SPIDER-MAN:FAR FROM HOME

Lulu: Do you see that guy? He plays Spiderman. His name is Tom Holland.

Skip: That’s not his name.

Lulu: What’s his name?

Skip: Peter Parker.

Lulu: Oh yeah, that’s right.

We had quite an adventure on our way to the film. On Skip’s advice, I left home an hour early even though the GPS indicated a distance of 28 minutes ( I measure distance in time). We sailed past traffic signals and reached Lido Mall 20 minutes early. I made a mental note to use that spare time to help Skip revise for his dictation test, use the restroom, buy popcorn and click a few pictures of the poster.

Near the mall entrance, we joined the long queue of cars, waiting to get in. When we were 2 cars away from getting in, we were told that parking was full and that we would have to wait. I took a deep breath and looked at Skip. Skip is great at giving advice in moments such as this.

He excitedly said, “Look”. I looked around and thought a spot had opened up and then realised that Skip was pointing at his pants. Skip had forgotten to zip his pants. He was pointing at his underwear that was peaking out. “My underwear looks like Spiderman’s suit”.

I turned around and decided to park at the mall close to Lido’s only to be stuck in a massive queue inside the parking lot there. It was 4.20 and the cars were moving at a ‘snail on a freshly tarred road’s’ pace when I heard Skip say “Look” again. He found a spot that the cars ahead of us had missed.

We reached the theatre 10 minutes late, huffing and panting, only to be told that the movie hadn’t begun yet! (Shugu, Archie – I missed the national anthem).

Here’s the plot in brief lest I give away any spoilers like you know who (let’s just call him Parker) though I wouldn’t mind Marvel sending Cumberbatch to keep us quiet.

PLOT: Peter is going to Europe on a science field trip with his classmates and he has a Plan – to proclaim his love to MJ atop the Eiffel Tower. Things don’t go as planned. Earth is attacked by the Elementals and as luck would have it, Europe is the target. Enter Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) a superhero from Earth 833 in the Multiverse who takes on these Elementals. Peter is summoned by Nick Fury to assist Mysterio. With Iron Man and most of the Avengers gone, who shall step into Tony Stark’s shoes and have full access to the Stark Industries’ database and weapon supply. Will Peter step up or would Mysterio step in? After all, with great power comes great responsibility.

If you are a Marvel fan, irrespective of reviews, you ought to watch the film.

The movie is a blend of teenage romance, comedy and some great psychedelic action sequences. This film seems different from other Marvel films as it doesn’t merely focus on saving mankind. Peter wants to be a normal kid on a vacation and is not interested in destroying monsters or taking over the Stark Industries. This film feels more real where the superhero and the villain are not from outer space (Did I just leak a spoiler?)

Gyllenhaal and Holland are the scene stealers no doubt but the others in the film provide great comic relief. Peter’s friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) and Happy (Jon Favreau ) have more screen space this time and are hilarious. I’ve been a big fan of Samuel L Jackson and continue to remain so. MJ is not shown as a damsel in distress and even manages to strike down a drone.

The fast paced sequences alternating between the real and illusory worlds will leave your head spinning. The CGI effects are great and had me comparing them to the bull fighting scene in Kalank (that’s the movie I’m currently watching on Prime). I wish I had watched this film in IMAX.

Do not walk out of the theatre post the mid-credit scene. Wait for the post credit scene as well.

Teju, thank you for the tickets J

Look what I found at my office parking spot : Butterfly Girl

BLAH PANTHER

Image Courtesy- IMDb

Archie (WhatsApp friend ;)) is very serious about films. Besides Bob, she is my other source of information on the latest movie releases. My movie plans revolve around Archie’s seasoned critique. She is the ‘recommender of movies’, ‘maker of plans’ and ‘booker of tickets’ (sometimes gets the theatre wrong but you can’t hold that against the Maker) and despite all this, I went ahead and watched the Black Panther even when Archie said that the movie was just average. Could she be wrong? The movie has been setting milestones and is apparently the highest grossing superhero movie.

Though I like the DC comic superheroes better, I prefer watching the Marvel movies. So when Shugz and Hershey asked me if I wanted to watch the movie, I tagged along.

30 minutes into the movie, I looked at Hershey who looked super engrossed. I waited for 5 more minutes and then hesitatingly asked her if she could understand what was happening. “Not a clue (or should I say Klaue :D)”she said.

(NO SPOILERS) Here is the storyline of the movie (I shall refrain from calling it the Plot because the movie lacks one!): The film begins with the ‘birth’ (figuratively) of the Black Panther and the coming together of the Jabari Tribe to form ‘Wakanda’- a nation that portrays itself as a Third World Country to the world, that irrationally refuses foreign aid but is in fact years ahead of its counterparts in technology and refrains from aiding other countries despite having the capacity to do so.

The source of this technological advancement is Vibranium, a metal available exclusively in Wakanda, that is used in almost everything – fidget spinner like flying saucer, kinetic energy absorbing ‘panthersuit’, running trains to healing broken vertebrae and turning otherwise gentle rhinos to beasts of war.

The vibranium falls into the wrong hands, an illegal arms-dealer, Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis) and  King T’Chaka’s brother (Sterling Brown) is accused of having helped him steal it.  

Post T’Chaka’s death, his son T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) inherits the throne. He is accompanied by his side-kicks, Okoye (Danai Gurira), the leader of his army of bodyguards and his ex-lover, Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o).

Klaue steals a Wakandan artefact made of Vibranium from a museum with help from Erik Stevens (Michael Jordan) and plans on selling it to a CIA operative, Everett Ross (Martin Freeman). T’Challa along with Okoye and Nakia head to South Korea to extract the Vibranium before it’s sold and also bring back Klaue to Wakanda for justice. The plan goes awry with Klaue escaping, only to be killed later by Erik Stevens.

Erik goes to Wakanda with Klaue’s corpse and gains the support of a tribe there and defeats T’Challa in the ritualistic fight for the throne. Skipping the why’s and the how’s as that would reveal the “plot” (for lack of a better word), the story follows with attempts made to restore the rightful heir to the throne.

Here is why I was disappointed with the movie:

1.      Did you see Forest Whitaker mentioned in the storyline above? Well, guess what, he’s there in the movie. The movie has an ensemble of brilliant actors but unfortunately they either lack sufficient screen time (Brown and Whitaker) or they aren’t ideally suited for the characters being portrayed by them (Freeman and Nyong’o).

2.      Many may disagree but Boseman hasn’t done complete justice to the role of Black Panther. The character just seems so ‘ordinary’, there are no quirks that set him apart.

3.      The movie is a hotchpotch of plots. The story seems to have been written along the way, in an attempt to include all that is required to make a Blockbuster Superhero film and then some more.

4.      While the actor (Jordan) portraying the role of the villain has made a good attempt, the character of the villain itself is not well-etched. All superhero movies need a Super Villain and Eric Stevens is not intimidating enough.

5.      The dialogues lack in creative ingenuity.

The only time the audience hooted was when Stan Lee made his cameo appearance.

Thankfully I hear it’s a non-sequel movie. It goes to show that the makers of the film too didn’t have much confidence in it.