Let's start with the good points - this film doesn't try to be all comedy and spectacle, like the recent Dr Strange 2 and Thor 4. In fact, there is almost zero comedy at all.
It does try to bring some drama, and to make some points about the responsibility of nations to use their wealth, resources and technology for global benefit, rather than national advancement.
Namor is different to the comics, but once I got past the initial differences, I think the portrayal was a good one. He isn't a one-dimensional villain, his people are descended from the Mayans, and he has proper motivation.
But the film has a lot of problems. Firstly, the pacing is all over the place - it should be at least half an hour shorter. The comic-book science is paper thin (Shuri extracts DNA from plant fibres on a bracelet that has been underwater for 400 years, but cannot do the same from the recently dead plant in her lab). Shuri takes a spear right through her stomach and out of her back, but gets over it after a short breather. The Wakandan ship is breached from undersea, tilts over by 45 degrees and then the next scene it is upright and apparently seaworthy again. The fact that Namor's people take mortal wounds but get up again is never explained.
And then there is still my biggest problem with Wakanda. Both Black Panther films promote the idea that Wakanda is a Utopian society, both technology and socially. Yet they still choose their leader by who is best at beating up other challengers.
I think there was a missed opportunity here. Namor would be more likely to say "join us, or if not, don't get in our way", as he plans to attack the rest of the surface world. This would present Wakanda with a far more interesting moral dilemma - standby by and watch untold millions die, or utilise their resources and technology to aid the nations who have been trying to rob them.
It does try to bring some drama, and to make some points about the responsibility of nations to use their wealth, resources and technology for global benefit, rather than national advancement.
Namor is different to the comics, but once I got past the initial differences, I think the portrayal was a good one. He isn't a one-dimensional villain, his people are descended from the Mayans, and he has proper motivation.
But the film has a lot of problems. Firstly, the pacing is all over the place - it should be at least half an hour shorter. The comic-book science is paper thin (Shuri extracts DNA from plant fibres on a bracelet that has been underwater for 400 years, but cannot do the same from the recently dead plant in her lab). Shuri takes a spear right through her stomach and out of her back, but gets over it after a short breather. The Wakandan ship is breached from undersea, tilts over by 45 degrees and then the next scene it is upright and apparently seaworthy again. The fact that Namor's people take mortal wounds but get up again is never explained.
And then there is still my biggest problem with Wakanda. Both Black Panther films promote the idea that Wakanda is a Utopian society, both technology and socially. Yet they still choose their leader by who is best at beating up other challengers.
I think there was a missed opportunity here. Namor would be more likely to say "join us, or if not, don't get in our way", as he plans to attack the rest of the surface world. This would present Wakanda with a far more interesting moral dilemma - standby by and watch untold millions die, or utilise their resources and technology to aid the nations who have been trying to rob them.