience to grieve as we see T'Challa's funeral though there is a time jump of one year which allows the main story to kick off after his death has been processed.  Wakanda is still mourning and Queen Ramunda has assumed the throne.  The film then moves into a well edited sequence in which Ramunda is being chided out by the U.N. for not sharing vibranium while we simultaneously see Wakandans stopping the French from stealing it.  Ramunda's response, in which she combines her grief with barely restrained anger, as Okoye leads in the captured troops, shows who is in charge.  This also leads to the underwater operation led by the CIA and Navy Seals in which Talokan is discovered.

Lake Bell briefly appears as Dr. Graham, which gives the audience a familiar face to watch as this goes on.  Dr. Graham is confident in the success of the operation and it is implied that the U.S. will have outsmarted the Wakandans until Namor's people show up and kill everyone including her.  However the cinematography is very dark (it is a nighttime scene taking place in part at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean) and it is hard to follow the action.  

Shuri and Okoye go to the U.S. to find a student named Riri who developed the technology used by the operation which leads to a good chase sequence as Shuri and Okoye try to fight off first the FBI and then Namor's warriors but in the end Shuri and Riri are captured.  Ramonda has a fierce reaction to potentially losing her daughter and exercises her misplaced grief and strips Okoye of her title.  In the meantime Coogler presents a moving sequence as Shuri enters Talokan and is entranced by its aquatic beauty.  

Here is where the film fails a little bit.  As Shuri enters Talokan the Con La Brisa song is beautiful and I enjoyed Leticia Wright's warm reaction to seeing this civilization but it is undercut by our (and her) knowledge that they are actually dangerous and this is an illusion.  If this scene were earlier in the film it might have worked better.  The lighting is perhaps too realistic since it is dark (as it would really be) and some elements are hard to see.  The filter used for the underwater scenes in Aquaman in which we could see everything was more successful.  Namor's story of Mayans being enslaved is powerful and his anger is as understandable as Kilmonger's in the last film but despite Mejia's strong performance Namor's rage and power is nullified onscreen by his ankle wings which look silly and cute.  

The idea of an MCU hero protecting a young girl with a special ability (who is probably being set up as a future hero) was used just a few months ago in Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness.  I did find Dominique Thorne to be appealing in the role and enjoyed in particular her scenes with Okoye.  

The death of Queen Ramonda, which comes while she is protecting Riri from Namor who has invaded Wakanda, feels like a lift from Thor: The Dark World in which a similar event occurs.  It is tragic but I also feel like it is one death too many.  In three films Shuri has lost her whole family.  Nonetheless Coogler uses it well.  When Shuri visits the Ancestral Plane feels like a setup for T'Challa to somehow appear but Coogler instead shows us Kilmonger (Micheal B. Jordan in a surprise appearance) instead since at the time Shuri wants revenge.  However Shuri's interaction with Kilmonger shows her that it is wrong even if it is tempting.  Namor needs to be stopped but not killed out of rage. 

The third act in Shuri trains for and dons the Black Panther suit followed by a water battle between the Talokans and Wakandans is exciting.  In addition the personal battle between Namor and Shuri is well staged, though Namor recovers from looked like a bad wound to be standing upright in the finale.  I did feel a little uncomfortable of seeing two armies of color (one of them oppressed and the other, not, but coming from a culture of oppressed people) killing each other but both are shown as brave.

The film has another problem from previous films that could not have been foreseen by Boseman's passing.  T'Challa was thought dead after he was defeated by Kilmonger in Black Panther and T'Challa was offscreen long enough for it is register and Kilmonger to assume power.  Additionally T'Challa disappeared in The Blip and although we never saw Wakandans either reacting to his passing nor who took over the thrown in his absence, this would mean that Wakanda has mourned T'Challa twice by the time he actually dies which undercuts the power a little.

One strength that has come out of the real life tragedy is I was aware that Black Panther had several strong female characters (Okoye, Ramonda, Shuri and Nakia) who all work in support of a male king.  In this film the power is female centered and the excellent cast, especially Bassett, are more than up to the challenge even if Boseman is still missed.

The film ends with a quiet sequence of Shuri, giving up the throne and sitting on the beach in casual clothes to privately mourn her brother to a warm acoustic guitar score.  At this point Nakia appears and reveals that she and T'Challa had a son who she is secretly raising.  It gives a reminder that life goes on and though I wondered if the boy Toussaint was concocted in a plot device similar to the end of Old Yeller (a puppy offspring introduced at the end to replace the tragic loss of the title character) Coogler revealed in an interview that Toussaint was part of the original plan and was to have been born during his absence in The Blip. 

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is a moving film about dealing with loss.  However the weak presentation of the villain, the recycled plot elements, and the dark cinematography means my reaction is a little mixed.  I still recommend it  though.  ***

Ant Man and the Wasp :Quantumania

The end of Ant Man and the Wasp hinted that there was an untold story of Janet's time in the Quantum Realm and so this third film, also directed by Peyton Reed who did the first two takes us and Scott's "family" (including Janet, Hope, Cassie and Hank) for a long visit into this strange dimension.

This is actually Ant Man's third trip to the Quantum Realm after dropping in briefly in the first film and the being trapped there at the end of the second one.  The odd use of time (Scott spends five years there between Ant Man and the Wasp and Endgame but it only feels like five hours for him) is never addressed.  Janet, who was there for 30 years, never mentions anything about a time difference so it appears this was a one-time plot device to set up the idea of the Time Heist in Endgame.

The opening sequence has more of the quick humorous moments that were in the first two Ant Man films.  My favorite shows Scott sharing a meal with Jimmy Wu which was set up in the second film, though sadly we do not hear any of their conversation.  But this is just a prologue to trip to the Quantum Realm which Cassie has been studying.  The setting does mean we do not see Judy Greer, Bobby Carnivale or Michael Pena who had key roles in the first two films.  

The Quantum Realm as presented here looks like an odd planet with a lot of orange and red themed set design and has a lot of lawless societies and odd creatures.    For easily half the film Scott and Cassie (now played by Kathryn Newton despite having been played briefly in Endgame by Emma Fuhrman) are separated from Hope, Janet and Hank.  Scott, despite having spent a little time there before, is utterly out of place and desperate to keep Cassie (who is both a little rebellious and fearless) out of trouble but she is often the one to come up with solutions.  Scott has clearly been trying to make up for lost time and one of the strengths of the film is that we are trying to figure out this older version of Cassie the same way that Scott is.

 Scott's displacement means we see a different side of him (he also has been trying to avoid fighting lately) and it makes him a lot less fun than in the other two films, which are a big part of the appeal.  The Quantum Realm is unique but it's not particularly humorous except for a few occasional moments.  

Evangeline Lily created some unnecessarily negative publicity in the pandemic when she publicly refused to follow protocols and then later attended anti-vaccination rallies.  She is entitled to her opinion (though I find those choices to be reckless) but I wondered if it would lead to Marvel recasting Hope or maybe killing her off between movies.  Instead Hope is in the film but despite being one of the title characters, has a much lesser role, often playing backseat to Janet.  Any film which dealt with Janet's time in the Quantum Realm would push her the forefront and finally give Michelle Pfeiffer something substantial to do.  Hope does also get a big hero moment in the end but if she had not been in the film the narrative would not have changed much.

The sections focusing on Janet and the family are a little more entertaining, mostly because Hope and Hank are also seeing how Janet was able to survive in this hostile land and have to follow her lead.  It's fun to see Pfeiffer both in action scenes and in the backstory we also see how her scientific background had helped her plan an escape but her morals forced her to make the difficult choice to stay.  

This leads us to the much hyped villain, Kang, played by Jonathan Majors.  Kang was first introduced as a variant in the show Loki called He Who Remains, the one behind the Time Variance Authority, who was somewhat charming.  The version in this film is Kang the Conqueror, supposedly one of the nastiest versions of the character, who had been expelled there by the other Kangs.  I have mixed feelings on the multiverse since while it can lead to fun crossover events like Spider Man No Way Home, it can be difficult to keep track of multiple versions of the same character.  I find it most effective when the focus is on one or two at a time.  I also wonder why some variants look exactly like their alternate versions (ie Dr. Strange, Kang), and others do not (Loki and all the Peter Parkers).  

However, this Kang has lived up to his reputation to become a dictator of the realm.  As presented first to Janet and then Scott, Kang presents tempting choices that they have to resist in order to keep him down.  Majors makes some brave acting choices, using an introspective delivery with an uneven tone that gives him an unpredictability.  Kang uses people as a means to an end, in his case, to get out of the realm.  As I knew Kang was going to appear in several upcoming MCU films (being set up as the new Big Bad after Thanos) I figured based in part on the second trailer that Scott might not survive the film and Kang might escape until I remembered that there are Kang variants (who the Conqueror wants to take on once he escapes).  When M.O.D.O.K. (Darren) redeems himself and his death is given a certain weight I realized the film was unlikely to kill Ant Man even though it probably will be his the last film.  Kang certainly is an imposing villain and the final fight between Kang and Scott is the most intense that Scott has been in.  

Michael Douglas also does not have a lot to do other than react to his extraordinary surroundings but in the early scenes there is a nice dynamic as he has taken on a grandfather role to Cassie.  Now that Janet is back Hank has let go of a lot of his bitterness and is enjoying teaching Cassie how to use all his tech.  Additionally Hank has an understanding reaction to the revelation that Janet had an affair with Lord Krylar during her long stay in the Quantum Realm (he also had one).  Bill Murray, an actor I find funny in small doses, is amusing as Krylar who is currently working for Kang, but is overcome quickly by Janet, Hope and Hank.  Hank also gets a moment in which he leads a colony of his ants in the fight against Kang's forces in the climax.  

The shrinking technology is used less here than in the other films, maybe because everyone is small already.  There is one sequence in which a shrunk Scott finds a lot of his own variants that visually recalls a scene in the Last Jedi.  

Despite the film's ambitions and the impressive set design I find the change in tone a little jarring here.  Also the series has spent a lot of time showing the damage Janet's time in the Quantum Realm caused the Pym family and the entire second film focused on the extraordinary effort to free her but everyone seems more concerned about stopping Kang than getting out again.  The heroes actual exit turns out to be an afterthought.  Also, I do not think M.O.D.O.K. worked well as a character.  I like Corey Stoll as an actor (he was superb in the first season of House of Cards) and he had some menace in the first Ant Man but I never felt any urge to see Darren again (or even remembered that he was sent to the Quantum Realm) and M.O.D.O.K. looks like Humpty Dumpty with a silly reflection on his face so it was hard to accept this as the same character or  Ultimately I was indifferent to him as a character nor did I care about his redemption or sacrifice.

Ant Man has a nice end that ties up everyone's story yet hints at the continuing trouble that the Kang variants will bring.  Due to Jonathan Majors' legal troubles as of now it is unknown if he will continue to play the role but if he does I am curious to see how he distinguishes the other characters.  I doubt we will see more of the Ant Man crew, outside of perhaps Cassie, but it was worth having this presumably final visit with them.  ***

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)

Due to both the pandemic and outside factors this third film with James Gunn's misfits has been delayed.  Initially this was slated to come out around 2020 but James Gunn was fired by Disney in the summer of 2018 while prepping the film due to some old controversial tweets.  The cast rallied Disney to re-hire him which they did but only after Gunn had accepted an offer from Warner Brothers to direct The Suicide Squad.  After he delivered that film in 2021 Gunn was able to redirect his attention to the Guardians.  Fortunately the script had been finished but the delays meant the film has been released a full six years after the last one.  Gunn did film a Christmas special while in production on this film in which Mantis and Drax kidnap Kevin Bacon to cheer up Quill which I thought was silly and harmless.  The Guardians also made a brief appearance in Thor: Love and Thunder to close up a plot thread from the end of Avengers: Endgame (in which Thor inexplicably left to accompany the Guardians on their adventures).

Rocket (Bradley Cooper) is injured early in the film and the Guardians need to go on a quest to save him which puts them on a head to head collision with the High Evolutionary played by Chukwudi Iwuji a British actor I was unfamiliar with.  The High Evolutionary had kidnapped Rocket and several other animals when Rocket was young and experimented on him trying to create a master race on a planet similar to Earth but with animals who have human characteristics.  Rocket had several friends who were killed which contributed to his cynical attitude.  The High Evolutionary ordered Rocket's brain extracted when he realized his potential and in the present sends Adam Warlock to get it leading to his injury.  

The main plotline for Peter is his dilemma with Gamora.  Marvel fans will remember that Gamora was killed by Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War but an earlier version of her time traveled to the "present" of Avengers: Endgame and helped the Avengers defeat Thanos thanks to Nebula's help.  As Peter and Gamora had just gotten together before she was kidnapped by Thanos Peter obviously felt some hope that since a version of Gamora was still alive he might get his lost love back.  Ahead of watching this film I wondered how this would play out.  In Gunn's two movies Peter and Gamora flirted, especially in Vol. 2, but he had never had them as a full couple.  They were more two branches of the Guardians team.  When they first kissed in Infinity War (which had different writers and directors) it raised the emotional stakes with all that followed but I wondered if it was where Gunn had originally planned to take those two characters.  After Gamora (who has been with the Ravagers since Endgame, again led by Stakar played amusingly by Sylvester Stallone) comes across the Guardians Peter actually looks foolish in asking if she remembers them together unless he does not realize where or when she came from. 

Whatever Gunn's original intentions were he wisely does not take the easy route of having two characters that took four years to fall for each other originally, do the same in the course of the few days that this story plays out in.  I sensed as much at a point when Gamora violently shoved Peter.  She was still more the Thanos raised version of the character and spending time around the Ravagers would mute any of the softer side that would have existed when her variant was with the Guardians.  Gamora comes to work well with the team but leaves Peter with some kind words but nothing more.  Peter tellingly has processed his grief and is also ready to move on with his life when he opts to go back to Earth.

The more serious storyline gives the film more depth than the other two which were much more comedic.  Rocket who usually cracks a lot of the jokes is either shown badly hurt or caged in flashbacks.  Drax and Mantis still have some banter but there are few laugh loud moments.  I did not find the soundtrack as memorable this time.  The scenes of the High Evolutionary mistreating the animals and then caging children are disturbing but reflect real world concerns.  But overall I liked this approach as it gave the characters more depth.  The sequence on the Orgocorp has an entertaining color palette and the Counter Earth and the High Evolutionary's ship both have good set design.  The action sequences more than deliver as usual and there is an extended floor level shot of the Guardians working their way through the High Evolutionary's guards.  While Rocket and the Guardians have a brief but well staged showdown with the High Evolutionary I was more impacted by the earlier scene where Rocket loses his friends and attacked the High Evolutionary.  Gunn saves the reveal for just what a raccoon can do to a human face for the end of the film when we see the villain has been wearing a mask of his old face for the present day scenes.

At the end of the film the Guardians go in their separate ways and it felt appropriate.  They have had their time together and as characters it is time for them to take their individual journeys.  Gunn is working at DC now and it would not feel right to leave these characters with another filmmaker.  Most notably Peter returns to Earth (after briefly visiting in Endgame) and finds his grandfather and hopefully gets a last few years with him.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is a more emotional ride than the last two.  I thought it was a nice story but also agree that like the Guardians it is time to move on.  ***