Wakanda Forever (3 Stars)

This is the 30th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It's a big disappointment. It's so mediocre. Maybe my three star rating is too generous. In its favour, the CGI works well, and the images are pleasant, except when Prince Namor is on the screen. (Do they even call him "Prince" in the film?) 

The film wasn't just unnecessary, it's a mistake. "Black Panther" was a brilliant film, and there should never have been a sequel after the death of the great Chadwick Boseman. "Wakanda Forever" smears dirt over his memory. I just put the film back in my shelf. I doubt I'll ever take it out again.

Success Rate:  + 2.3

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The Wild Robot (5 Stars)

Based on the trailers, this is a film I've been waiting to see for months. It's classed as a children's film, but that description doesn't do it justice. I'd prefer to say that it's a film for the whole family, including children.

The film is based on a book with the same name by the author Peter Brown. A robot designed for household chores is washed ashore after a shipwreck. The robot identifies as female, which is logical. She should have become a maid. The robot, called Roz, finds herself on a small island inhabited only by animals. She wanders around looking for a mission to fulfil. She's been programmed to serve, but there's nobody to tell her what to do. She learns the languages of the animals around her, but she still receives no instructions.

While fleeing from a grizzly bear, Roz accidentally destroys a goose's nest. Only one egg remains intact. On birth the gosling recognises Roz as her mother. This is the task that Roz was looking for. She adopts the goose and brings him up with the help of a fox called Fink.

Childish? Yes, but the film contains many elements that will appeal to adults. There are hints about the importance of wildlife conservation. The film is heart-warming, and I walked out of the cinema feeling happy. Any film that can do that to me is worth watching.

Wakanda Forever (3 Stars)

I'd heard many of my friends raving about "Wakanda Forever". They told me how good it is. This gave me high hopes when I visited the cinema in Birmingham today. I was disappointed. It comes nowhere near the quality of the first Black Panther film. I would have given it an even lower rating if it hadn't improved in the final half hour. The bright colours of the first film have been replaced by mostly drab, murky cinematography. The story isn't exciting. The plot just plods along.

I was particularly disappointed by the portrayal of Prince Namor, shown above at Bill Everett's grave. The character called Namor in the film isn't the same character as the one in the Marvel comics. Not even close. Namor in the film is the ruler of Talokan, a sunken city based on the Aztec myths of Tlalocan. This makes him ethnically central American, and he's played by a Mexican actor. Namor in the comics is the ruler of the sunken city of Atlantis, and he has a western European complexion.

The location of Atlantis is deliberately kept vague in Namor's early comic appearances, but it's obviously somewhere in the North Atlantic Ocean between America and Europe, probably closer to Europe. In later comics (Tales To Astonish #96, October 1967) we find that the original Atlantis was in the Antarctic, but after its destruction the Atlanteans relocated to the North Atlantic.

Prince Namor, usually called the Sub-Mariner, first appeared in Marvel Mystery Comics #1 in October 1939, written and drawn by Bill Everett. At first he threatens to destroy the USA, but after falling in love with an American policewoman he's persuaded that his real enemy is Nazi Germany. For the next six years he battles the Nazis. After that his main enemy is Communists. He wasn't an American, but he became a symbol of American patriotism.

After two years of appearing as a B-Story in Marvel Mystery Comics (the main character was the Human Torch), Namor was given his own comic in March 1941. It was cancelled after 42 issues in October 1955. Namor's adventures continued in parallel in the first 91 issues of Marvel Mystery Comics.

All this time, Namor's stories were written and drawn by Bill Everett. This changed in May 1962. Bill Everett's stories were written for Timely and Atlas Comics. The rights to his stories and characters were acquired by Marvel Comics in 1961. After a seven-year absence Namor was re-introduced in Fantastic Four #4, written by Stan Lee.

After appearing in various comics as a villain, Namor was finally given his own story in Tales To Astonish #70 (August 1965).

This was a comic that he shared with the Hulk, who was relegated to the B-Story. At that time Namor was the more popular character with the fans.

Bill Everett returned as the artist in Tales To Astonish #78 (April 1966), after which he drew most of the issues. Stan Lee continued to write most of the stories. In my opinion, these 10-page stories were some of the best comics ever written. But then again, I love everything Stan Lee ever wrote.

In May 1968 Namor was finally given his own full-length comic book. The series was hit or miss. Roy Thomas wrote excellent stories for the first 40 issues. After this he was followed by other writers of lesser quality. The series was salvaged when Bill Everett took over the writing in Sub-Mariner #50 (June 1972), but his health was already failing and he couldn't write or draw on a regular basis. After Bill Everett's death the series fell apart, and it was finally cancelled after 72 issues.

That concludes my brief history of Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner in comics. That's where you'll find the real Namor. The character in the film is a sham.

Queen of Katwe (5 Stars)

True Stories #40

Name: Phiona Mutesi

Lived: 28 March 1996 – still alive

Film dates: 2007 to 2012

Film made in 2016

This is the last film in my series of true stories. I left it till last not because it's the best film, but because it's the most moving. It shows how a young girl with everything stacked against her could succeed.

Phiona Mutesi was born in Katwe, a slum district in the city of Kampala, Uganda. Her father died when she was three, leaving her mother to bring up the remaining three children. When she was 10 she worked selling maize in the city. School was never an option. Only rich parents send their children to school. Her only hope was to marry a (relatively) rich man when she was 13.

There was a missionary centre in the slum. In addition to preaching the gospel, they taught children football or chess, whichever they preferred. They attracted children by giving them a bowl of porridge each day. That was a luxury.

Phiona was immediately drawn to chess when she was told that the Queen is the strongest piece. She had an innate sense of girl power, even in her pre-teen years. Within a year she was the missionary centre's strongest player. When she beat the older boys they either had a temper tantrum or sat in the corner crying.

Year by year, Phiona advanced. She won a chess championship in a prestigious boys school in Kampala. She was the best player in a junior African tournament in Sudan. Her first major setback was the Chess Olympiad in Russia when she was 14. She failed to qualify as a master, which disappointed her so much that she almost gave up chess.

The film ends with Phiona becoming the Ugandan chess champion at the age of 16. The real success is that she got out of the slum. She bought a house for herself and her family in a wealthy area of Kampala.

The grin on her face says it all.

It's heart-breaking to see the squalor of the slum and the child labour.

It's disgraceful that people should have to live in such conditions in the 21st Century.

The houses don't have running water, so the women have to go out to collect water.

That doesn't mean everyone in Uganda is poor. You can see the large buildings in the distance.

And yet Phiona did it. She made it out by herself. She's a role model for women of any age.

Black Panther (5 Stars)

Farewell to Chadwick Boseman, the actor who so magnificently brought King T'Challa, the Black Panther, to the big screen. This film was nominated as Best Film at the Academy Awards. Eat your heart out, Martin Scorsese. Just because you don't like super-hero films, it doesn't mean that nobody else does.

Where does the Black Panther go from here? A sequel was already in pre-production, but it was delayed because of the Coronavirus pandemic. Now the lead actor is no longer available. Can anyone step into his shoes? Even if a suitable actor can be found, seeing a new face will be uncomfortable to the audience.

Actors have already been changed over the course of the first three phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Don Cheadle replaced Terrence Howard as James Rhodes (War Machine) in "Iron Man 2" after Terrence Howard was fired for demanding too much money. Mark Ruffalo replaced Edward Norton as Bruce Banner (the Hulk) in "The Avengers" for reasons that vary, depending on who's telling the story. The replacement of James Rhodes went smoothly, because the two actors looked similar enough for the MCU to get away with it. The replacement of Bruce Banner jarred, because the two actors barely look alike. In my mind I exclude "The Incredible Hulk" from the MCU, because it just doesn't seem to fit in with the rest of the films.

While watching the film today I concentrated on Chadwick Boseman and the subtleties of his performance. His character has been fleshed out from his appearance in "Civil War". We see that he's rooted in African tradition, and we also see a humorous side to his character, revealed in an occasional sly grin.

T'Challa is a king and a warrior. Wakanda might be the technologically most advanced country on Earth, but it remains a part of Africa.

This is the first time T'Challa cries "Wakanda Forever", the battle cry repeated over the next few films, while crossing his arms in the same salute used by Bob Geldof in "The Wall". When I watched "Black Panther" dubbed into German, I was shocked to hear it translated into "Wakanda über alles". For me that has negative connotations.

When the film was first shown in the cinemas in early 2018 it was a rallying point for black people on both sides of the Atlantic. It made them proud of their race and skin colour. It was their film. For a few months it became common for young black people in England to greet one another with the words "Wakanda Forever". I understand. People of colour have been under-represented in Hollywood for decades. Here was a film with only a few white actors in minor roles. Nevertheless, the Black Panther shouldn't just be a black African hero. I would be proud to have a king like T'Challa, if he were vaguely like Chadwick Boseman. Who needs corrupt elected officials if we can have a benevolent monarch?

I find it curious that this film is difficult to buy in America. For a long time it was unavailable on disc, and now it's very expensive. The Blu-ray costs $32 in America, compared with £5 (about $8) in England. I hope that this isn't politically motivated. Maybe it's just a business decision; the streaming services want to keep the film for themselves.

Chadwick Boseman
November 29, 1976 – August 28, 2020

Success Rate:  + 4.4

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Queen of Katwe (5 Stars)

I was shocked to read in the news that Nikita Waligwa died yesterday of a brain tumour, aged only 15. The BBC report on her death hints that she might have lived longer if she'd lived in another country. I can't judge that, I'm not a doctor, but if it really is true, it's disgusting. That means it's a geographical lottery. Your survival chances are decided by where you live.

On the other hand, isn't everything in life a lottery? Some children have rich parents, others have poor parents. It's easy to say that children from different backgrounds should have the same chances, but they don't, and no amount of legislation can change it.

Even natural abilities and other traits are a lottery. Some children are born more intelligent than others. A good education can help, but it can't work miracles. Some children are more attractive than others, which is especially important for girls. Please don't write angry comments saying that it doesn't matter what a girl looks like. I know that it shouldn't matter, but it does. I'm sure that Nikita's appearance played a role in her being cast in "Queen of Katwe".

Maybe that's the magic of chess, recognised by Nikita Waligwa in her role as Gloria. Chess allows a transformation. The weakest piece can become the strongest. What she doesn't say is that a pawn can only become a queen after a long journey, enduring attacks from all sides. Most pawns don't get that far. It's possible for a girl from a poor family in Africa to become a millionaire. Nikita didn't.

Nikita Waligwa
2005 – 2020

Us (3 Stars)

When Adelaide was a child she went on holiday to Santa Cruz with her family. She wandered alone into a hall of mirrors, where she met a doppelganger of herself. It wasn't a reflection in a mirror, as grown ups are quick to explain, it was a real person in front of herself.

Flash forward to the present. She's married with two children, Zora and Jason. Her husband persuades her to take a vacation in Santa Cruz. They have a pleasant beach home, maybe the same one that belonged to her parents. At night four strangers appear outside their house, dressed in red overalls and carrying golden scissors. On closer inspection they see that the strangers are their doppelgangers. With the exception of Adelaide's doppelganger they're mute. Even though they can't speak it's obvious what they want: they want to kill Adelaide and her family, stabbing them to death with their scissors.

They escape, and it soon becomes apparent that it's not just about them. Millions of doppelgangers in red suits are causing havoc all across the south of the USA. But there's still the question why Adelaide's doppelganger is the only one who can speak.

When the film started I was amazed by the atmosphere. The tension and the feeling of dread were perfect. The jump scares weren't over-used, and they always seemed well placed. As the film continued I began to get frustrated. It all seemed like random violence without any explanation. I wanted to find out what it was about. Finally the explanations came, but they weren't given by clues, it was just talking to tell us what had happened. This seemed cheap. I prefer to be able to work out explanations for myself. But a further problem is that the explanations weren't complete. I won't repeat them here to avoid spoilers, I'll just say that they left questions open.

Despite the atmosphere, it's an unsatisfying film. It has so many ideas that could have been presented better.

Black Panther (5 Stars)

This is the 18th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, released in January 2018. It's made history by being the first super-hero film to be nominated as Best Film at the Academy Awards. This puzzles me. Why has "Black Panther" been nominated when other equally good films were ignored, films like "Doctor Strange" and "Captain America: Civil War". If I were cynical I'd say that it's a political decision; because of accusations of gender bias in recent years the Film Academy wants to nominate a film which has as many black actors as possible. Or should I call them African American actors? I hate that expression, because it makes an assumption about a person's nationality, even though it's just a way of describing a person's skin colour. What I mean is, if an American sees a dark-skinned person and talks about him to someone else he'll say, "I saw an African American", even if he has no way of knowing whether the person is American or not. It would be much more appropriate to call him black, coloured, dark-skinned or even negro; any word at all that doesn't reference his nationality.

What should we call Stan Lee? A Jewish American? Somehow that doesn't sound right.

What should we call Lupita Nyong'o, who plays Nakia? She lives in the USA, but she holds a Mexican passport. Should we call her an African Mexican? I think you can see the problem.

In this film we find Stan Lee in a casino in Busan, South Korea. King T'Challa makes a bet at a craps table, but walks away without waiting to see if he's won. Stan takes T'Challa's winning chips, offering to look after them. That was wise thinking, because we find out in the following events that he never returns to the table. The scene lasts several minutes, but we only see Stan Lee in the final nine seconds.

I'd never heard of Chadwick Boseman before this film, but he's excellent in the title role. He portrays the dignity that befits the leader of an African nation. He's exactly the hero that we see in the comic books, which is unusual for the MCU films. Most of the characters drift off in the wrong directions.

Let's take Klaw as an example. In the film he has weapons which he's stolen from Wakanda. In the comics he had powerful weapons before going to Wakanda.

In the comics Klaw was able to create giant red jungle animals: red elephants, red gorillas and even red panthers. Why can't he do that in the film? He's just a white hunter stealing African weapons from the natives.

That was only the first step in his development. After jumping into his Sound Converter his body was turned into living sound, meaning he was no longer human. Listen to his own words from Fantastic Four #56.

Okay, I can see why Klaw's powers had to be reduced in the film. The main villain was Eric Stevens aka Killmonger. Klaw is just a minor figure, so he couldn't have been portrayed as the most powerful being on Earth.

Michael Jordan has finally found his rightful place in Marvel films. He was awful as the Human Torch, but he's perfect as Killmonger. It's all about the casting. In the wrong role, even the best actor can look bad.

In the film Wakanda's king is protected by a tribe of warrior women, the Dora Milaje. They first appeared in Marvel comics late in the post-canon years, but they sure look good, especially Okoye on the left.

Okoye isn't just strong, she's beautiful and sexy.

What makes her so attractive? Is it her face, her figure or her spear? I think it's a combination of the three.

Normally I don't like bald-headed women, and I'm totally turned off by tattoos, but in Okoye's case I can make an exception. I can't generalise about women. I never know what attracts me until we're together. I'm glad I've never used any dating sites, because the dating algorithms would never be able to find the right women for me. I'm complicated.

Success Rate:  + 4.4

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Black Panther (5 Stars)

I saw this film twice in the cinema earlier this year. I have the feeling that today is the first time I fully appreciated it. I already commented on the combination of African culture and technology in my first review, but this time I felt that I enjoyed it more.

Maybe it's unrealistic that there wasn't more nudity in the tribal dances, but this is understandable. Bare breasts are a problem for the narrow minded people in the West, and the majority of the actors are American, not African.

Success Rate:  + 4.4

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Queen of Katwe (5 Stars)

"Queen of Katwe" is a Walt Disney film. We know what Disney films are about, don't we? They're about fantasy stories and fairy tales, usually involving children. In that respect this is a typical Disney film. It's about a 10-year-old girl whose family lives in poverty. She can't read or write and she has to sell maize in the street, but within a few years she becomes rich and famous.

What's unypical about this Disney film is that the story is true. It really happened. It's not even a true story from the Middle Ages. The story started in 2006 in Katwe, a slum on the outskirts of Kampala, Uganda.

Let me digress for a moment. Very few things make me angry, but one of them is the picture of illiterate children being forced to work to support their family. Any government that allows this to happen doesn't deserve to exist. The government should be overthrown by force, by foreign powers if necessary, and replaced by rulers who offer education to every child in the country regardless of his parents' wealth or social status.

Education is a right, not a privilege. Poverty isn't always the reason for a lack of education. More commonly it's the uneven distribution of wealth. Nigeria is supposedly a rich country because of its oil exports, but recent statistics claim that 64% of the population have never been to school, making it the world's most primitive country. The country's wealth is hoarded by families in Lagos and a few other large cities. The rest of the country is left to rot.

Phiona Mutesi was born in 1996, and she's the third of five children. Her father and her oldest sister died of AIDS. In 2006 she began to visit a missionary centre because the children were given a cup of porridge. When there she was taught how to play chess. Despite never having had a school education she had a natural aptitude for chess. Her skill was recognised, so money was collected to send her to chess tournaments in Sudan and Russia. In parallel she was taught how to read and write by a private tutor, then sent to a school with the fees paid by the Christian mission. By 2012 she had earned enough money to buy her mother a house.

This is a fairy tale. This is miraculous. Of course, it couldn't happen to everyone. Phiona Mutesi was a highly intelligent child, and when she was given a lucky break she grabbed the opportunity with both hands.

The film was made in 2016, only four years after the final events in the story. It's unusual for a biographical film to be made so soon after the events on which it's based. This made it possible for the film to be accurate, because the characters portrayed could supervise the film themselves. Here we see the real Phiona Mutesi alongside Madina Nalwanga who played her in the film. Phiona is 20, Madina is 16.

This is Phiona's mother Nakku Harriet alongside the actress who portrayed her, Lupita Nyong'o.

And this is the missionary Robert Katende alongside David Oyelowo who portrays him.

The film is so uplifting in the way it shows Phiona's success, but it's also heartbreaking to see the many other children who will never have the chance that she had. Can anyone watch "Queen of Katwe" without being deeply moved?

A lot of fuss has been made about "Black Panther" as a film showing black empowerment. It's definitely a good film, but "Queen of Katwe" is better. The acting and cinematography are perfect, but what makes it so powerful is that it's all true. Isn't it strange that it still hasn't been released outside of America?

Black Panther (4½ Stars)

Today I visited the SI Centre in Stuttgart with my son Benjamin. In case you don't know what that is, let me quote the Wikipedia page:

"The SI Centre (Stuttgart International Centre) is an activity centre in Stuttgart-Möhringen and one of the biggest recreation centres in Stuttgart. It is visited by two million people every year.

The SI Centre is made up of two musical theatres, the Stuttgart Casino, eleven restaurants, seven bars and three cafés, a film palace with six theatres, 22 conference rooms for up to 1000 people, two hotels and a health spa".

So much for Wikipedia's neutrality. That sounds like the text copied from a travel brochure.

What we experienced was something different. The SI Centre was like a ghost town. We walked through the building, up and down the stairs, and we saw nobody except for a few cleaners. The theatre box offices were closed. The bars were closed. The cafés were closed. There were shops as well, all closed. I found one shop with a sign that said "Tuesday to Sunday, 10 am to 10 pm. Monday closed". It seems like the whole centre closes on Monday. I don't know why the front door was unlocked. The atmosphere was so eerie that I made a nine-minute video while I was walking around to show how deserted it was.

That was in the early afternoon. The cinema -- I find the expression "film palace" exaggerated -- was showing "Black Panther" in the evening, so we left and returned later after spending time in more interesting places. The SI Centre was slightly more lively. There were a lot of people walking up the stairs to the cinema, most to see "Infinity War". Everything else was still closed. There were no bars or cafés open for the cinema visitors.

Never mind. I already know that I'll never return to the SI Centre. I need over an hour to get there by public transport. It's in the south of Stuttgart, and I live in the north. All I was interested in was the film. It was being shown in German, which wasn't a problem for me. German dubbing is of a uniform high quality, unlike English dubbing which is uniformly amateurish. The voices sounded realistic throughout the film, with the exception of Stan Lee. I know his voice too well, it can't be replaced.

The only thing that amazed me was the translation of the iconic phrase "Wakanda Forever". In German it's "Wakanda über alles". I agree that the literal translation, "Wakanda für immer", sounds less natural, but "Wakanda über alles" sounds too nationalistic. Maybe "Wakanda für immer und ewig" would be better, but that would only work in the subtitles. One of the most important things to consider in dubbing is that the translation has to be the same length as the original. The dialogue can't continue when the lips have stopped moving.

It was noticeable that the cinema visitors in the south of Stuttgart aren't as well educated as those who visit the city centre cinemas. There were about 30 people in the theatre with me -- a remarkable number for a film that's been running for two months -- and they all walked out before the credits ended. All of them. The only ones who remained to the end were Benjamin and me.