Black Panther: Wakanda Forever: A Very Touching Portrayal of Grief

I'll never forget that day when Chadwick Boseman died. I was sitting on the couch, scrolling through Instagram, when I saw the picture of the actor on his page. The caption began with, "It is with immeasurable grief that we confirm the passing of Chadwick Boseman." It took a second to really click because I couldn't believe it. Then a wave of sadness swept over me. I think that's how it was for everyone. What really shocked me was that he was battling cancer for the past four years and no one (save a few that were close to him) knew about it. He meant the world to so many people and inspired a whole generation of kids who got to see a hero like them on the big screen. When it was announced that the sequel to Black Panther was still moving ahead, I was a little surprised. How were they going to do it? They really only had two options: Recast or move ahead. As bad as it sounds, I wouldn't have minded a recast. Boseman's brother agreed also and said Chadwick "knew the power of the character and the positive influence it carries." On the other hand, though, how could you replace him? Boseman infused that character with so much energy and heart that any actor chosen would've been under an unbelievable amount of scrutiny from everyone. It had to have been an extremely difficult situation, but one thing's for sure: Everyone poured their heart into this movie and it shows.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is directed by Ryan Coogler and stars Letitia Wright, Danai Gurira, Tenoch Huerta, Lupita Nyong'o, Angela Bassett, and Winston Duke. After mourning the loss of King T'Challla, the people of Wakanda must fight against a new threat, Namor (Huerta), the ruler of an underwater nation who seeks war with the surface world. With all of that out of the way, let's dive into the review.

This movie is a beautiful tribute the the late Chadwick Boseman. The way it handles the themes of loss and grief are extremely touching and a bit heartbreaking. There's a moment early in the film where there's complete silence and I could hear everyone in the audience sniffling. At times, this felt like a bit of therapy for not just the characters, but the director as well. Ryan Coogler gave his all for this movie and it's evident that he did. What really makes this movie work are the performances. Yes, superhero movies are fun to watch for the showy action sequences, but in Wakanda Forever, it's the characters' grief that takes the forefront. All of the performances here are great. Wright (even though I don't agree with her personal views) did a great job as Shuri, T'Challa's younger sister. She's much more mature than the last film, as a result of her brother's passing. We spend most of the movie with her and how she's processing his death. It felt very real and it was heartbreaking to watch at times. This time around we get to see more of her relationship with her mother, Ramonda. They are the only two left in the royal line. Angela Bassett crushes it as the queen. Not only is she grieving the loss of her son, Ramonda is in charge of Wakanda as well. Bassett absolutely nails it and you really get to see the toll all of this responsibility has taken on her. There's a scene she has with Okoye (Gurira) that's incredible. A little of it is in the trailer, but I won't give it away. There's been some talk of her getting an Oscar nomination for this movie and I wouldn't be mad if this were the case. This movie also introduces a couple of new characters as well, the main one being Namor. Tenoch Huerta killed it in this role. Namor is the ruler of Talokan (in the comics it's Atlantis), and is willing to do what's necessary to protect his people. In a way, he's kind of similar to Black Adam. The only difference is that Wakanda Forever does this premise much better. In the movie, Namor does some really messed up stuff, but he's doing it out of a genuine fear that his people will be destroyed. Huerta knocked it out of the park and I really hope to see him in more things in the future. Another newcomer is Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne), a tech genius that goes to MIT. She's hysterical in the movie and Thorne did a really good job with the character. This got me more excited for the Ironheart show. I don't necessarily know if she needed to be in this movie (more on that in a bit), but she was a welcome addition. As opposed to more recent MCU projects, the humor really worked for me here. It was never overdone. Most of my laughs came from Riri and M'Baku (Duke). I just wish we had seen more of the former. The set and costume design in this movie is gorgeous. In addition to the people of Wakanda, we are introduced to the Talokan. The costumes were very Mesoamerican and felt authentic. Costume designer Ruth E. Carter did a stellar job here and she better get another Oscar nomination for her work. Namor's throne is a piece of set work that really stood out to me. I mean, it's the jaws of a Megalodon in an arena. How cool is that? The movie, for the most part, is really beautiful to look at. It's not as vibrant as the first one, which makes sense because the film has a more somber tone. In one of the trailers, Nakia is looking over the beach and it's just gorgeous. The score is well done also. Ludwig Göransson, yet again, brings his A-game.

I mentioned earlier that I didn't know if Riri really needed to be in this movie. This has a lot to do with the movie's length. I've said a thousand times that I love long movies. The caveat is that the film needs to earn that length. Wakanda Forever didn't really need to be 2 hours and 41 minutes. Much of this has to do with subplots like Riri's. While her performance is great and I really loved the character, it felt like she was just put in there to promote her new Disney+ show. There's another character that's in the movie that didn't do much at all. They weren't really contributing a whole lot to the plot. I won't spoil who it is because this person hasn't been in the marketing. I was also kind of bummed that M'Baku didn't get to do more. He's pretty much absent for the first half of the movie. When he's onscreen, he's great. Even though he's just hysterical, there's a really sweet relationship he has with Shuri that's kind of like a big brother. I wanted to see a little more of it. Some of the CG was a little rough, too. This was mainly in the third act, however. Sometimes it was very noticeable when there was greenscreen and some of the characters, when fighting, seemed a little too floaty. They didn't feel like they had a lot of weight to them. This next critique might not even be a criticism so bear with me. There were some moments in the movie that took place at night. It was extremely hard to see what was going on. What bothered me was that these were important scenes. I didn't know if this was just the theater I was in or if it was for everyone. It wasn't until I saw someone on YouTube say the same thing when I thought it might be more widespread. I talked about Talokan earlier. It's a really cool location, but I just wished we had seen a little more of it. We only see a few locations and it's not shown as much as Wakanda. The movie tells us all of these things about the place but we don't see it. As with all other Marvel movies, there is a mid-credits scene. The scene itself is fantastic and added a ton to the movie. My main problem was that it wasn't in the film itself. As soon as the credits started rolling, I saw people getting up to leave (it's been 14 years people, c'mon). They were missing a very important part of the story. It actually fixed some problems I initially had. I'm not sure if this was a studio decision or Ryan Coogler decided to do it. It was just an odd choice.

To wrap everything up, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is a great conclusion to Phase 4, which has been a little rocky to say the least. It serves as a beautiful tribute to Chadwick Boseman, the acting is fantastic (particularly Wright and Bassett), Namor is a great addition to the MCU, the set design and costume work are gorgeous, the humor works, and the music is great. What holds the movie back, however, is the length, some unnecessary characters, iffy CGI, and the stupid decision to not have the mid-credits scene be part of the movie. By the time this review comes out, it will already have been a few days since I saw the movie. I think I'm actually liking it a little more having sat with it for a while. I'm really excited to see it again! If I were to rate it, I'd give Black Panther: Wakanda Forever an 8-8.5/10. As I said before, be sure to bring some tissues!