In more than one way Black Panther:Wakanda Forever, the highly anticipated sequel to one of the most culturally influencing films of the decade, feels less like the normally showy Marvel blockbuster and more like a quieted down character study about the women of Wakanda. We'll most likely never get to know what writer/director Ryan Coogler originally intended to do with this film, as its star the late Chadwick Boseman was taken from us way too soon in August 2020. In its most prominent fashion this film serves as a beautiful tribute to a pop culture icon, who still had so much left to achieve. After Boseman's untimely passing, Coogler had to rewrite and newly construct the entire film from scratch and that is easily one of the most impressive feats, that deserves all the respect in the world. While the audience had time to prepare for what was to come, the apparent shock of the Wakandanien people is rooted deep (King T'Challa succumbs to an unknown sickness).
Wakanda Forever is ultimately at its finest when it acts more like a stand-alone film, rather than the usual Marvel sequel. At times there are scenes outside of Wakanda, mainly involving the CIA and Agent Ross (Martin Freeman, who I think was misplaced in this film), and I do have to confess that they are pretty uneventful and ultimately just flat out uninteresting. When we leave our protagonists and venture to the aforementioned places, the film looses a lot of pace really quickly. Again, I am under the impression that some things (characters specifically) don't really fit into the larger equation and are only here to serve comic relief or to set up another new Marvel project in the future (like the Ironheart spinoff, more on that later though).
A bunch of new characters are introduced, (as it's the case most of the time in a sequel) among them are: Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne), the film's antagonist/antihero Namor (a chilling
performance from Tenoch Huerta) and Aneka, a new member of the Dora Milaje (Michaela Coel, I really would've liked to see more from her as she was brilliant in I May Destroy You). Some of these new additions unfortunately fell a little bit flat for me, like Riri Williams, who is clearly only in this so people can see her before she gets her own show (Ironheart) on Disney Plus. She's also being utilized as the film's main source of comic relief, which I guess makes sense to some degree concerning the film's more serious overall mood, but the character just feels somewhat unnecessary. I had similar feelings with Aneka, Michaela Coel's character who I very much anticipated, who is quite obviously just a supporting character through and through, as there's simply no character arc or anything interesting about her.
One of the best things to come from this are undoubtedly the magnetic performances, ranging from the emotionally charged/vulnerable turn from Angela Bassett (who is magnificent, embodying the griev stricken mother of the late king) to Letitia Wright who broke all of our hearts with a couple of raw, honest scenes. If I'd have to pick a standout, I'd probably go with Tenoch Huerta who is so effortlessly haunting as the leader of a yet undiscovered underwater civilization, who just wants to protect his people at all cost. I truly think this might be the Marvel film with the best performances. Naturally a lot of these emotional scenes feel incredibly real, I mean these actors lost a dear friend and they want to give it their all to create this sort of eulogy for him (everyone brings their A-game).
I definitely have to write something about the departments here, because everything somehow tops the original works. Ludwig Göransson brings new (sort of indigenous) elements to his score, and we get two pretty good songs (one of them serving as a ballad/hymn in remembrance of Boseman) from Rihanna, which are sure to be in the awards conversation all season long. There's also some of the most beautiful natural lighting in the entire MCU, (a pop culture abbreviation for Marvel Cinematic Universe) and aside from that DP Autumn Durald Arkapaw shoots Wakanda Forever like she wants to make the most astonishing superhero film in existence (whether or not she achieved that, is open for debate). Over in the costume section, (for which Black Panther received an Academy Award back in 2019) I can imagine that Ruth E. Carter's abilities were tested when she had to create costumes for yet another entire civilization (or rather culture). And guess what, she more than proved to be up for the challenge, even exceeding everyone's expectations.
In the end I probably have to admit that while I had some issues with it, (I actually thought the big battle scenes looked somewhat unfinished, though maybe that was just me, the more grounded action scenes I really liked and enjoyed) Black Panther:Wakanda Forever is the first Marvel film that made me legitimately shed a tear in the theater. And it's simultaneously the first Marvel film I genuinely enjoyed since Avengers: Infinity War (admittedly I always have my issues with Marvel films).
GRADE:B
DIRECTED BY: Ryan Coogler
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