Ultimate Avengers 2: Rise of the Panther
Published by Kaonashi January 10th, 2007 in Action, Film Adaptation, Adventure, Animation, Sci-Fi, Comic Book, DVD.(This review first appeared at Blogcritics.)
Title: The Avengers 2: Rise of the Panther
Year: 2006
Director: Curt Geda, Steven E. Gordon
Starring Voices: Justin Gross, Grey DeLisle, Olivia D’Abo, Marc Worden, Jeffrey D. Sams
Rated: PG-13
NoFace for Film rating: 3 out of 7
Needless to say, Ultimate Avengers 2: Rise of the Panther is the sequel to the first movie, which I reviewed earlier. Interesting that they came out the same year. Seeing as they’re both only a little over an hour long, I wonder if they were originally meant to be one movie, but split into two movies to make more money? Regardless, this sequel was no better than its predecessor. At least the first movie followed a lot more closely to the comic book series on which it was based.
Rise of the Panther takes place a few months after the end of the first movie. But all is not well. Dr. Bruce Banner (Michael Massee) has been confined and under close scrutiny by S.H.I.E.L.D after he destroys half the city as the Hulk and nearly kills the Avengers. Captain America (Gross) is having personal issues and keeps volunteering for dangerous missions. Drs. Hank (Nolan North) and Janet Pym (DeLisle) are having marital problems. Thor (David Boat) is having very disturbing visions about his fellow Avengers.
Meanwhile, in the distant (fictional) African country of Wakanda, the young prince T’Challa (Sams), who after a tragedy, is forced to embrace his destiny and become the Black Panther. T’Challa is also desperate to protect his people from the attacks of the Chitauri, the terrorizing alien race the Avengers batled in the first film. But what would they want from the Wakandans?
Overall, the movie was entertaining to watch. There are cool fight scenes, ugly aliens- and Black Widow (D’Abo) is a badass. The scenes with Dr. Banner are especially interesting, as he’s forced to watch over and over again videos of himself as the Hulk tearing up the city while being endlessly interrogated about his violent actions. It’s a very A Clockwork Orange feeling with Bruce slumped in a chair, staring intently at the TV. At the same time however, like the first Ultimate Avengers movie, it was clear that the target audience was pre-teen boys, not young adults. The art is somewhat crude and a little rough (compared to its comic book counterpart), the plot is simplistic, and there are little bits of “fan service” (i.e., Black Widow in a tight, red dress that leaves nothing to the imagination). Since I knew about this from the first movie, it was forgivable.
What bugged me the most though, was that it deviated completely from the comic book by adding in the Black Panther story. I completely understand that often it’s tough to adapt print material to the screen, and I know that certain liberties are sometimes taken for creative purposes- but this was ridiculous. It was a completely different plot. I felt that it was just a cheap excuse to introduce the Black Panther character -in the hopes that he may spin off his own straight-to-DVD movie series someday perhaps? Who knows. I just felt that this change from the comic book weakened the connection between the first and second movie.
The funny thing is that to me, the best part about the whole movie were the credits. As I was reading through them, two names stuck out. One was of Dwight Schultz as the voice of Odin. You guys remember him, right? He played Howling Mad Murdock in The A-Team, and Lt. Barclay in Star Trek: The Next Generation. I’ve always liked Dwight Schultz. He’s such an underrated character actor. The next name should be one that everyone and their mother knows: Mark Hamill. Yep, Luke Skywalker himself! The funny thing is that he did the voice of Oiler, a character that I don’t even remember seeing!
Similar to its predecessor, I think that Ultimate Avengers 2: Rise of the Panther would appeal mainly to fans of the comic books who long to see their heroes in animated form. Then again, the more hardcore fans would be outraged that this movie is nothing like the comic.
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