The latest film from the Marvel Cinematic Universe has arrived and “Black
Panther: Wakanda Forever” is perhaps the greatest challenge the MCU has
faced to date. Following the tragic and untimely passing of star Chadwick
Boseman, the challenge of moving the characters forward without recasting
the lead was indeed daunting.
Working from a story by Director Ryan Cooler and Writer Joe Robert Cole,
the films is a slow-building but loving tribute to the late Boseman whose
influence is evident from the first frame in what is a moving and loving
tribute to both the man and his character.
Facing the loss of their beloved King and Black Panther, Shuri (Letitia
Wright), and her mother Queen Ramona (Angela Bassett), are dealing with
pressure from the world leaders to make their precious and dangerous
Vibranium supply available to all.
Knowing very well the dangerous potential of allowing people access to the
material, Queen Ramona defies the request and when a source of the
material is discovered outside the kingdom the danger increases and builds
to a boiling point when a deadly attack against the researchers who have
located the new supply is blamed upon Wakanda.
When a dangerous individual named Namor (Tenoch Huerta) arrives, he tells
Shuri and Queen Ramona that the people of Wakanda must work with his
people to kill the scientist who developed the technology to search for
Vibranium or the worlds nations will wage war on both of their peoples.
Seeking bring the scientist to Wakanda for safety, Shuri discovers that
the genius behind the new technology is a young student named Riri
(Dominique Thorne), and before long they are facing the local authorities,
the government, and Namor and his deadly undersea forces.
Shuri and Riri are captured and Wakanda is given a choice to sacrifice
Riri and join then or watch Namor and his people lay waste to Wakanda and
the surface world.
What follows is a very slow building film that is lighter on the action
and eye-popping FX than one might expect for a Marvel movie, but one that
relies heavily on the characters to move the story forward.
This is where a review of the film becomes tricky as it is a visually
impressive film that is laden with strong characters and great
performances in what is a loving and emotional 2.5 hour tribute to the
late Boseman.
The difficult part of the film is that his charisma and presence was so
commanding that a cast of largely supporting actors, actresses, and
characters do not resonate the same way which makes the film at times seem
slow and lacking the intensity and impact that many Marvel fans would
expect.
Namor is a very interesting character and it will be interesting to see
how fans embrace this take on the character but he never fully reached the
dangerous impact of many past Marvel enemies for me and the final
confrontation seemed lacking the action, intensity, and payoff that we
have come to expect from Marvel.
The decision to limit the amount of time a character wearing the Black
Panther suit was a good choice but the character who does finally don the
mantle does not hold a candle to Boseman and the limited amount of screen
time given to this new incarnation while respecting Boseman does seem like
a letdown.
Thankfully the very strong performances and emotional tone of the film
which does detour from what Marvel fans may expect does provide enough
quality moments to deliver but it will require patience as those expecting
an action-laden thrill ride versus a character driven emotional tribute
will need to be prepared going in.
The film has one mid-credits scene which opens up all sorts of possible
futures for the characters and it will be interesting to see when they
will next appear.
4 stars out of 5
