The legacy of Chadwick Boseman looms large over Wakanda Forever, as well as the entire Marvel
Cinematic Universe. In an unprecedented turn of events ,the once and future king of the silver
screen’s Wakanda passed away before the production of the sequel to his own era-defining film.
Black Panther, more than any other superhero movie (except maybe Wonder Woman) is a
cultural milestone for Black cinema, American cinema, and superhero cinema. How, if you can, do
you move on without him?
Director Ryan Coogler, who is the mastermind behind everything that is great about this corner of
the MCU, chose the only path that would work: move on from T’Challa and Boseman in universe. A
lot of commentators have asked the question about recasting the role, something the MCU has done
before (and may well have to do again), but I believe that Boseman is too important culturally to just recast T’Challa, and, for once, by making a movie about the people he loved Marvel are and how they move forward they are thinking with their heart and not their check book.
As a tribute to T’Challa and Boseman as an actor and an icon, Wakanda Forever is a triumph. The first scene, as we track a panicked and manic Shuri (Letitia Wright) through her lab as she is hypothesizing, testing, and failing to create a vaccine for her big brother and stop once Queen Ramonda (a deservedly Oscar-nominated Angela Bassett) enters with the final devastating news of T’Challa’s death, Coogler plays
out the themes of the movie in miniature.
Shuri was the Q of the Black Panther universe, the genius who would create things that
would keep her superpowered brother safe in the field. And she failed. The next 150 plus minutes
will find Shuri grieving her brother in a way typical of a superhero i.e. lots of fighting. Just like Black
Panther, the supporting cast are as captivating as ever: a strength that meant that Coogler had
many probable candidates to take on the role of the new Black Panther. But, really, it always should
have been Shuri.
Ticking the Romance Box
Thankfully, there isn’t much of Marvel’s usual half-baked rubbish here. Though there are some duds
all the same. As much as I liked Martin Freeman in the first movie, the only reason he is here plot-
wise is to jam in another Julia Louis-Dreyfuss cameo as the head of a superteam that, the way that
Marvel is going, could be scrapped at any moment. It’s not terrible, but both characters could easily
have been cut and the no one would have noticed.
The Wasted Villain Corner
Namor isn’t necessarily wasted here, but he is overshadowed by a dead man. He spouts the usual
evil emperor stuff, and his origin flashbacks contain some absolutely stunning filmmaking, but he,
and his funny little shorts, were completely upstaged by the briefest of appearances of Killmonger.
Shuri’s ascent to the mantle of Black Panther means that she must convene with one of her
ancestors. In her grief she thinks that taking the potion will allow her to talk to her brother or
mother, but it’s her homicidal cousin instead. Killmonger is such a great villain because he either
opposes the hero, like he did with T’Challa, or mirrors them, like he does with Shuri. She’s vengeful
like he was, if if she won’t admit it. His influence on T’Challa changed him for the better, but what he
has in common with Shuri is the key for her to break out of her own destructive cycle. He improved
the hero again, and this time he only had two minutes!
Yet it does lack in an extremely important area: the action sucks. It’s hard to believe that the team
behind the first Black Panther that, bar the underground magnet train fight (or whatever that thing
was called), some of the greatest action in the MCU, created setpieces that were so lacking. The car
chase that involved Shuri on a motorbike, Okoye in a muscle car, and an obnoxious child from a
Wakanda pre-school in a faux Iron Man suit, felt flat and lifeless. The same can be said of most
of the underwater stuff that, while it looked more realistic than Aquaman, was too dark to see most
of the time. I can’t let Wakanda Forever off the hook for this, but I can accept that fish people
punching warriors from a fake country isn’t the movie’s highest priority.
As a epic elegy in movie form, Wakanda Forever is a miracle: a genuinely moving and well-acted
piece of superhero storytelling.
If you enjoyed this article, please check out the rest of our MCU retrospective, as well as our look at the Batman cinematic universe, and consider supporting us on Ko-Fi!
By Kevin Boyle
(header image via Art of VFX)
No But Listen 