The Fall Guy

A strange viewing experience. The leads are likable, the script shows that it has something on its mind, the action is good (though it does occasionally lag)—what’s the problem? That’s what makes it so strange: I don’t really know. But something is missing here. The issue may lie in the fact that this movie is in love with movies, and if you personally are not so enamored, the film’s enthusiasm may fall flat for you (pun vaguely intended). Perhaps there’s also a lack of any sense of true stakes; the core drama lies in whether or not Emily Blunt and Ryan Gosling will make it up with each other--and frankly, few of us can really burn a lot of calories worrying about whether or not impossibly pretty people will be able to work out their love lives. The movie is, overall, not deserving of a HISS; there are too many good moments within its running time for it to get less than a middling MEOW. But it is, most emphatically, less than what it could have been. Less an awe inspiring stunt, more of a pratfall.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Never has a superhero action movie dealt so deeply in sadness, both real and fictional. The sense of loss is palpable throughout this story; indeed, it forms the core of the tale. And then, grafted onto that you have the demands of a relatively standard action movie. The result is something that is, for the most part, entertaining, though not entirely successful. Among other issues, this story has to contend with certain political necessities (the fraught nature of brown vs. brown battles) that shape how the whole plot ultimately plays out--and that fact somewhat tempers the ultimate output. It will be interesting to see, in the future, how ensuing installments overcome these issues. Time will probably heal the impact of the loss; the problem of political appearances will likely represent a thornier issue to resolve--though there are hints of how that will ultimately play out (i.e, they can avoid the problem of by having them team up to fight against evil Whitey). Bottom line: this is an acceptable, maybe even necessary, sequel that clears the deck in the face of unexpected tragedy and sets the stage for what may come in the future--so a full scale judgment must be withheld. Just call it good enough for now, and bide the time until the next, clean slate effort makes its appearance.