Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Official Australian release date: 10/11/22.
Viewed: 10/11/22.
Director: Ryan Coogler
Actors: Letitia Wright, Angela Bassett, Tenoch Huerta, Danai Gurira
Genre: Action / Drama
Rating: M

 

‘Wakanda Forever’ was always going to have a tough job, needing to replace star Chadwick Boseman who passed away from cancer in 2020. Rather than try to do a ‘Rise of Skywalker’ and use some archive footage/CGI, Coogler chooses to have T’Challa killed off immediately. This sets the scene for a sombre outing, with Wakanda dealing with new challenges now they’ve shown the world their vibranium resources.

It's good that T’Challa’s mum, Ramonda (Bassett), gets more screentime, but sister Shuri (Wright) is the star here. Okoye (Gurira), Ayo (Kasumba), Aneka (Coel), M’Baku (Duke), Ross (Freeman) and Nakia (Nyong’o) are all back again, but it feels like a lot has happened in the four years since the first film – mostly because of ‘Infinity War’ and ‘Endgame’. Namor (Huerta) is the villain in this film, and while he’s similar to the comics character, here he’s of Mayan descent, with the under-water kingdom seemingly in the Gulf of Mexico – called “Talokan”, not Atlantis.

Some of the decisions made by the characters and by the director don’t make a lot of sense, with it sometime feeling like a lot has tied to be shoehorned in to make a film, rather than a linear storyline. Riri (Thorne)’s character seems pointless; Nakia is wasted until the end; and I’m not sure it needed to go for 2 hours 40min. It’s by no means bad, with a solid ending, but doesn’t really feel like a Marvel epic and probably has too much death and not enough fun. FYI, there’s no end credits scene, just the one after the titles.

Overall: Different style of Marvel film.

Gav’s Rating: 3 stars.