Wakanda Forever! A Spoiler Review.

Well, it’s finally here. Ever since the late great Chadwick Boseman’s passing we’ve been waiting to see what on earth they were going to do with Black Panther 2 without the Black Panther. A lot was riding on this film. Lots of money and lots of pressure. But the question is… did it deliver? Let’s find out shall we?

Synopsis:

Queen Ramonda, Shuri, M’Baku, Okoye and the Dora Milaje fight to protect their nation from intervening world powers in the wake of King T’Challa’s death. As the Wakandans strive to embrace their next chapter, the heroes must band together with Nakia and Everett Ross to forge a new path for their beloved kingdom.

What I liked:

The Cast:

As I said earlier, the film had a lot riding on it. With such an incredible loss it suffered there was a lot of pressure to measure up to if not surpass the first movie which grossed over a billion dollars worldwide and captured the hearts of so many people who believed that Wakanda and its inhabitants were all too real. Lucky for Marvel Studios and director Ryan Coogler that they had a cast as talented as Letitia Wright, Angela Bassett, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke and Martin Freeman to pick up the slack. Letitia Wright and Angela Bassett in particular carry the film’s emotional center. Bassett in particular puts on a killer performance that gives the movie gravitas.

Newcomer Tenoch Huerta Mejía gives a competent performance as the villainous Namor, Black Panther’s most famous foe from the comics. Winston Duke and Martin Freeman provide plenty of great comic relief moments and Danai Gurira and Lupita Nyong’o also give pretty solid performances and each had some of the film’s more memorable moments. But it all comes down to the lead performance by Letitia Wright. Chadwick Boseman is a tough act to follow but Letitia very much stepped up to the challenge and gave us some really powerful moments with Shuri as she dealt with grief and the huge pressure of taking on the mantle.

Whether you like the film or not nobody can deny the fact that the casting in this film helped elevate the material quite a bit.

Amazing visuals and action sequences:

One cannot deny how Coogler and Co stepped their game up on the visuals and action sequences in this film. I would go as far as to say that these elements were a big improvement over the first movie. I mean, the whole scenery of the under water Atlantis world Namor and his people created alone brings tears to the eyes. And Gurira’s Okoye stole the show again in her big fight sequences. Coogler and Co stepped their game up for this sequel and I’m here for it.

Killmonger’s Cameo:

One of the highlights of the film was a surprise appearance from Michael B. Jordan’s fan favorite Killmonger who appears in Shuri’s afterlife vision instead of T’Challa or Queen Ramonda. This was a fantastic way of getting Michael B. Jordan to make an appearance in the film without seeming forced or unbelievable. The heated conversation between Shuri and Killmonger gave the film one of its very best emotional and dramatic scenes.

Tribute to Chadwick Boseman:

Before the movie even started the reverence of Chadwick Boseman was paid respect to with a great little homage with the Marvel Studios logo. In fact the whole film paid huge homage and love to Boseman and his iconic character T’Challa which was much needed in order for the film to “pass the torch” sorta speak.

What I Didn’t Like So Much:

Queen Ramonda’s death:

One of the weaker aspects of the film to me was how depressing it could be at times. Sure, there was a very real loss with Chadwick as well as his character T’Challa, but come on, did we really need ’em to pile on? Sometimes it got a little to melancholy to where it felt jarring when they’d jam a comic moment from out of nowhere clumsily. The worst offender is the death of Queen Ramonda. First off, you just don’t kill off Angela Bassett EVER! It should just be the golden rule of any film she’s in. Second, it just feels like brutal torture of Shuri. Come on, the girl’s been through enough already and now she loses her mother too? The misery porn was strong with this one. Bassett brought the gravitas and skill that only an actor with vast experience could bring and now without her any future Black Panther film will feel a bit more shallow and much less rich without her presence in my opinion.

The MCU Villain Problem:

The MCU has always seemed to have issues with their villains with exception to Ragnarok’s Hella, Killmonger(For the most part) and their very best of all, the mighty Thanos. Don’t get me wrong, Namor was a pretty decent villain and he had some great moments of badassery in the film. But if I’m being honest I didn’t find him as intimidating a figure as the comic book character was, or that Thanos and even Killmonger was. It could be due to the novice actor’s lack of experience whereas an older actor with gravitas could’ve provided more of a genuinely intimidating and even frightening presence. But other than that the character’s origin story and motivation for turning so dark could’ve been better developed. The scene with him as a child where he becomes this big bad devil and recieves his name felt a bit rushed making it hard to really empathize with the character at times.

RiRi Williams:

The character has some great potential as a successor to Tony Stark, but hopefully we’ll get far more development beyond forced comic relief from Ms. Williams. That said, the actress seems to have had fun in the role and has a certain charm to her that hopefully could be utilized more in future projects with her character involved.

Needed more M’Baku:

Like everybody else I’m an M’Baku fan and I was disappointed that we didn’t get far more of him in the movie. He had his stand out moments, but they were few and far between. I do have faith that we’ll get more M’Baku in the future as Shuri’s counsel and perhaps new big brother figure in future movies.

To Sum It Up:

I went in to this movie with super low expectations and came out liking it more than I thought I would. The film is nowhere near perfect but given the circumstances I say that Ryan Coogler and everyone involved did their best to make do with what they had. That said, the absence of Chadwick was deeply felt throughout the film. Like a table with two legs missing. Of course his passing couldn’t have been controlled but nevertheless his presence was needed to give the film more power and prestige. Should they have just recast T’Challa for this film as many Black Panther fans, and even Chadwick Boseman himself before his passing, have suggested? Or was it a good call to let Shuri take the reins for a good while? I guess we’ll see in the future. But for now Wakanda’s kingdom is still reigning in the MCU and I suspect it will continue to reign for years to come no matter who takes the mantle.

Thanks for reading, folks. And remember… Wakanda Forever!