Okay, I'll say it. Black Panther 2 was bad.
Letitia Wright does not have the acting-chops for a drama-character. Whether angry or sad, she was simply stone-faced.
And there was this cheesiness of the Wakanda-plotline, which is okay, because it's a superhero-movie for children, but it clashed with the serious adult tone of the Talokan-plotline.
And the movie also glossed over the fact that by the time the credits roll and the movie is over, there are still major unresolved issues in terms of geopolitics, national-security and secret-intelligence. A full-on international clusterfuck was erupting between the US and Wakanda... while the lights turned back on and you left cinema.
But what struck me hardest was the total suspension of disbelief that was necessary in order for the underwater-kingdom Talokan to exist.
* How did Talokan get their super-technology?
It took the scientific community of the whole world, millions of scientists, literally centuries to bring us to where we are now. And Talokan somehow surpassed us while starting from a worse position than any other civilization in Earth's history?
I would have been fine, if the explanation had been "aliens" or something like that. But no explanation at all?
* Talokan cannot have electricity. Because everything would get short-circuited.
* Talokan cannot have artificial materials like plastic. Because you cannot do chemistry underwater.
* Talokan cannot have metallurgy. Because you cannot melt and forge metal without fire. Except they somehow found a method to work with Vibranium, one of the hardest metals on Earth.
* Talokan cannot have ceramics. Because you need clay and fire.
* Talokan cannot have wood. Because no trees.
* Talokan cannot have preserved foods. Food is preserved by using salt, sugar or oil to stop the natural organic decay-process. You cannot do anything of that underwater.
* The citizens of Talokan would be malnourished. Our crops are the result of millennia of selective breeding and they left all of that behind when they moved underwater. You cannot feed a large population by foraging.
This makes Talokan a technologically advanced super-civilization.
Without scientists.
Without electronics.
Without the ability to manufacture ANYTHING from either plastic, metal, ceramics or wood.
Stone, bone, tooth, sinews and leather are all they have.
Without the ability to stock food in preparation of a crisis.
That a country like Wakanda could exist is already almost impossible. Almost. But Talokan somehow went from stone-age to scifi with no explanation whatsoever.
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