‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ is constantly battling itself
Coogler and co. struggle to balance personal grieving and the needs of corporate filmmaking
I do not envy the creators of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Its 2018 predecessor was a certified cultural phenomenon that cemented King T’Challa (played by the late Chadwick Boseman) as one of the new faces of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Then, of course, Infinity War and Endgame happened, which allowed the character to shine at both films’ pivotal moments. A sequel was all but guaranteed — Ryan Coogler had apparently already looked to make a film about a kind of grief, where T’Challa would be mourning the time he lost during Thanos’ blip and what it means to return from the dead.
Yet, as we all know, Boseman tragically passed away in August 2020. Difficult questions had to be asked. To what extent should the still-developing Black Panther sequel be about the collective grief for a talented, kindly actor? How does the story of Wakanda continue, following a variety of major MCU milestones? But perhaps the most important question for me is this; how do you reconcile honouring Chadwick Boseman while still having to be a Marvel movie?
Truth be told, I do not think Black Panther: Wakanda Forever answers this question to a satisfying degree. And how could it? Coogler’s film has pretty much no choice but to exist as two separate entities in the same body. Perhaps both of these entities could have been more effective had they not been required to combine, but often what ends up happening is that Wakanda Forever flips between having some of the most effective MCU storytelling in years while also necessarily needing to progress larger storylines and, despite itself, entertain.
Wakanda Forever begins immediately following the in-universe death of T’Challa, as the entire Wakandan nation, including his sister Shuri (Letitia Wright), his mother Ramonda (Angela Bassett), his lover Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) and his friend/general Okoye (Danai Guira) mourn the loss of their king. Soon after, a new threat arises from the sea; the mysterious kingdom of Talokan whose armies are led by a man with tipped ears and winged feet known as Namor (Tenoch Huerta Mejía).
The precise details of T’Challa’s death are kept fairly vague, which I did sincerely appreciate. I don’t think the specifics are really all that important to the film’s narrative, given we are all tragically familiar with Boseman’s passing away. The film opens with what is practically a public funeral for the King (both for Wakanda and the theatre audience) that sees his coffin taken throughout the African city in a sequence that’s quite well shot and respectfully done.
But then — T’Challa’s suddenly-CGI coffin is taken up by a Wakandan gravity lift into a ship, and it zooms away to take him somewhere else. This moment perfectly captures the contradictory nature of the film. Wakanda Forever tries to exist as a moving tribute to Chadwick Boseman that also has to be a big, overly expensive Marvel film. Occasionally, Coogler will strike this balance well. He treats the passing of his late friend with respect, and extracts great performances out of the entire cast because of it. Letitia Wright’s Shuri takes a much larger role in the film where she shines in the depiction of familial loss. Lupita Nyong’o is obviously great if a bit underused, while Angela Bassett has some of the film’s most powerful scenes, conveying a palpable sense of loss and powerful emotion that makes her performance one of the most memorable in 15 years of this franchise.
Tenoch Huerta Mejía’s Namor is also a genuinely great addition to this universe. It’s such simple praise, but he’s an antagonist with genuinely understandable motives. What elevates that even further, though, is that Huerta Mejía is a delight to behold on screen. He’s never irredeemably villainous but sports a sinister streak that often rears its head, and Huerta Mejía plays the role with a convincing charisma — I don’t think anyone would be upset to see more Namor in this franchise. He’s an interesting foil for Shuri, both being characters feeling an obligation to protect their nation from powerful forces. Namor is also the best part of the action sequences — all the Talokan stuff was surprisingly comic book-y as they jump off whales and Namor zips around like a dragonfly, which I actually liked a lot. However, I pondered as I watched it if a film that is also trying to be about grief was really the best place for this.
Not all the character introductions are so strong, though. Dominique Thorne makes her debut as Riri Williams/Ironheart in Wakanda Forever, a character likely shaping up to be a very important Tony Stark successor for the next few phase or two of this damn cinematic universe. Riri’s the reason the main plot initiates, but it felt clear to me that Coogler and co. didn’t really know what to do with her after the first act as she mostly hangs around awkwardly for comedic relief and to show up in what I thought was quite a… lacklustre Iron Man-type suit design at the end.
The action in Wakanda Forever was also quite a mixed bag for me. What frustrated me was how tantalizingly close it was to being good (great, even!), but let down by some key choreography and editing choices. The film’s climactic final battle was particularly indicative of this for me. The editing did the usual Marvel thing where it’ll cut between two or three different things happening at once, often resulting in a lack of momentum. What could’ve been a highly personal and brutal moment of two characters really fighting is undercut by shots of armies swarming on CGI location and some particularly average-looking, overdesigned suits of armour.
Ultimately, I find that these problems are reflective of Wakanda Forever’s biggest flaw, which is that it’s missing a key piece that snaps it all together to recontextualise the whole piece as something special. Part of me understands it was never going to have that piece I wanted it to have, as the movie was always inevitably going to be required to turn a profit and continue to develop the wider MCU storyline while also trying to meaningfully connect with its audience. Despite Coogler’s best efforts, the soul of the film always feels smothered by its existence as a corporate product.
Even if it handles its subject matter with much more care and nuance than most of the other films in the franchise, even if Namor is quite a compelling villain, even if the performances are well above average for these films, there’s a single fact that infers the flaws it desperately tries to fight against. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever may be a very thoughtful, respectful and often well-made Marvel movie ostensibly about familial and collective grief, but at the end of the day it’s still that: a Marvel movie.
6/10
