Shuri: Black Panther II

I saw this a while ago, and I'm afraid I'm now just reminded to provide a review when I saw this pop up under "Latest Posts." I should start doing more reviews so let's start here. I rewatched this again, and in my opinion, this is the definitive version of the movie. It's the only way to watch it, I think. For removing more than 30+ minutes, the whole thing felt seemless. Like of course we didn't need that kitchen scene with Martin Freeman and JLD talking about bad olive oil or whatever. Or that other Martin Freeman getting rescued at the end. All that should've been kept on the cutting floor. I also liked the abbreviated scene between Killmonger and Shuri and then moving it later as part of a flashback/dream sequence. Moving the ending scenes around and having a mid-credits scene switch was an absolute no-brainer. Just small things like these which just made sense but makes all the difference. This edit makes the actual Wakanda Forever feel like an extended cut. I think this is the Best Picture nominee version of this movie, and I think would be better remembered in canon if it was the official version. Highly recommended. Very easy watch. No complaints here.

Absolutely fantastic. Loved it. The pacing was so much better. I hardly noticed the scenes that were cut. There was only one cut scene that I noticed and missed having which was the ritual/ancestral plane scene, but I understand the decision to shorten and move it, and it worked well. That's really my only note. Everything flowed very well. I liked the focus staying on Shuri, and the actions were so much easier to follow. It didn't occur to me til reading the edit list, but it was so nice not having the action drag on forever and not cutting away from important moments.
Favorite edits were starting the movie with T'Challa's death and really establishing Shuri's grief as the focal point instead of the really long ship attack, and putting T'Challa's speech over the opening credits.

This was such a great watch! I almost didn't even want to watch it because I so strongly disliked the Riri plot and the bloated length of the original, but I am so glad I gave it a chance. This has 100% replaced the original for me.

Trimming the battle scenes was fantastically done, as overly-long fights where you know no one's going to die can be a tad boring. I agree that the Midnight Angel suit was a bit under-realized but it doesn't bother me too much because it still played a pretty good part.

There are a few things that could not be saved narratively, like why fight the Talokians on a suicide-mission boat deathtrap? Why does Namor kidnap Riri alive at all when they were just about to kill her on the bridge anyway? I did somehow get the overwhelming sense that he decided to keep her as a bargaining chip, even if that wasn't stated, and I think I got there because there was less filler between these moments, so you somehow filled in plot gaps for me without even using footage.

By removing over a half hour and keeping Riri's shoehorned screen time down to something like 10 minutes total, you have really allowed me to connect with the real story of Shuri mourning her brother and mother, and unlike with the original I cried at the end.

This edit was a massive success!

Let me start by saying, I have not seen the original, and any lack of enjoyment is because of the plot of actual film and NOT the edit. The edit is expertly done and I have no real complaints. And frankly aside from very VERY few details I honestly would've never known this was an edit. It's that well done.

The only audio fades that were noticeable was once during the opening funeral and once during the Iron Heart chase, I was enjoying the music of the chase but then it faded and felt too short. I could tell something was cut there.

The story never lost me. It never left anything for the viewer to just assume. It's fully being told with no blank spaces to confuse the audience. GREAT JOB.

Apparently there was a subplot with the Hobbit dude and the purple haired lady which I was wondering they hired a more well known actress if she barely had any lines and then I read the changes and was like "ooooh her stuff was cut out...GOOD." Whatever was going on there, I just know it was irrelevant and obnoxious, and I wanted to see none of it.

Midnight Angel got her suit introduced, but we barely got to see her fight in it. I was surprised, but then I was like "oh yeah it was prolly cut." Honestly the CGI was so bad I'm glad a bunch of the last battle was cut.

One line I feel should've been cut was when Shuri gets offered the dress or drink or something and Iron Hearts starts to doing what Disney loves to do in all their stuff, a disgustingly obnoxious amount of name dropping. For no reason IronHeart just start rapid fire talkin bout Disney StarWars Indiana Jones and Snow White which made me want to punch through a door. AGAIN that is an issue with the original film. No knocks against this edit.

What can I say? Honestly I can't believe this isn't already the original cut. The idea that there's more stuff shoved into this movie is crazy to me because clearly it didn't need any of that. Just watch this Fan edit if you want to see a movie that's actually about a character instead of being a commercial for all the other MCU and Disney + Garbage

It's about Shuri, The Black Panther, as it always should've been.

I was excited hearing Tremault wanted to make a shorter version of Wakanda Forever, as it's one of the movies in Phase 4 that grew on me, & I was interested in a version that was more focused on Shuri's struggles. There were many clever cuts made to streamline the movie, though it kept nagging me that some of the film's heart was being removed.

For instance, I would've preferred a few of Nakia's scenes to have been kept in. They do well to reintroduce her to an audience that hasn't seen her in four irl years, so it made her showing up in the underwater city (& the reveal of her son with T'Challa) feel more hollow than I'd like. While I like the idea of removing Okoye being stripped of her title, there's still a reference to it later in the movie when M'Baku says Nakia will be rewarded for saving Shuri with "lifetime banishment," a reference to that cut plot point. Likewise, that M'Baku dialogue is immediately followed up by Namor's first assault, which happens too fast due to removing the scene of Nakia & Okoyoe seeing each other for the first time in years, both in & out of universe.

After hearing the idea of restructuring how Shuri would see Kilmonger & gain the power of the Black Panther, I was curious & didn't spoil for myself how it'd play out. Unfortunately, I found this new way underwhelming. It feels like a mistake to not see Shuri take the herb & be buried, since that was a big part of how it worked for T'Challa in the first movie. Then, we only get the bare minimum of Kilmonger near the very end, & while it's implied that Shuri seeing him in her vision is a bad thing, it's not spelled out to us until she's literally about to kill Namor, meaning it doesn't get to simmer with the audience.

I wonder if it would've been better if we saw Shuri get buried, then we cut out of the vision before we see who Shuri sees in the chair, so we can enjoy her having brought the Black Panther back. Then, once Nakia asks Shuri who it was she saw, then we cut back to the rest of the vision, with Killmonger speaking out to Shuri's motivation, setting the stage for the final battle.

Lastly, I really didn't care for the Namor mid-credit scene to be followed by "In loving memory of Chadwick Boseman." Massive tonal whiplash. It would've been better if the scene was placed somewhere after the fight (probably right after M'Baku's last scene in the movie, like the original) & the last image we see of the movie proper is the tribute to Chadwick plus credits.

All in all, the edit doesn't replace the original for me, but it makes for a good alternative experience.