Black Panther: Wakanda Forever comes to UK cinemas from November 11, 2022.
Synopsis
Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett), Shuri (Letitia Wright), M’Baku (Winston Duke), Okoye (Danai Gurira) and the Dora Milaje (including Florence Kasumba), fight to protect their nation from intervening world powers in the wake of King T’Challa’s death. As the Wakandans strive to embrace their next chapter, the heroes must band together with the help of War Dog Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) and Everett Ross (Martin Freeman) and forge a new path for the kingdom of Wakanda.
Review
In 2018, all eyes were on the release of Marvel Studios’ Black Panther, a watershed moment in comic book movie history. Presenting the fictional nation of Wakanda and it’s new leader, T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman), as the first black superhero to headline a movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
In 2022, all eyes are on returning writer/director Ryan Coogler as he grapples with the immeasurable sense of loss left behind by Boseman’s passing. But whilst Wakanda Forever faces its grief head on, it continues to be an incredibly uplifting experience for the audience.
Clocking in at a whopping 161 minutes, there is a lot to contend with when watching this film. Outside of dealing with the loss King T’Challa, Wakanda is also facing a geopolitical crisis. The world wants to get its hands on their Vibranium. They face incursions at every turn. But all that is made much more complicated by the arrival of Namor (Tenoch Huerta).
Coogler’s script does an outstanding job of balancing a very delicate tone. Wakanda Forever is always respectful to the loss the entire cast and crew are feeling. But it never shies away from giving us a classic Marvel adventure which is full of high stakes action. In fact, this is probably the most solid script for an MCU movie since Avengers: Infinity War.
The cold opening is sure to take many by surprise. Within seconds Coogler and co. have fully communicated to the audience how they’re going to deal with the elephant in the room. The story choices are brave. But more importantly they’re unforgiving. That strength of storytelling is evident throughout the film and reflect the unpredictable nature of living with grief.
I don’t need to tell you that no two people grief in the same way. Coogler has not only recognised that but he has also built that in to the DNA of Wakanda Forever. No two characters deal with the death of T’Challa in the same way. For Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) it’s about leaning on Wakandan traditions for comfort. For Shuri (Letitia Wright) it’s about finding a focal point for her sense of anger and regret.
In this regard, the film feels incredibly organic and that truly surprised me. I had anticipated a fairly narrow approach to the subject matter. But from Bassett’s award worthy performance right down to the funeral scenes glimpsed in the trailer, Wakanda Forever just gets it right.
Coming out of the first act it’s clear that Coogler doesn’t intend to keep the film focussed on events in Wakanda. A trip to a research outpost illustrates how the rest of the world is approaching the fictional nation. After the events of Black Panther and Infinity War/Endgame the rest of the world wants to get their hands on Vibranium, the equally fictional and indestructible metal.
The Vibranium storyline gives Wakanda Forever the narrative thrust it needs to power through the rest of that bloated runtime. It gives a global scale which solo-MCU movies generally lack. It also drives home the point that, despite grief, the world goes on. Our troubles don’t simply melt away and that is particularly true here.
That being said there are still a couple of drawbacks. The film not only serves as an introduction for Namor and his entire underwater nation. It also has to introduce Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams aka Ironheart. The character is doing a reverse Ms. Marvel. Being introduced on the big screen before making her way to Disney+ for her own series.
There’s also the introduction of Michaela Coel’s new Dora Milaje warrior, Aneka. Her screen time is sadly minimal but she still serves an important role in the story. But with so much to introduce, it does mean this feels like a lot of setup for projects happening elsewhere in the MCU.
Despite that, the underwater kingdom of Talokan looks spectacular. It transcends the murkiness of the deep ocean setting to be something truly unique. There’s no comparison to Aquaman’s Atlantis. It’s absolutely its own beast, heavily influenced by Aztec and Mayan cultures. That also ties in to the origin story for the entire of Namor’s people. It’s updated a little from the comics but still includes the mention of a very important M-word in the Marvel Universe.
Also return for Wakanda Forever is composer Ludwig Goransson. Since the last Black Panther, Goransson has gone on to huge acclaim for his score to The Mandalorian and Christopher Nolan’s Tenet. Here’s back at full steam for another huge score. It has influences reflecting all of the culture depicted. It’s loud. It’s bombastic and it will no doubt earn him an Oscar nomination for Best Original Score.
Verdict
Wakanda Forever is a profound exploration of grief. It’s respectfully mournful to the loss of Chadwick. But it’s also poignant and at times hilarious. Coogler has produced one of the MCU’s best screenplays.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
