Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Review!

Alright! Today I'm reviewing the 30th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and its 39th project overall, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, the sequel to 2018's mega-smash billion-dollar Black Panther, which starred Chadwick Boseman as the titular character. Now, four years later, we see the Wakandans grapple with leadership, their new role as a world power, and the emerging nation of Talokan, an underwater civilization that's definitely not Atlantis. 

Wakanda Forever is first and foremost a very real story about grief. After Chadwick Boseman's tragic passing in 2020, the character of T'Challa was killed off in accordance, and the impact that has on the film - on the tone, the writing, the force of it - is immeasurable. It makes the movie feel less like a superhero movie and more like a movie movie, one with a message in it that a director had to tell. Everything feels purposeful, and there are several moments where you have to pause and ask yourself how much of what you're seeing is the actors and writers doing their jobs, and how much of it is them grieving. It's almost guaranteed that you'll be on the verge of tears - or outright bawling - several times throughout the film. 

Every single actor is on point throughout this movie, namely Letitia Wright, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke, Tenoch Huerta, and Angela Bassett. And yes, I just named every main character. Yes, they are all deserving of recognition. Every single one of them, fueled by the fire of Chadwick's passing, is utterly enchanting whenever they're on screen. My favorite was likely Winston Duke as M'Baku - just as he did in the first one, he demonstrates the ability to steal a scene through a single line. When he is on, you are paying attention. Part of me wanted him to become Black Panther by the end of the film, if only to see how Kang would take on a 6'5" Black Panther juiced up on magic leaves in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. 

However, there is a strong case to be made for Shuri getting the mantle, namely the fact that it follows the logic of the movies, that it was worked wonderfully into the film narratively and emotionally, and the fact that M'Baku as Black Panther was mostly a lighthearted attempt at humor. Letitia Wright steps into the spotlight in a way no one would have guessed she would have in 2018. Now, instead of being the MCU's favorite "guy in the chair," she is the emotional core of the film, the headliner, the Black Panther. The entire movie rests on her shoulders and she kills it. 

But a movie is only good as its villain, right? Well, luckily that's not true, because otherwise, the MCU would have died way back in 2010. Wakanda Forever introduces Black Panther's most iconic villain Namor the Sub-Mariner, king of Atlantis, who in this version is reimagined as the Mayan king of Talokan, the legendary K'uk'ulkan himself. He's as smarmy and sexy as one would hope Namor to be, but there's something to be said for his motivations. While he has sympathetic enough traits and a killer backstory, the sudden "light the world on fire" mentality appears suddenly and turns him into a charismatic punching bag for the movie's third act. Certainly a step down from Michael B. Jordan as Killmonger in the first film (Admittedly a tough act to follow), despite similar motivations. Honestly, I'm happy that we got to a point in comic book movies where we can introduce Namor and have him be absolutely badass. 

From a production standpoint, the movie is also fantastic. Once again, Ryan Coogler proves himself to be one of the only directors in the MCU to actually be directors and not just hired hands. There's an artistic beauty to the movie that only comes from a director truly trying to make something beautiful first and a superhero movie second (What Eternals tried and failed at). The visual effects are also surprisingly good given Phase Four's track record and the bar set by the first movie. However, the last two setpieces are very clearly done with a green screen and an exaggerated light source. And once again, I am asking that Marvel go back to making actual suits of armor for their superhero movies. I'm tired of floating head syndrome. 

The music in the film, composed by the maestro himself Ludwig Göransson (Community, The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Tenet), is as equally deft as Coogler's direction. The very first appearance of Namor is straight out of a horror movie, eerily beautiful while remaining terrifying. His new themes for Namor, Shuri, transitions, and the prolonging of the Black Panther theme are all wonderfully done, even if the slow burn took two-and-a-half hours. The one thing I do bemoan is the lack of the first one's iconic "Casino Brawl" soundtrack that also worked its way into What If..? 

All this praise is not to say the movie is perfect - there are still a few issues with it. Certain Seinfeld alumni overstay their welcome without making a dent in the movie, the final set piece is surprisingly unmemorable, and the entire movie is far, far too long. Two hours and forty-one minutes is a long time to go without the pacing stalling at least once. Some tighter editing in the second act would have done the movie wonders as it hops from location and character to location and character. There's just a bit of a lag between each scene transition that adds up over time. 

Additionally, there are fantastic character motivations and apparent emotional stakes in the film, but they never felt like enough. There's a lovely explanation and reasoning behind Shuri taking the Black Panther mantle, but it's just a few degrees off to make it truly fantastic. It feels emotional and earned, but it's not the "What's Up Danger?" it should be. I found this criticism to be most true in the final fight between Namor and Shuri, which needed the same pin-drop energy that No Way Home's final Green Goblin fight had. Instead of feeling like it came to the height of the conflict both emotionally and action-wise, Namor becomes the aforementioned obstacle to defeat instead of the character to defeat. Maybe it's because the movie loses focus on both Namor and Shuri's emotional conflict throughout the gratuitous runtime, or maybe the final fight needed more relevant dialogue about Shuri's character. It's all there and done well, but it could have and should have been more. There was a balance between quiet moments talking about grief and how grief influenced fight scenes that were lost along the way. 

But aside from that just ever so slightly missed the mark, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is a near-slam dunk. It manages to appropriately delve into the loss following the death of Chadwick Boseman without ever drowning the audience in grief, still delivering epic cheering moments that mean as much to the audience as they do to the characters. You want to see these characters succeed, and when they do it makes you want to leap up and cheer. It's one of the most real movies to come out this year while still having an underwater city and a special vision-inducing leaf that turns people into superheroes. 

It has a fantastic opening where the most immediate comparison is The Dark Knight, making it clear right from the get-go that Wakanda Forever will have an energy to it and drive that has been severely lacking in recent MCU offerings - to quote Jaws: The Revenge, "This time, it's personal." Once again, that opening was absolutely fantastic. It was cool and smart in a way I wish the rest of the movie kept up. 

At the end of the day, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is a visually stunning, very real story about grief and loss that occasionally loses itself through worldbuilding and a surplus of characters. With every aspect being influenced by Chadwick Boseman's passing, it's honestly impressive that they not only pulled it off cohesively but also pretty dang well, successfully weaving it into the narrative and emotional journey of the characters involved (Even if the franchise can ever fully recover from the loss of its title character and the sheer perfection of that casting. Chadwick Boseman IS Black Panther). 

Once again I find myself pleasantly surprised and occasionally floored by the end-of-the-year Marvel spectacular that makes up for a year's worth of mediocre movies and far too many TV shows. Here's enough goodwill to last you another year, Feige. 

Overall, I give Black Panther: Wakanda Forever an 8/10. "Emotional and personal, Wakanda Forever is everything you'd want and a little bit less."