The most anticipated trailer of Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall’s Coming 2 America was released on February 4, 2021. It’s a sequel to their 1988 hit film Coming to America. This extremely delayed sequel guarantees a lot of hilarity as Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall regain their roles.
After the official announcement of Coming 2 America, fans have waited eagerly to see Hall, Murphy, and the rest of the original cast to be joined by a new star-studded ensemble. And now, over three decades later, the much-awaited sequel, Coming 2 America, is ready to be released on Amazon Prime Video on March 5.
Having enjoyed an extended absence from the limelight, Murphy has made a significant comeback to the big screen, and it should be exciting and hilarious to see him reprise one of his most beloved characters.
1. The movie is set in Zamunda
The trailer begins with King Akeem and his best friend Semmi touring New York City to find Akeem’s son Lavelle. Akeem comes to know about his son through his dying father who tells him that he has a son from one of his flings back in New York and only his son can succeed the throne of Zamunda.
Soon, the duo finds Lavelle and his mother, and the four fly back to Zamunda together, accompanied by Lavelle’s uncle. From what can be inferred from the trailer, it seems like the New York scenes will primarily act as an opening to the sequel’s story, with the majority of Coming 2 America taking place in Zamunda.
2. Akeem has enemies
General Izzi, played by Wesley Snipes, is seemingly being set up as the film’s villain. A shot in the trailer shows him shooting a giant portrait of Akeem with a machine gun in front of his followers. It seems as if Izzi wants to overthrow Akeem and the rest of the royal family to rule Zamunda himself.
Snipes is excellent for the role, and hopefully, he’ll have some promising moments on screen with Murphy. Izzi’s antagonism will be much more than a dark comedy for most of the movie. Izzi is also the older brother of Imani Izzi (Vanessa Bell Calloway), the woman Akeem was supposed to marry in the original film. That plotline alone builds plenty of narrative between the two to spark tension, sans the political aspect of things.
3. Akeem’s daughter wishes to rule Zamunda
Akeem’s daughter Meeka, played by KiKi Layne, has grown up hoping to succeed the throne of Zamunda one day, but the traditional customs of Zamunda state that a woman cannot rule the nation. Meeka is the eldest daughter of Akeem and Lisa.
Akeem will have to choose between moving forward with the patriarchal ways of his father and the royal tradition, and moving in the progressive direction and make Meeka his heir. Lisa clearly comes off as a progressive feminist in the Coming 2 America trailer, and it’s guaranteed that Akeem will be won over towards more modern thinking as well, over the course of the film.
4. What happened in 1988?
The first Coming To America was released in 1988. In the American romantic comedy set in the African nation of Zamunda, the crown prince Akeem Joffer grows weary of his pampered lifestyle on his 21st birthday and wishes to do more for himself.
When his parents, King Jaffe and Queen Aoleon, present him with an arranged bride-to-be, Akeem takes action. Seeking an independent woman who loves him for himself and not his social status, Akeem and his best friend/personal aide, Semmi, travel to the New York City borough of Queens and rent a squalid tenement in the neighborhood of Long Island City under the guise of poor international students.
Although Coming 2 America is still undoubtedly a comedy first and foremost, but it’s invigorating to see more complicated themes of patriarchal culture, tradition, and feminism in the trailer. In the end, Coming 2 America will unquestionably count on its laughs, but that doesn’t imply it can’t also have a message to convey.
5. About Coming 2 America 2
Almost thirty years later, King Akeem (Eddie Murphy) who is the king of Zamunda now with three daughters and the love of his life Lisa (Shari Headley), his American sweetheart. The only issue is the throne of Zamunda can only be succeeded by a male heir and he has none. That’s when he discovers about Lavelle (Jeremy Fowler), his son who is the outcome of a fling with someone in New York. So he along with his trusted friend Semmi (Arsenio Hall) sets out to find his son.
The film is a sequel to the landmark 80s comedy Coming to America which carved a special for itself in American hearts. With a predominantly Black cast, a rarity at the time, the film was based on a story by the lead actor, Eddie Murphy.
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