Black Panther
Dir. Ryan Coogler
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At only 31, Ryan Coogler is the youngest person so far to direct a Marvel movie. Why did the Disney brain trust invest so much good will in someone with only two other directorial features under his belt? Because those films were Fruitvale Station and Creed! Two of the best movies of their respective years, each with a fantastic sense of drama and character, I found it tough not to hype myself up for Coogler's Black Panther. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1966, Black Panther was the first mainstream black superhero - before Falcon or Luke Cage - and Coogler seemed like the perfect choice to bring him into the 2018 cultural zeitgeist. After the hype-dust settled, I admit that huge parts of this movie disappointed me - it's not even in the same ballpark as his previous two films - but Black Panther is still a promising new direction for the Marvel brand.
Mostly set in Africa and focusing on a familial succession of royalty, Black Panther is essentially Marvel's The Lion King. After the death of his father, T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) is crowned the new Black Panther of the isolated African city of Wakanda, which sits on a vast store of the magical, powerful element Vibranium. However, thrust into this position at a premature age, his throne is challenged by a distant relative, "Killmonger" (Michael B. Jordan) and his maniacal henchman Klaue (Andy Serkis) - sounds a lot like Simba, Scar and the hyenas, doesn't it? T'Challa even visits his father in an 'ancestral plane' to discuss the burden of his kingly duties (Mufasa, anyone?).
The story is mostly just generic Shakespeare-lite family squabbling mixed in with some half-baked political ideas, but for me where Black Panther shines the most is in its cast. While Boseman does a serviceable enough job in the regal title role, it's the supporting cast that really breathes life into the film. Michael B. Jordan's Killmonger is a magnetic villain with a legitimate viewpoint, but perhaps goes too far in the execution of his ideals - he's sort of like the Malcolm X of Black Panther. Andy Serkis absolutely steals every scene he's in with an insane sniveling grin, and it's nice to see him act in a role outside of playing CGI apes.
Besides the baddies, we're also introduced to a host of fantastic female characters who literally kick butt. Danai Gurira plays one of T'Challa's bodyguards, Okoye, portraying her as stoic and strong, but with a hundred times more heart than her cold, sword-wielding character Michonne on The Walking Dead. T'Challa's younger sister, Shuri (Leticia Wright), is Wakanda's answer to Peter Parker, a tech genius with a sarcastic streak. There are so many familiar faces in this movie: Lupita Nyong'o, Forest Whitaker, Angela Bassett, Get Out's Daniel Kaluuya, Sterling K. Brown, and Bilbo himself, Martin Freeman. It's one of the best-assembled casts of the year, and even the smallest roles are given a certain meatiness - every character is complex with a specific perspective. The film's sense of a larger political, mythical, and personal scope outside of the film is tangible throughout.
My biggest disappointment with Black Panther, however, especially after the character's brief but wonderful debut in Captain America: Civil War, was the action. Ryan Coogler's work on Creed brought us fighting sequences that felt both exhilarating and personal, but here it feels like he's caught in the "Marvel machine," resorting to choppy CGI spectacles with absolutely no feeling of danger to the characters. The ending fight scene even reminded me of the big dumb three-ring-circus of The Phantom Menace finale, cutting between three disparate scenes of mostly weightless CGI people. Some action beats also never pay off: much like Q in the 007 franchise, T'Challa's sister is the "gadget girl" who introduces him to all these cool weapons in her lab - but in a reverse "Chekhov's Gun" situation, some of these never actually pay off in the movie!
Aesthetically Black Panther is fantastic, with nearly every aspect of it dripping with Afrofuturistic detail. The costume design, the set design (Shuri's lab looks like a cross between Tony Stark's house and a museum of modern African art), the soundtrack, and just the fact that 90% of the cast is black make this such a unique and important blip in both the massive Marvel Cinematic Universe and pop culture in general. Similarly to last year's Wonder Woman, Black Panther is great in how it portrays a historically oppressed people and gives them strong, badass characters and moments that effortlessly weave in important cultural statements. While I wish the action sequences were more dynamic and the story a bit more complex, it's still a worthy watch for Marvel fans.
Final Verdict:
SEE IT!
The Greatest Showman
Dir. Michael Gracey
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The Greatest Showman takes looking at history with rose-colored glasses to a whole new level. It turns the story of a man who profited off of exploiting deformed people into a big budget episode of Glee. Although there's some mindless, flashy fun to be had with its poppy Broadway-style music numbers, it's disappointing that this collection of talent couldn't come up with something more intriguing and dramatic.
The story follows the broad strokes of the life of P.T. Barnum (Hugh Jackman) as he rises from poor, humble beginnings to a legendary entertainer and entrepreneur. After trying and failing to attract a crowd with his wax museum of "oddities," his children suggest he make something "alive." His answer is to basically hire a bunch of "freaks" and "undesirables" to perform in his show - from a bearded lady (Keala Settle) to a black trapeze artist (Zendaya). Although on paper it sounds pretty sketchy, Barnum is portrayed in the film as a wholesome underdog who gives a voice to disenfranchised people. At any moment I expected him to burst out into Lady Gaga's "Born this Way."
While it utterly fails as a biopic, I do think it mostly succeeds as a light "song and dance" movie. The songs are catchy and well-produced, even if a little too far on the glossy side (why can't all musicals be live like Tom Hooper's Les Mis?). The dance choreography is great and the sets feel like a top-notch Broadway musical. There's one sequence between Barnum's partner Phillip Carlyle (Zac Efron) and Zendaya as they fly around together on the trapeze that was particularly magical.
A major problem, however, are the very strange dubbing decisions throughout. The "dwarf" character was so obviously ADR'ed that it completely took me out of the movie. Rebecca Ferguson plays a famous philanthropic opera singer, but when her big number comes up she belts out a hacky Katy Perry-type pop ballad that's clearly not her voice. Practically every song is about being inspired and could be taken completely out of context from the movie and make sense - clearly meant more as an effort to make a few radio-friendly hits than to tell an intriguing story through song. Disappointing coming from the songwriting team behind La La Land.
It's clear that Hugh Jackman put his heart and soul into this - The Greatest Showman feels like Hugh Jackman's well-choreographed "macaroni picture." I want to give it a thumbs up and stick it on the fridge, but it feels like a wasted opportunity to tell a fascinating true story. I wish this movie took more of the perspective of the "freaks" - as their conflict between knowingly being exploited by Barnum, while also having more freedom and power under his tent than in "real life," is an interesting internal battle. Unfortunately, none of that complexity is really explored.
Final Verdict:
WAIT FOR NETFLIX
Paddington 2
Dir. Paul King
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The first Paddington was one of my favorite family films of 2015, bringing a level of sweetness and charm that is lacking in so many kids movies today. The first film was released about the time as Minions and its sequel released around the time of Peter Rabbit - two films with shrill, impish troublemakers for protagonists. It's so nice to see a character like Paddington be the antidote to those characters, projecting an ideal of childhood innocence that is so pure it will bring a tear to your eye - and I don't care if you're a regular This is Us-watching cry baby or a tatted-up biker dude.
The story picks up where the first left off - Paddington is still living with his loving, adoptive family in London, where he's become a popular friend to everyone in the neighborhood. His Aunt Lucy, still living in Peru, is having her 100th birthday, and Paddington wants to save up for the perfect present for her: an expensive pop-up book of London. However, when the book is stolen from the antique shop by a mystery man, Paddington is blamed for the crime!
Although the overall story being told is rather simple, it's in the comic timing, visual humor, and wonderfully eccentric and lighthearted characterizations that makes Paddington 2 a fantastic sequel and one of my favorite films so far this year. The closest approximation I can think of is Wes Anderson, but whereas his films can be almost too artificial and confectionery, Paddington feels very human. My eyes literally watered by the end of it - it's just a beautiful, straightforward story told with an absolutely incredible sense of visual filmmaking.
Paddington 2, to me, is a perfect family film. There is not a wasted moment in its screenplay, the visual gags have the tightness of a classic Chaplin film, and its sweetness and heart is so simple and pure that you'd have to be a complete piece of garbage to not feel warm and fuzzy watching it.
Final Verdict:
SEE IT!
Hostiles
Dir. Scott Cooper
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Almost as long as there have been movies in America, there have been Westerns. Starting in 1903 with The Great Train Robbery, we've seen this genre covered from seemingly every angle conceivable - from comedic Westerns like Blazing Saddles to sci-fi Westerns like Firefly. Westerns in this day and age have to follow a long lineage, and the best ones find ways to remain interesting and relevant (such as HBO's Westworld confronting our twisted romanticism of the West or Hell or High Water examining the genre through a modern lens). Hostiles, on the other hand, does not offer anything interesting or new. It's a slow-paced tale of walking from A-to-B that comes to the conclusion that Americans are violent and racism can be cured overnight if you go on a road trip with someone.
The year is 1892: Captain Joseph Blocker (Christian Bale) has a reputation for violence against Native Americans. For some reason, he's tasked by his superiors to escort a Native American war chief, Yellow Hawk (Wes Studi), and his family to their ancestral grounds in Montana. Even though the racist Blocker witnessed Yellow Hawk do horrible things in the past. Setting out, along the way Blocker and his men find a woman, Rosalie (Rosamund Pike), whose home has been burned and family murdered by Native Americans. She joins the party, and essentially the film is a series of protracted side stories until Blocker realizes the error of his ways and accepts Yellow Hawk into his bro-circle.
The pacing in this movie is excruciatingly slow. At one point I heard actual snoring in my theater. I did not for one second believe in Christian Bale's sudden transformation. All of its ideas are half-baked and taken from other, better Westerns. Almost every character speaks in monotonous grumbles. Rosamund Pike's performance is bizarre. I found myself more transfixed by Christian Bale's mustache than anything happening in the story. It's not aggressively terrible, but Hostiles just has so little going for it; I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
Final Verdict:
SKIP IT
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