Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Review

 

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is a powerful and moving experiential event that honors the memory of the late Chadwick Boseman while also moving the story of Wakanda forward. Beautifully crafted by director Ryan Coogler, he tells a story filled with both high emotional and external stakes in a manner that is exciting and grandiose in scale while also deeply heartfelt. Before Boseman’s tragic and sudden death Coogler was all set to make a movie about T’Challa dealing with his own sense of loss in the sense of his loss of time post him returning from the Blip in Avengers: Endgame. And in fact Coogler had been in the middle of writing the sequel with Boseman in mind as he imagined the story when the news broke of the actor’s much too abrupt passing. So when Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige decided that the role of T’Challa would not be recast, Coogler had to find a way forward to explore the world and characters of the first film as a way to honor the legacy that Boeseman helped build. The results speak for themselves in a sensational and ambitious thriller that delivers all the spectacle you would expect of a Marvel picture while also managing to retain its own very distinct storytelling DNA and rhythmic pulsebeat. 

 

 

Wakanda Forever immediately addresses T’Challa’s death at the beginning of the movie in such a way that it comes off very organic and feels very much like art-imitating-life with the parallels between how sudden his death was both in their world and ours. After a very awe-inspiring and epic funeral for the King we catch up with these characters again one year later at which point in time Wakanda is at a point of tension with the rest of the world who desire to take the nation’s precious Vibranium from them. Angela Bassett is a powerhouse as the sovereign Queen Ramonda who unequivocally establishes to the world that even though they have lost their protector they haven’t lost their ability to protect themselves. This is of course followed up by the introduction of the film’s antagonist the Talokans. A dangerous underwater army led by their ruler Namor (José Tenoch Huerta Mejía) they pose a serious threat to the Wakandans as he sneaks into Wakanda and promises to wage war against Wakanda if the Queen won’t turn over an American scientist to them. Letitia Wright, reprising her role as Shuri daughter of Ramonda and sister of T’Challa gets directly involved in the conflict as she agrees to go into the field with Okoye (Danai Gurira) to bring back the scientist. 

 

This is all part of Shuri’s journey in the film as at the film’s start she still finds herself having difficulty coming to terms with her brother’s passing and questioning her beliefs in the Wakanda ancestral legends. The action henceforth takes them to Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne), a young genius MIT student who has created a suit similar in vein to that of Stark’s Iron Man suit. Remarkably this character who is slated to get her own Disney + series next year really popped on the screen and felt to have the same kind of energy to her that Tom Holland’s Peter Parker did in his MCU introduction in Civil War. Needless to say things go awry when Namor strikes and takes both Shuri and Williams hostage. The danger only escalates from there as Shuri gets a Bond villain-esque introduction to Namor in his underwater cave who is fond of calling her “Princess.” He explains his motives in a rich and layered manner detailing the history of his and the Talokans origins. He proceeds to give Shuri a tour of his underwater kingdom in something that resembles a cross between Atlantis from Aquaman and the hip diverse culture of Wakanda but with a Mayan-Aztech twist. Namor reflects to Shuri, “I know you wish me to spare the life of the scientist but now you see what I have to protect.”

 

 Upon her return to Williams and Namor being summoned to a rendezvous with Ramonda, T’Challa’s beloved Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o) sent undercover by Ramonda goes in to rescue the pair. This of course incites a war between the Talokans and Wakandans triggering a harrowing series of events with Ramonda’s murder at the hands of Namor which then forces Shuri to have to assume the responsibility that has been thrust upon her of leading her people into a deadly confrontation with the Talokans. She recreates the Black Panther, by way of her scientific prowess in the lab bringing back the herb that Kilmonger destroyed in the original film. Her trip to the ancestral plane proves revealing as she doesn’t reunite with her family but Kilmonger himself Michael B. Jordan. This shows just how dark a path she has set down upon as she seeks vengeance for all that she has lost. The herb works though and with the triumph victory of the Black Panther back in play in the form of Shuri she convinces M’Baku (Winston Duke) to stand by her side as she goes to war against Namor. 

 

The battle breeds an immense spectacle with the Wakandans versus the seafaring Talokans and Shuri springs her trap against Namor using his reliance on the water against him. Their final battle commences on a strip of desert beach in which the adversaries fight to a brutal climax with Shuri ultimately setting aside her desire for vengeance with her realization that her brother and mother would have wanted a peaceful resolution to all this and Namor yields. 

 

In the film’s final scene Shuri visits Nakia in Haiti and finally finishes the ritual she was to do with her mother as she remembers her brother over a series of powerful and poignant images of Chadwick Boseman. We fade to black on that image of Shuri crying in relief of all this pain finally realized. Yet still a mid-credits scene arrives and we still find Shuri on the beach as Nakia comes out with a little boy asking if they can join her. She introduces him as her and T’Challa’s son that they had in secret and agreed to raise away from the pressures of the throne. And in what is no doubt a powerful moment the boy tells Shuri that his real name is Prince T’Challa son of King T’Challa. And then we know everything is going to be alright… there is hope for the future. 

 

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is a triumph of a film in every way imaginable. The filmmaking on display by Ryan Coogler is ambitious both from a spectacle and character-driven point of view. The cinematography is breathtaking, the soundtrack is electrifying, and the performances are of the highest possible caliber. Also in addition to the main cast Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Martin Freeman make for excellent supporting players reprising their roles of Director Fontaine and Everett K. Ross as they add to the intrigue and humor of the story. And Namor will certainly be a key player moving forward in the MCU as I’m sure we can count on him to stir up more trouble both with the Avengers and famously per the comics The Fantastic Four. All that said, I would have much rather preferred to seen the version of this movie where Chadwick Boseman was the star and driving force of this story seeing him deal with the aftermath of Avengers: Endgame and how he moved forward as a King from there but in the face of his tragic passing Ryan Coogler has made a tremendous picture that both honors Boseman and moves things forward for the future of the Black Panther franchise with a story all about the exploration of tragedy and how we overcome adversity to take us to a more hopeful future. Wakanda Forever!