Black Panther: Wakanda Forever - Review

After a recent decline this year, the Marvel Cinematic Universe saw their return to form with Black Panther Wakanda Forever, a sequel that also serves as a tribute to the late Chadwick Boseman, who passed away in August 2020. Here are my thoughts on the film.

One of the best things about the movie is the tribute that it pays to Chadwick Boseman. They did not overdo it on the theme of grief, and the movie without Bosem is emotionally different as he was a highlight of the first film. With the off-screen death of T’Challa in the film, it almost feels like Boseman’s death all over again. Another highlight of this film is the character Namor, played by Tenoch Huerta. He had a light touch of humour and a compelling backstory and was also quite intimidating, with Huerta giving an excellent performance. The excellent costumes and sets have still retained their amazing quality from the first film, and the action and visuals are stunning.

The best part of the movie is the arc of Shuri, played by Letitia Wright. She went through a journey of dealing with the loss of her brother and going through a path of vengeance after meeting Erik Killmonger (Micheal B. Jordan) in the Astral Planes when she consumes the Heart-Shaped Herb to become the Black Panther to take on Namor, before eventually deciding to spare Namor and make an alliance with his people. I also quite enjoyed Micheal B. Jordan’s cameo as Erik Killmonger as his character in the previous film was one of the best villains in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and his role in the film had an impact on Shuri’s arc.

However, I did have some issues with a subplot involving Everett Ross, played by Martin Freeman, and Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus. In this film, it is revealed that they were married once, and I felt that the subplot was quite pointless and didn’t affect the story. I also felt that M’Baku, played by Winston Duke, was a bit underutilised in this film, as his character of M’Baku was fun in this film, but I do wish that we could have seen him more.

Overall, I would give this film 8.5/10. It was an emotional tribute to Chadwick Boseman and it is a visually stunning film with a great soundtrack, but could have benefitted from a few things to make the score a lot higher.