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Avengers 2: Rise of the Panther" is the
sequel to Marvel's first line of animated
direct-to-video superhero franchise, "Ultimate
Avengers", which pitted a team of
superheroes led by a resurrected World War II
supersoldier named Captain America against alien
invaders. That same alien menace returns in
"Rise of the Panther", this time in the
isolated African nation of Wakanda. Led by their
own version of a supersoldier named Kleiser, who
has apparently taken to liking his Nazi garb (the
alien having surfaced during World War II like the
good Captain), the aliens are after something
underneath Wakanda that the natives are unwilling
to give up, having based much of their technology,
as well as defenses, from it.
After his father, the Black
Panther, is killed by Kleiser, young T'Challa
assumes the throne, as well as the costume.
T'Challa seeks help from Captain
America
, who has faced Kleiser before in World War II,
and indeed still fears the seemingly unkillable
alien supersoldier to this day. With the alien
plot revealed, SHIELD head honcho Nick Fury has no
choice but to re-assemble the Avengers (minus
Thor, who seems to have gone missing lately) and
send them to Wakanda. Battling not just natives
that fear and distrust outsiders, the Avengers
must face an alien mothership that has just
arrived in orbit over Earth…
As sequels go, "Rise of
the Panther" makes for an excellent
continuation of the "Avengers"
franchise. Issues raised from the first film are
followed up upon, including the Hulk's rampage,
which has made him a prisoner at SHIELD, and left
his relationship with Betty irreparable. The Wasp
and Giant Man are still having marital problems.
And we learn that Tony Stark (aka Iron Man) has
become more "iron" than "man"
because of serious health issues. Unfortunately
due to the film's 72-minute length, these
important personal moments are limited to a few
short scenes, and really could have been expanded
upon given a greater running time. The Giant
Man-Wasp relationship continues to crumble
throughout the movie, and even leads to the
movie's big surprise moment that nobody probably
saw coming.
The animated version of the
Avengers continues its deviation from Mark
Millars' "Ultimates" comic books. A
major detour is the character Thor, who
"Ultimate Avengers 2" has completely
embraced as the real Norse God, and not a
maybe-maybe not hippie nutcase with a big hammer
as he appeared to be in the comic book version.
There is also some sort of relationship between
Captain
America
and Black Widow brewing in the forefront, made all
the more unwieldy due to actress Olivia d'Abo's
seriously questionable version of a Russian
accent.
The action this time around
is much more fierce and frequent, and I can safely
say that the animation hasn't taken a noticeable
drop in quality from "Ultimate
Avengers". Of course this also means that the
animation has been improved upon, and the movie
still feels like it's moving much too fast, and
there isn't any time to enjoy anything happening
onscreen. At 72 minutes, the movie really could
have been longer, with extra room to explore the
characters and still maintain the heavy action
quotient. In the Third Act, the story takes a
distinctly "War
of the Worlds" feel, with giant alien war
machines marching across the world's major cities
enslaving humankind. And speaking of war machines,
after his Iron Man armor gets trashed, Tony Stark
replaces it with the grey War Machine armor, which
although "handles like 10 tons of
tractor", nevertheless "has got some
sweet guns".
Continuing the trend from the
original, "Rise of the Panther" doesn't
shy away from its more adult aspects. T'Challa's
father has a pretty bloody battle with the evil
Keisler early in the storyline, and there are
plenty of times when people are shown killed
onscreen by various implements. While the movie
will probably be (smartly) marketed towards a
younger audience, there are definitely some
moments that could be considered
"adult", or at least "mature".
Of note is the continued marital problem of The
Wasp and Giant Man, which although it doesn't rise
to the level of spousal combat Mark Millar
depicted in "The Ultimate", will still
be best enjoyed (if one can enjoy such things) by
adults who understands the concept of
"marital bliss" (or lack thereof).
Likewise, the mental anguish of Bruce Banner, aka
The Hulk, as he's kept in a glass cage and forced
to relive his brutal behavior as the Hulk by a
particularly sadistic "therapist"
overseeing his captivity.
There is no reason why
"Ultimate Avengers 2: Rise of the
Panther" shouldn't keep the fledging
direct-to-video franchise alive and kicking. No
doubt a third installment won't be far behind, and
with some judicious editing I'm sure both
"Rise of the Panther" and the original
"Ultimate Avengers" could be shown on TV
for the kiddies, eliciting further buying power
for the fanbase. Then again, considering the
mindless violence kids are already consuming on a
daily basis these days from even the
"safe" cartoons, maybe seeing T'Challa's
father speared like a fish by a Nazi alien
supersoldier won't be all that big of a deal.
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