Written by Ryan Coogler And Joe Cole
Directed by Ryan Coogler
M'Baku: "The Black Panther lives."
To get the elephant out of the room first. There was a part of me that thought when Chadwick Boseman tragically passed away in 2020 that the best thing the MCU could've done was to pull this sequel from the schedule. That maybe it could've been delayed for another phase and potentially the role of T'Challa might have been recast when enough time had passed.
However the MCU had a different idea and this sequel had a hell of a balancing act to perform. It needed to be a tribute to the hard work and legacy of both Chadwick Boseman as an actor and of course to T'Challa as a character. This was not a perfect sequel but make no mistake - both Chadwick Boseman and T'Challa are honoured and their respective legacies are treated with the utmost respect while also moving the story forward for the remaining characters and the MCU as a whole.
The movie opened with the death of T'Challa as well as Shuri's (Letitia Wright) anguish of being unable to duplicate the heart shaped herb, which Shuri had believed would've saved her brother's life. Then we cut to a year later and while Shuri was unable to let go over her grief, her mother Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) had to deal with the US government underestimating Wakanda's strength as a nation along with their own quest to access Vibranium for their own purposes.
Of course the US government would not be the biggest problem for Wakanda in this movie. Nope that would come in the form of underwater ruler, Namor (Tenoch Huerta Mejia), who made it pretty clear to both Ramonda and Shuri if Wakanda didn't ally itself with his kingdom, Talokan, he'd take out Wakanda first in his war against the surface world.
The MCU have had their mixed bag of villains but I definitely think that Namor has quickly risen up the rank as one of the strongest. Huerta gave a charismatic performance with Namor given a very intriguing backstory stepped in South America lore while Talokan offered something of an interesting alternative to the DCU's depiction of Atlantis.
Not to mention that Namor's actions and the unfortunate death of Ramonda definitely forced Shuri's hand into assuming her brother's former mantle, which I did have mixed feelings about. Saying that though, the fight scenes between the new Black Panther and Namor are handled well enough before the two of them come to something of impasse. While Shuri might have taken a while to find her footing as both a potential new ruler and hero, Namor seemed content to bide his time against a bigger future obstacle.
As for the rest of the movie, we did get an introduction to the future Ironheart, Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne), who made a solid impression while characters such Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o), Okoye (Danai Gurira), Ayo (Florence Kusuma) and Aneka (Michaela Cole) all had some great moments. It's a very female led movie and aside from Namor himself, the only male characters to really do anything were M'Baku (Winston Duke) and Everett Ross (Martin Freeman) and even their roles are somewhat scaled back by comparison.
- The title sequence led the charge in being dedicated to Chadwick Boseman with various clips of T'Challa appearing in the movie.
- Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louise Dreyfuss) not only appeared in this movie, but she was revealed to be Everett's ex-wife and going by the events, it looks like she'll be setting up the Thunderbolts as a result.
- Both Okoye and Aneka became the Midnight Angels upon Shuri building them their suits. Aneke was also romantically involved with Ayo.
- The mid credit scene revealed that Nakia living in Haiti with a son named Toussaint, whose Wakandan named translated as T'Challa.
- Standout music: Rihanna's Lift Me Up. Some great score music as well.
- Chronology: Over six years since the events of the first movie.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever doesn't hit the same mark as the first movie but it's a sequel that had a hell of a task ahead of it. For the most part, I think Ryan Coogler managed to tackle as best he could and many would've faltered under the weight of it as well. The movie served as a touching tribute both Chadwick Boseman and T'Challa, while pushing the story forward in a respectful way. A worthy sequel in more ways than one.
Rating: 8 out of 10
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