pmailman

I'm not a big fan of musicals. They usually leave me feeling that they're very artificial, the story of a play being an excuse for some music. This film transcends that. The story is engrossing, the cast superb as they transform from one character into another each believably full fleshed. As other reviewers have noted, the story itself transforms over the course of the film - revliving the horror of 9/11, the confusion and panic of those caught up in its consequences, the struggle for acceptance and liberation from stereotypes, but above it all the incredible generous hospitality of a little town shown to fellow human beings in trouble. And with it all, the vocal performances are excellent. It's the whole package.

I enjoyed this movie more than I expected to. It was hard to see how a new Black Panther movie could be made witnout Chadwick Boseman, who so defined the character onscreen. But Wakanda Forever was a truly worthy sequel. The story arc continued true in so many ways to its predecessor. Performances were excellent, cinematography superb.

My only beef is the introduction of an origin story and setting for the character Namor that had no connection whatsoever to that of the Namor of the comic books other than being related to an underwater civilization. Not even a veneer of an attempt at reconciliation. Oh well.

There's only a little that's new or imaginative here, amd half of it just doesn't work.

Alternate universes with variants of people from this one are nothing new. When one character starts talking about what if there is an evil version of us, you almost expect him to add, "you know, like in the Star Trek episode 'Mirror, Mirror'?" But somehow making them cross because there's a comet passing nearby? Sorry, no attempt at an explanation would have been a better choice than a ridiculous one. And my brother said to call him if anything strange happened, because you know, comet. They do the darndest things, just like that famous weird meteor explosion in Russia.

Crossing multiple realities and the resulting confusion of who's from where and who belongs where and what are they trying to do and why, is the one new twist here. But the chaotic way in which it was presented just makes for confusion, not mystery and suspense.

The amateurish production could have been tolerable if the story hung together. But just doesn't.