Black Panther” movie Review by Radio China International, Beijing, China Friday March 23, 2018 Discussion in progress in "Studio Plus" show Actress and film critic Gong Li, on phone from Shanghai, China: “…the golden city, all those [words unclear over phone]…they are all made digitally…Those…teams…went to Africa, they went to Uganda and collected all those materials, shot plenty of footage and made it just so convincing, a real state. Just imagine the trees. There are about 50 million trees there and about 100 million types of African elements, that’s a huge job… …Oh yes, yes, like the music; it’s very vibrant, stylistic. It cuts smoothly between European strings and African percussion and woodwind. It works." Presenter in studio, an American man: “And this is all the breakthrough in the movie that you’re talking about. Because it’s not just the storyline, it’s not just the all-African cast, it’s how they produced it." Gong Li: “Yes…Like that Wakanda. It’s a futuristic city, you know. But it has to have a present touch. How do you combine this? How do you put this together without any seam, we call it [a] seamless match. That’s a great job." Second presenter in studio, a Chinese woman: “So we know this story or this movie, has very good special effects and also have [sic, has] good costume and stuff. But what does this movie mean to Chinese audience? You know, what Chinese audience can learn from this movie.” Gong Li: “Ah, for Chinese audience, I think they won’t, like we said, they don’t feel so, um, personally or emotionally or culturally or politically attached. I think they mainly look at this one as a Hollywood film or a Marvel production. So I think they just look like in that way. If it’s a good film or it’s not a good film, it’s very simple film for them.” Second presenter in studio, after 30-second promo: “…this Hollywood movie “Black Panther”. Previously we talked about the storyline of the movie and special effects applied and the costume and the response from the Chinese audience. So now my question is, Miss Gong Li, do you think the all-Black cast had any impact on the overall box office in China, or is it that [the] Chinese market is getting tired of super hero movies?" Gong Li: “Uh, well, I don’t think this Black cast had any impact. Like we said, Chinese audiences just look at this one as a Marvel production, a Hollywood movie, Hollywood blockbuster. So they regard that with their own standard for Hollywood blockbuster. That’s why, that also explains why it has such a good box office for the first week but not that good for the second one.” First presenter: “You know but, I think Hollywood’s getting a little spoilt. When they start saying cheese, it only made over a hundred million [$100 million] in China, I feel like their expectations sometimes are unrealistic or just, they just expect to always have…I mean, a hundred million is nothing to sneeze at. It’s still a pretty good number.” Gong Li: “I don’t know their expectation, but I don’t think they will rely on the Chinese market although they really want the Chinese audience to watch this one, that’s for sure.” Second presenter: “I think for them the China market is their major overseas market, so maybe they are expecting a higher returns from this market. But I would say this is, um, this is like a very, um, like one of those super hero movies that we’ve watched here in China about those Hollywood blockbuster movies. I’ve got one more question regarding the super hero movies. “Black Panther” compared with some other Marvel super hero movies; how is this movie different from the other ones apart from the fact that it’s all-Black cast and it’s Africa-themed? Apart from those two elements, how is this one different from the other ones, say, um, the “Spiderman”, like the “Iron Man”; those movies. Are they very different?" Gong Li: “Um, not that much different. You know, we all, most people think Marvel productions or Marvel films are popcorn films. They are very entertaining and they’re very strong, powerful and this, for these kinds of elements there’s nothing exceptional I think. If we want to see anything different, um, it’s probably like we mentioned before, the story is not as powerful or strong as the other ones [“Spiderman”, “Iron Man”]. Because, you know, like the theme of murder, revenge, treachery, all this kind of thing. The other films probably had a better review. And also, um, I’m talking from a Chinese audience point of view and, you know, I don’t think people would take it easily when a film states a very clear plot of right and wrong or a very clear-cut of hero-villain thing, because the film needs to be very, um, needs to be unexpected so people can be dragged just to see what’s happening. And if they can expect what will happen, um, they probably lose some interest there. So I should say this film [“Black Panther”] is probably a little bit weak here.” First presenter: “I disagree with you on that one. I thought it was the storyline that really surprised me and I thought it was really well done…To me, I thought it had a great twist, you know, it had good plot twists that I didn’t see coming and the way it incorporated the hidden world of Wakanda with the real world of American cities and life and the interaction of those two worlds…” Gong Li: “Okay. That’s why I’m saying I’m talking from [a] Chinese audience point of view. For [a] Chinese audience, they have seen so many films with all those courts, plots, events and, you know, they really expect more twisted, more dramatic storylines or plots. And also you talked about fighting. You know, for, for…there are so many Chinese movies with action, kung fu, martial arts and for this one, you know, people [Chinese] feel a bit strange: If this is a very highly [technological] country [Wakanda] and the people still fist fight to compete for the throne and also, you know, it’s not a wisdom-ruled world; it’s a muscle-ruled world, which is not very convincing for them [Chinese].” Second presenter: “Right. I think you’ve just mentioned about this point and I’ve checked online [Chinese social media sites]. Quite a few people who watched this movie, you know, thought this part a bit strange. Like they’ve got all this hi-tech in there [in Wakanda], they’ve got all this special metal in there, they have all those hi-tech equipment [Gong Li interjects: “Flying boats...”] and their armour there, and in the end the final problem has to be solved with a fist fight, like the gladiator-style one. That’s the part they felt really strange.” Gong Li: “Yeah, yeah! It’s like primitive rule in a futuristic world. It’s really strange.” Second presenter: “Okay. So, I think we had a very nice discussion and actually I really liked the last part we had. Thanks to Miss Gong Li for your sharing on this movie.”
