Half in the Bag Episode 141: Black Panther

half in the bag I have so many problems I have to take so many pills for my problems [Music] it's a big and bold change of focus in the Marvel Cinematic Universe Black Panther pushes past many of the cliched plot devices archetypes and formulas of standard comic book blockbusters this film is a giant middle finger to all things authoritarian it's taken a decade in 18 films but the Marvel Cinematic Universe has finally produced a superhero movie that feels like it was ripped from the pages of a comic book after 18 films finally they did it black panther is one of the best superhero movies of the century we're only 18 years in folks they will write about this movie and make videos about it it will be discussed among friends of all ages all races all shapes and sizes it will be taught in school debated among intellectuals it will be seen as the moment everything changed well J that intro was not written by us it was a lot of excerpts from reviews of the film Black Panther one of the best reviewed films in the history of cinema so I gotta ask you J what did you think of Black Panther is alright after the first hour the plot finally kicks in and then it gets pretty good for a while the first hour of the movie I thought it was really really meandering and I was like where is this going this feels really unfocused what is the plot and I was also thinking for the first hour because I wasn't engaged I was starting to my mind was starting to wander and I was thinking about because I had heard about like the world-building of this movie and what kinda and I was thinking about what a great nation everyone's saying it is and all that and it's this advanced technologically advanced and they have all these advancements and medicine and science and all these things but they have a wall built around them and they are not willing to help anyone outside the wall I was like well this is gonna be a standard Marvel movie this is just a world building this is gonna be background stuff this is just the the world they've created for the characters and so I was starting to feel a little like uneasy about it because obviously there's parallels to what's going on in the real world right now and then Michael B Jordan shows back up he was in a scene in the first five minutes of the movie and then he disappeared for like an hour the movie forgot about him because they had to have a pointless car chase scene and some other stuff but he shows back up and it turns out that the entire plot of the movie and the conflict of the movie is about just that about Wakanda and about what it should be doing and if it should be kind of blocking itself off from the rest of the world with its science and with its technology and I was like okay now I'm engaged because Michael B Jordan he's evil he's a bad guy he murders people but he's absolutely right and that's an interesting dynamic of not being selfish with your technology and it's selfish with the advances that you have and it was on its way up to breaking that ceiling of being like The Dark Knight or like a Logan and then the armored rhinoceros showed up but then everybody just fights yeah and it levels out can I can I just make a slight correction or addendum to what you were saying Michael B Jordan didn't just want to share the technology and joy of Wakanda with with impoverished people he wanted to overthrow the world and and he was he was Pro anti-colonialist on it so basically like have an uprising and world war sure anybody's right in the sense that Wakanda should not be like so insular and keeping everything that's isolationists yeah and that's that's what made him interesting to me and that's why he's like the only interesting Marvel villain he didn't he didn't want a super weapon that did a super thing right he had he had a backstory he had a history clear motivations and there are more interesting as a character than Black Panther was it was like it was like a damned if you do damned if you don't situation with Wakanda because on one hand you have like crazy person like Michael B Jordan who wants to use all this technology as a tool of destruction and then you have the other side where it's like yes we can help people but like look at all the damage that's been done just by the little amount of vibranium that Andy Serkis stole the golem just causing havoc so that that he's like they're all very cautious about sharing their technology and wonders of vibranium with the world because it could be used to for destruction and yes and that conflict was incredibly interesting to me and that's why I was like okay this is a complex situation it reflects the real world in a lot of ways and I was hoping it would continue to explore that but just as it's getting interesting then it just breaks out into war like within the span of a day what Conda as a nation is completely divided and everybody's fighting and murdering each other it came out and it came so quick it was like I don't know like there was 20 minutes of movie missing that that really explore the debate of the movie but yeah they when they when they go to the the the secret casino in South Korea that was like this feels like a Mission Impossible movie yeah I like I was taking a James Bond but yeah is something something different for a Marvel movie yeah and and so he's uh he's running around and they have this little scene there and he's got his his warrior general lady was just complaining about her house just wear a wig that's right because they all have shaved heads and Lupita Nyong'o his famously known as Maz Kanata from the Star Wars film of course bought whole eyes and she is playing his love interests and they're they're doing a little adventure I was like I kind of like this like black panther doing some covert some covert mission impossible stuff and I thought that was fun and then the action scenes were boring car chase and and then there were there was a couple moments in the car chase or I was like that's kind of cool but it overall it was one of those things were just kind of kept going it's like okay we don't really need this yeah so that's the thing is like that's kind of where I was starting to check out a bit or a think okay and all this death just so what killed you when you see the trailer for the movie and it's like what Khan does is the most coolest place on earth and then I thought the like the tribal stuff was a little like it felt it was unbalanced or it's like if they're this advanced why are they sticking to these very kind of like primitive traditional things yes super primitive yeah the ritual in order to challenge to the kingdom and all that stuff and and I get it I get it they included some of the African culture stuff like but I thought that was just gonna be more in the look yeah of the film because you have the the younger sister was like rolling her eyes during the ceremony like like this is stupid why are we still doing this like I want to do a technology stuff and so I thought maybe it was gonna be more of like the Wakanda would be more of an advanced society that that had sort of like the African flair to all the stuff but really they were very like the wakandan throne room scene really looked like the Phantom Menace I was thinking I was thinking on that what kind of in general like when there's like establishing shots of the city it's like it's kind of like Star Wars yeah the technology though was a slight problem for me I thought it was too outlandish too overdone to where it was like okay a magic space-rock crashed in Africa right this vibranium it's not just the strongest metal on earth it's also has magical properties that can heal you you drink the liquid of a vibranium flower and you become a superhero I think like it's like okay now he's got the suit and she did a thing where oh I've just added in like a kinetic absorption technology so anytime you get hit with anything you'd glow purple and you can explode it outwards yeah and so then it becomes like how and I think all the superhero movies are starting to feel that way to me it's like these characters are just so immensely and vulnerable to anything I just get bored there was a danger a threat sure that was the nice thing about spider-man homecoming what do you like rejected the super high tech suit although I think in the infinity war trailer he has it like oh great one interesting thing about spider-man now he has an Iron Man suit they're fighting Thanos so he's gotta wear the suit the said he would care about Thanos they've been they've had builded up to him since the the first Avengers movie which is like 25 years ago does anyone still care there's a magic glove of crystals on that clash between the the advanced society but sticking to these very sort of tribal traditions yes a little off some might find it interesting I found it kind of perplexing but you know they've lived in isolation so maybe their culture developed like that I don't know to where it's like a crazy man came in and you're you don't have an election you just have a barbaric fight to the death and then everyone has to blindly follow this new guy yeah and so that sort of system with a super advanced space technology they don't quite yeah merge it's because he's like burned all the space plants I'm gonna kill everyone like we got to follow them and then all the guards like are on his side now with their weapons yeah and so yeah normally you'd have a more intellectual process than a fight to the death on top of a waterfall right and I think I think that kind of like was like I wanted what Conda to be above that [Music] the effects were a little dated they fell yeah or cheaper I noticed that during the the first when he's being crowned king and they're like does anyone you know object to this or does anyone want to fight him for the the throne and there's like a shot looking up with like the the mountains and there's all these people on these little edges and he looked like I don't know they looked like pasted in there like really quickly like that stuck out to me and then yeah some of it just the general visual effects felt a little like early 2000s yeah it was it was weird I kept thinking when kill monger that he was fighting a black panther and I kept thinking of spider-man 3 like oh yeah fighting venom and lips well yeah that movement was like kind of unnatural and cartoony and it felt like like the early Sam Raimi spider-man movies so yeah more about our special effects which made this movie better I already say what made it better is less focus on the special effects the action scenes and more focused on the dramatic stuff cuz that's what I really liked although although the the the weird contradiction for me is I found myself bored in the middle for a while that's it that's when it picked up for me the entire like middle act of the movie was when it really works I think it was I think it was something about the pacing or how it was just put together that I noticed that that was for me more of the first like act or so or the first half I know well the first the first half was half an hour or so was like hard like getting acclimated there trying to establish the location the conda and all these characters loved them the love interest of the during during the like does anyone want to challenge Black Panther for the throne that whole sequence I was like I'm checking out like that whole fight scene it ends up being foreshadowing for when he fights Michael G boy Michael B Jordan later so it does have a payoff but it all just felt like put this in the first 10 minutes make it a prologue or something yeah I mean part of me was like I I'm enjoying that they're taking their time with this but at the same time I wish I would have taken the time more on the later stuff yeah [Music] a lot of critics have called this Shakespearean which which which is which is actually kind of true in in the proper context because Shakespeare in his day was like kind of the soap opera entertainment for the masses you thought of his lowbrow back then which people don't don't talk about now it was just the style of writing was was it was very flowery and wordy and and and but it was a very Shakespearean the days and it was like this so it's those betrayed this person this and that that's what this that's what the Michael B Jordan the church Allah's father and the little plot mean the guy who killed my brother my uncle killed you and then I'm killing Forest Whitaker I liked all that stuff betrayed us save the Empire save the tree it was weird when he said that in this it was it was it so that stuff like what Khan does is a little paradise but they have internal conflicts that's a plot and then what Conda is this wonderful paradise with a secret technology the outside elements are starting to figure it out and slip it yeah and and then at the end will cornices [ __ ] you guys I'm taking this to the UN and I'm telling the world we have vibranium and we're gonna help the world that's that's another story so it's like so it could have done without the internal conflict I think that's the stuff I likes I oh I like the the world stage stuff a little more I was a little more intrigued by that well III would like to see more or learn more about the wakandan culture and society and how they're all those in all those buildings what are those what are those apartments look like in those giant skyscrapers you know we see the streets where they're selling goods and I was like a little marketplace and everyone's walking around but I was like what what are your hospitals look like what what is it what Condon there's no hospital there's just the one layer that black panther sister runs yeah they all have to go to her yeah everyone goes to her that's the only set we go in the street but that's another way that would be kind of felt a little on the cheaper side is that like yeah there was that set with her it seems like there's only one like Street set for Wakanda there's the big like swooping CGI shots of the city but it always feels like they're walking down one Street it's the same straight from South Korea they're just like changing some of the odds against a big green screen we talked about Michael B Jordan quite a bit he's the for me the best thing in the movie both his character and his performance I like that Michael B Jordan it was a little comical though and he's throwing around like like gangsta Lang lingo no no that was great as a contrast to the rest of the people of Wakanda they didn't push it like to comically or anything like fish-out-of-water stuff they're just a little bit but I also liked Black Panther I liked that he wasn't smartass and cocky I liked that he wasn't fish out of water he was just like collected and cool which is different for the lead in one of these Marvel movies yeah that's true that's also true he was a different type of hero and he had the the kind of conflict of having to deal with the fact that his father is not a perfect person and then how he feels about tradition and I liked all that stuff and I like the sister a lot is a sassy sister and of course force Whitaker I think I'm tired of Forest Whitaker he's a fine actor but it always feels like we need a slightly older distinguished black actor I just get Forest Whitaker again Morgan Freeman is not available I waited my entire life for this well I saw like I saw there was a petition for Marvel to donate 25% of the Black Panther profits to inner-city school programs or outreach stuff like basically like the ultimate message of the film at the end because he goes to Oakland California and sets up the wakandan embassy to have social outreach programs right to impoverish inner-city kids right and so it's like so this is a real a real thing that people are trying to get Disney so are they gonna just go like Disney / Marvel is just gonna keep all the monies Mike do you have to be so cynical can't you just create a positive hashtag or to [ __ ] it up it's a 50% right I love that it's kind of like what we talking about Ghostbusters and people rallying behind that the Ghostbusters reboot and I had said something about like you're essentially rallying behind a corporate product that's trying to sell toys and that's ultimately what this is wants to make a profit that wants to make a profit and it's a good it's a good movie Black Panther is a good movie yeah but everybody needs to kind of look at the overall picture a little bit here right well see if it's start a petition get them up that 20% to 50% over this one over from 25 to 50 yes of box-office profits I will I will get behind this because Disney should put their money where their mouth is that's true that's true that's true but I think despite the political angles I think this movie I think more people are excited about it because of the representation when you say more people I think you mean rational people yeah yes as opposed to the extreme people right right right rational people everywhere even even me I'm a rational person and and I'm watching this and I say this is great because it's different I like variety and I like entertainment made by all peoples of the earth you know and it's just like you don't want like like just a single straight line of the same thing over and over again so so watching this I'm just like hey this is so different you don't want every Marvel movie to feel like ant-man right ant-man it's always my go-to as far as like generically entertaining Marvel movies that's it was right in the middle there's I enjoyed this much more than ant-man because of this just the general the visual variety the actors that I haven't seen on-screen before like all that stuff like Paul Rudd look at your face ah who could be sick Paul Rudd Paul Rudd's a great guy but I you know I'm just like I guess I am sick of Forest Whitaker there's that but but you know it's like so that's so different is good and and representation is good as long as you don't think a little too much about it because this is a movie about how magical space rocks made a society it's not going to change produced by the Disney Corporation to sell action figures it will change the movie industry to where we have more representation and directors actors writers and every the whole business right it will change that look at the movie and say did we find it entertaining and I would say for the most part I did I thought it was a little long and kind of boring in the middle and I thought the action scenes were weird and not particularly well done there was the surprising part to me because I like Ryan Coogler Fruitvale station is a smaller movie that's a more grounded real movie but like that scene and Creed the the one-shot boxing match like that was really creative and well done I think he's more of a actors director I think so I mean but even like he has some visual flair in in Creed and there is a one-shot action scene in this but like we had mentioned the CGS and the greatest so it's during the casino you know the cameras swirling around and so kind of it didn't have that like grit that the boxing match and Creed had so the part where the money flies around yeah it felt kind of phony so that was disappointing I was expecting a little more visual flair but he's great with the actors all the performances are good oh sure sure and can we talk about the elephant in the room what is that that his name is so close to Cougar and that oh there's another film called black cougar the fact that also that the the film passed over another black director named Ryan panthan to direct black panther yeah Ryan panthan who the hell is Ryan panthan he's a he's a he's an african-american director and he was going to direct black panther and that would have been perfect Ryan panthan directing by Panther Michael Marc Webb directed spider-man yes exactly J and now Ryan Coogler directs Black Panther but there's there's a film called black cougar and so I'm starting to get real confused it says the everything is just just falling in on itself now I will say this is a much better film than black Cougars black cougar is the first superhero for children might who has one goal to protect children this is black cougar [Music] superhero for children or is he the first superhero that helps shoulder and I remember what that crazy guy said I don't know so Mike would you recommend black cougar Black Panther I would not recommend black cougar uh I think I'm getting tired of Marvel movies and this is not the one that has made me tired of it yeah it's been a cumulative effect okay and so this one while refreshing and and new and visuals and actors and setting story even I found it a little dry and I found the action scenes to be lacking if they cut out the action scenes then they made like a third 30 to 50 minute movie about about the characters I think I would really love it but it's even to be doing so many things so I don't know I'm sure all the Marvel fans will go watch it so go ahead and watch it everybody go watch it well that's the thing with every Marvel movie right it's it's fine you'll like it yeah I mean I would recommend it I was entertained for the most part I it sucks because I went in with I don't want to say low expectations I was really no expectations as ass expecting a decent Marvel movie but as the movie went along my expectations were raised around the middle point when I realized what the movie was gonna be about and the political stuff and the idea of Wakanda closing itself off from the world and I think that might have been my problem was that I went in with the highest of expectations because it was like the best reviewed film ever but every movies the best reviewed movie no I mean this was like everybody loved it and they're like this is the the most amazing superhero movie ever well that's that's kind of like I was like really expecting some really well done piece of [ __ ] art well that that's kind of where like halfway through is when I was like okay this is gonna this is gonna reach that like Dark Knight level or something where it's not just a comic book movie and then it it it didn't it kind of leveled off and that was slightly disappointing it felt like it was building to something a little bit smarter that it was gonna really delve into the the kind of politics and the the personal dramatic stuff and it kind of Sept it's like mumaith it's bad but they didn't lie in it you know they set up these things and then everybody just kind of fought yes so that was mildly disappointing but it's still a good movie the fact that that stuff is in there at all is a plus it's not just bad guy wants to take over what kinda and be the new black panther yeah which i was kind of worried about from the trailer is like oh Michael B Jordan has a black panther suit because that's the Marvel problem all the way back to the first Ironman where Jeff Bridges shows up and he's like I'm a bigger Ironman so it avoids that stuff which is which is good I agree with everything you just said great [Music] don't go watch black cougar yes I'll put on the screen black cougar calm oh yeah remember to go to black cougar calm before the official website of the film the official website for the film that's a superhero film for children so in the case yes black cougar calm and he continually paid for that domain yeah thinking eventually this will take off it's not like he let the domain lapse right so don't don't expect that black oeuvre calm [Music]

Channel: RedLetterMedia

Views: 1,467,680

Keywords: redlettermedia, red letter media, red, letter, media, plinkett, half in the bag, mike stoklasa, jay bauman, rich evans, black panther, marvel, disney, review, ryan coogler, Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o

Id: o8kmzvqMEXI

Length: 26min 28sec (1588 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 18 2018