Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Review

 

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is a comic book movie, it's based on the Marvel Comics' character Black Panther. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is not only the 30th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it also serves as a sequel to 2018's Black Panther. The movie's produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is written by Ryan Coogler and Joe Robert Cole and directed by Ryan Coogler.

The story is T'Challa has sadly died. After this tragic event, things just haven't been the same. But soon everyone will have to but these heartbroken feelings aside, because a man going by the name of Namor has invaded Wakanda. Now the people must fight to protect their homeland, or surrender to Namor.

Initial Reaction

In all honest, I just didn't have much faith in this movie. Not because I don't think the people in front or behind the camera aren't talented, but the fact that Marvel had this weird stubbornness to recast T'Challa, even though Chadwick Boseman himself would've wanted a recast. The reason why this was a big issue was not only was this Chadwick's request, but because 1) Marvel's recast actors before, and are still doing now, what with Harrison Ford being new the Thaddeus Ross after William Hurt's tragic passing. 2) Because of this decision not too recast, everyone including myself, now have to worry about finding some convoluted way to explain T'Challa's death and why there's a new Black Panther. But I'm more than willing to give a movie a chance.

Cons

Oh boy, where do I even begin with the amount of problems with this flick? I'll start with the pacing. This movie's total runtime is 2 hrs. and 41 minutes, and it felt like that. At no point did it ever feel like I was in a full speed action extravaganza. It was just so slow I almost felt bored watching this. The issue comes from not one, but two characters. Those sadly being Shuri herself, and Riri. In the first film, Shuri's very likable, even I liked her. But they butchered her character in this one. After an intense first battle with Namor, she wanted revenge. Okay, sure, we've seen superheroes go for revenge before, but it's really messed up here. She was willing to go to war, and basically scarifice everyone on both sides...just to get to one specific guy. That's not a hero, that's a villain. And I get what they're trying to do. They're trying to do the whole revenge is consuming her, just like it almost consumed T'Challa in Captain America: Civil War. The difference is T'Challa wanted to do it alone, not bring in people to help him despite the fact he knows there's a high percentage that they'll die. Then there's Riri. Many people found her annoying...and yeah, she is. But when she's not being annoying, she's just being boring. Which begs the question of why Marvel's doing a series on her when she's two of the worst things a character could be. The other major problem was the writers are desperately trying to make you think our heroes/the Wakandans are in grave danger, when really we have no reason to feel that way. Let's do a quick recap of all of the things the Wakandans fought or been though prior to this film.

In Black Panther, Killmonger dethrones T'Challa, takes over Wakanda, and nearly used their technology to destroy the world. But thankfully he was stopped.

In Avengers: Infinity War, both Black Panther and the Wakandans fought Thanos' army along with other members of the Avengers, all in effort to protect Vision. They failed, Thanos snaps away half of the universe's population, and a lot of Wakandans died, T'Challa included.

In Avengers: Endgame, they go five whole years without King T'Challa. Then when he's resurrected he leads them to fight alongside other army of heroes to combat against Thanos and his entire fleet. Which in the end they won.

So while yes they should be treating Namor like a threat, there's no reason why they should be treating him like he's going to bring about the end of days. And no, him and his army also having vibranium doesn't count, because Killmonger basically had access to the same stuff.

What was also another major problem with the film was T'Challa's death wasn't a proper ending for the character. Not only did they kill him off-screen, but they had him die from an unknown disease. I'll get into the issue with the disease thing later. So not only do we get a lame send-off, but it's not even a heroic one at that. If Marvel Studios truly wanted to give tribute to Chadwick, then have T'Challa go out heroically, more importantly have him die fighting to protect the home he loves, or what they should've done is just recast the character. Like I said before, Chadwick was okay with the character he played being recasted. But because neither Marvel Studios or the rest of the filmmakers didn't do that, the film just feels empty without T'Challa there, and no amount of giving the mantle to Shuri is gonna change that. The last thing I'll rip the film apart for, and it's something it rightfully deserves to be criticized for, and that's the milking of Chadwick's death. I mean it folks, this movie just couldn't stop with exploiting Chadwick's death. For instance, I mentioned earlier how T'Challa died from a diease...and what did Chadwick die for? Cancer, which is a disease. And when their not using something that really happened to Chadwick, the rest of it just "Black Panther's dead, just like Chadwick", "Oh there's no Black Panther to save us, because T'Challa's dead!" or something disturbingly similar to those. So this whole movie was using Chadwick's death, as a way to manipulate you into feeling sorry for the entire film, and hope you'll be nice to it. That's disgusting, and the director, writers, producers, and studio should be ashamed of themselves for using such a cheap and gross tactic. If they truly were honoring Chadwick like they said they were prior to this film being released, then they would've killed his character in a heroic/honorable way, or the better option, respected Chadwick's wish, and recast that way another black male actor could have a chance on the big screen.

Middle Ground

The only two decent things for the movie is Namor and the action. While Namor is a very decent bad guy, I felt like he could've been a lot better had they fleshed him out more. And while the action is pretty good, it's hard too really enjoy it, because of that slow pace, and the fact that sometimes the special effects just didn't look right.

Pros

Really the only positive I feel comfortable giving this film is the acting. While the story was nothing to really brag about, at least the actors and actresses did a good job trying to make this less of a painful experience.

I just can't in good conscience give Black Panther: Wakanda Forever a good rating. Not only from the perspective of the lackluster pacing, the poor writing for Shuri and Riri, desperate attempts at stakes, which not only didn't make much sense, but also in retrospect kinda made the Wakandans look like cowards, and everything else I've complained about, but also from the fact Chadwick's death was used as a cheap way to us feel something emotional for the movie. Sure, a decent villain and action and some really good acting helped a little, but remember, this movie was being marketed as a beautiful and respectable tribute to the late Chadwick Boseman. The finished product is anything but that.

My final rating is Awful!

So yeah, please don't see this movie folks. Anyhow, that's all for me, due come back on Thursday, Nov 17th, for my review of 2007's Enchanted. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.