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Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Movie Review

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is a 2022 superhero film directed by Ryan Coogler and starring Letitia Wright and Angela Bassett among others. It is a satisfactory sequel.

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“Only the most broken people can be great leaders“

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This movie had a lot on its plate. It had to deal with the sudden tragic passing of Chadwick Boseman while also needing to satisfyingly move the franchise forward. It succeeds at most of the things that it sets out to do, though with a few caveats. It deals with so much story that it becomes heavy with both exposition and unnecessary plot points.

There is a new kingdom at play here, an underwater country called Talokan. These are blue-colored underwater-dwelling people who are suspiciously similar to the Na’vi from ‘Avatar’. Descending from the Maya, this group of characters brings a fresh Latino addition to the cast. The two countries have a geopolitical conflict that is eerily similar to the current relations between Ukraine and the US, constituting a possible metaphor of sorts.

Namor is the main villain as the leader of these people and he is one of the better MCU villains unquestionably. While the wings on his feet were a silly addition, his overall look was solid and he was undeniably a powerful presence. The conflict that arises between him and Wakanda is very well explored and his fight with Shuri at the end of the movie is a lot of fun. The action is pretty good overall and better than in the original, but still nothing particularly outstanding.

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There is this whole other storyline with Shuri where she eventually becomes the next Black Panther. In an interesting twist that brought back Killmonger, Shuri gets to grapple with a moral dilemma that is well explored and this made her a more complex and morally ambiguous person than her brother. Speaking of T’Challa, his absence is definitely felt and especially the character’s inherent warmth, but they honored the actor’s passing so beautifully and elegantly. And Shuri is such a wonderful character that I am happy with her becoming the next Black Panther.

The film’s acting standout is easily Angela Bassett, delivering an Oscar-worthy performance as the queen Ramonda. Her arc is deep and moving while Bassett is commands the screen in her every appearance. Her story is the most emotional along with her daughter’s. I liked Martin Freeman here, but his role was quite minor and that entire American subplot was not too impactful to the overall story.

The same should be said for Riri Williams. This is an entirely new character and she is simply not as interesting nor as important to the bigger scope of things, so I would have cut her off entirely. How do you have her in such a prolonged role and not do anything more substantial with the great M’Baku? Okoye is badass and quite funny and most of the female characters are well developed overall, but this is a film that is so female-driven to the point that it was both unrealistic and a bad commercial choice having in mind that the vast majority of comic-book fans are male.

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Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has solid special effects, certainly better than those in its predecessor. But other than that, the first ‘Black Panther’ movie is clearly stronger and more original. This is a strong continuation with a great score and solid directing from Coogler, but its pacing is totally off and the runtime is needlessly extended at two and half hours. I wished to have seen more of Wakanda’s Afrofuturism, but at least the underwater Talokan sequences were quite arresting. The flick is overplotted and thus messy, but at least the characterization is still terrific and the emotional investment is definitely there. It is clearly one of the best Phase IV Marvel movies.