BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER: 3 ½ STARS
The world was shocked when Chadwick Boseman passed away in 2020 at the tender age of forty-four, just two years after finding superstardom as King T'Challa in 鈥淏lack Panther.鈥 His passing left the future of the 鈥淏lack Panther鈥 franchise in flux. Would it be possible to make a 鈥淏lack Panther鈥 movie without the Black Panther?
The second film in the series, 鈥淏lack Panther: Wakanda Forever,鈥 answers the question. The new film has all the action you expect from a blockbuster Marvel movie, but also acts as a eulogy of a sort to the late actor and his most famous character.
鈥淲akanda Forever鈥 begins on a sombre note, acknowledging the passing of T'Challa. 鈥淵our brother is with the ancestors,鈥 Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) tells daughter Shuri (Letitia Wright). After a grand funeral fit for a king, director Ryan Coogler moves the action forward by one year.
Queen Ramonda, still healing from the wound left by T鈥機halla鈥檚 passing, is forced to defend her kingdom from international poachers intent on stealing their most valuable resource, a rare metallic ore with energy-manipulating properties called Vibranium. 鈥淲e mourn the loss of our king,鈥 she informs the United Nations, 鈥渂ut don鈥檛 think for a moment that Wakanda has lost its ability to protect her resources.鈥
Meanwhile, the U.S. military discovers a cache of Vibranium, previously thought to only exist in Wakanda, at the bottom of the ocean. But before you can say 鈥淲akanda Forever,鈥 the expedition is attacked by sea people, led by Namor (Tenoch Huerta), 鈥渇eathered serpent god鈥 of an ancient race of teal-skinned underwater people who look like they could have been extras in James Cameron鈥檚 鈥淎vatar.鈥
Namor鈥檚 kingdom of Talokan also has Vibranium, and now that Wakanda has made the ore鈥檚 awesome power public knowledge, his nation is under threat from people who want what they have. That puts Wakanda at odds with an enemy unlike any they鈥檝e fought before, an army outfitted with Vibranium weapons.
With a 2-hour-and-41-minute runtime, 鈥淏lack Panther: Wakanda Forever鈥 takes on a lot. It鈥檚 a study in loss and grief mixed with big time Marvel action set pieces. In addition, Coogler and co-screenwriter Joe Robert Cole have woven an indictment of colonialism into both the history of Wakanda and the Mayan-influenced backstory of Talokan. It makes for rich subtext in the storytelling, even if the movie occasionally has a rough time balancing all its elements.
If those missteps can be forgiven, its simply because 鈥淲akanda Forever鈥 isn鈥檛 a typical Marvel film. It exists outside Marvel Cinematic Universe. That means there is no connection to the other Avengers films, and it is better for it. Instead of feeling as if it is a puzzle piece of a larger picture, it is its own thing, a movie able to walk a different path and get away from the increasingly rigid structures of the late period MCU movies. The mix of the intimate and epic is what makes this movie work, both as a tribute to Boseman and as blockbuster entertainment.
The ensemble cast is very strong, but it is Bassett who leaves a mark. As Queen and T鈥機halla鈥檚 mother, she is majestic and melancholy, a woman attempting to balance duty with grief. 鈥淚 am Queen of the most powerful nation in the world,鈥 she says in anguish, 鈥渁nd my entire family is gone. Have I not given everything?鈥 It鈥檚 a powerful moment and a poignant exploration of the weight that comes with loss coupled with obligation.
鈥淏lack Panther: Wakanda Forever鈥 has a few draggy moments, but its determination to be its own thing makes for compelling viewing.
THE FABELMANS: 4 STARS
Steven Spielberg has made personal films before but none are as intimate as the semi-autobiographical 鈥淭he Fabelmans,鈥 now playing in theatres. In the film, the teenage Sammy Fabelman (Gabriel LaBelle) finds the power of movies and storytelling help him deal with a family crisis.
Set in the 1950s and 1960s, and loosely based on the director鈥檚 childhood, the story focusses on Sammy, played by Mateo Zoryon Francis-DeFord as a child and LaBelle as a teen, oldest son of post-World War II era Arizona housewife Mitzi (Michelle Williams) and engineer Burt Fabelman (Paul Dano).
On his first visit to the movie theatre he sees 鈥淭he Greatest Show on Earth,鈥 a dazzler of a picture that leaves a lifelong impression. Soon, he is making his own short films, staging elaborate scenes with his toy trains, and later making live-action war movies with his pals. He figures out how to make special effects鈥攍ike poking holes in the film to replicate gun flashes鈥攁nd constantly has the camera pressed against his eye, even on family camping trips.
The world of make-believe is a comfort to the youngster whose home life is showing signs of strain. As Burt moves the family cross country for work, Mitzi, an artistic soul like her son, becomes despondent, and even buys a pet monkey to keep her company in their new house.
As Burt and Mitzi鈥檚 marriage crumbles, Sammy faces antisemitism and bullies at his new school, a father who calls his all-consuming interest in filmmaking 鈥渁 hobby鈥 and an over-the-top girlfriend (Chloe East), who has pin-ups of Jesus on her wall next to the pop stars of the day.
His journey ultimately leads him to a Hollywood legend who teaches him a valuable lesson in how to make movies鈥攚hich is also the film鈥檚 best visual joke鈥攋ust before the end credits roll.
Spielberg is often accused of sentimentalism, so it is curious that 鈥淭he Fabelmans鈥 is not a maudlin movie. It bristles with life, love, frustration and heartbreak, all blended together to bring the family, and especially Sammy, to vivid life. Sometimes life is messy鈥攖he cause of Mitzi鈥檚 鈥渆pisodes鈥 is difficult for Sammy to understand鈥攁nd sometimes it is sublime鈥擲ammy鈥檚 discovery of his pure, unadulterated love of film鈥攂ut it never feels as if Spielberg is romanticizing the past.
The 1950s part of the film has a certain glow about it, as if it鈥檚 being recounted by a Sammy, just a boy at the time. As he grows up, and his understanding of his family dynamic grows, the film takes on a different personality. The rough edges are not smoothed over as Sammy retreats into the world of make believe as a remedy for the tensions at home. The storytelling is episodic, but never less than emotional.
As 鈥淭he Fabelmans鈥 unfolds, two scenes reveal the mix and match of the effect of Spielberg鈥檚 parents, one a technician, the other an artist, on young Sammy.
The first comes in the form of a visit from Sammy鈥檚 Uncle Boris, played by Judd Hirsch in what may well be an Oscar nominated performance. In his quick in-and-out scenes, he is the truth teller who explains what it means to make art; the pain, the constant need to express yourself. It is a burden, but a beautiful one, and these scenes lie at the heart of the film, the idea of what it takes to create something extraordinary.
The second scene, near the end of the movie, sees Sammy learn an important technical lesson from a legendary filmmaker played by David Lynch. Lynch chews the scenery, clearly enjoying himself, while Sammy drinks it in. Spielberg even throws in a visual joke to ensure that we understand how fundamental the lesson was to him.
Both are fun sequences that reveal the filmmaker鈥檚 twin brain, a mix of art and science, that also echo his upbringing.
鈥淭he Fabelmans鈥 ends with a shot that will warm the heart of any movie lover, but this is not simply a film for fans of the director. It鈥檚 a contemplative, poignant look at how art, and how it is a balm that helps sooth us in troubled times.
LANCASTER: 4 STARS
鈥淟ancaster,鈥 a new World War II documentary, now playing in theatres, is not simply a tribute to the titular British heavy bomber plane. The veterans who flew them over enemy territory express admiration for the giant aircraft, and speak about the damage they delivered, but this is more an homage to the brave aircrews who flew the planes, and won the war.
Directors David Fairhead and Ant Palmer, whose documentary 鈥淪pitfire鈥 established their bona fides as aeronautical historians, are encyclopedic in their detail, but serve up the data with a heaping helping of humanity. Interviews with the navigators, gunners, radio-men and bombardiers, called 鈥渂omb aimers鈥 by the Brits, reveal a sense of regret and the need to reconcile for the destruction the Lancaster bombing raids over Germany conducted by RAF Bomber Command caused, while at the same time acknowledging that without the aerial combat the war may have been lost.
鈥淭here鈥檚 no second prize in war,鈥 one pilot says. 鈥淵ou either win or you lose.鈥
Through gravitas dipped narration courtesy of Charles Dance, we learn how the Rolls Royce-powered Lancaster could take the largest bombs used by the RAF and why it was crucial in the 鈥渢aking the war to Germany鈥 strategy. Through archival footage and scenes from the epic 1955 was film 鈥淭he Dam Busters,鈥 we get a sense of the massive scale of destruction that followed in the path of the Lancaster, but it really comes to life in the testimony of a German woman who survived the firebombing of Dresden.
A picture may be worth a thousand words, but the words of the people that were there, in the sky and on the ground, paint a vivid portrait of the destruction brought from above. With so few World War II vets left to tell the tale, 鈥淟ancaster鈥 offers a valuable document. These firsthand recollections of the camaraderie, the fear鈥攅ven when uttered through stiff upper 鈥淚 was apprehensive鈥 lips鈥攁nd the human toll war took on them is eye-opening and important for future WWII scholars.
鈥淟ancaster鈥 isn鈥檛 a flashy documentary. It doesn鈥檛 need to be. Well-chosen archival material supports the story, but it is the human touch that brings more emotion than you may expect from a war documentary.
