Black Panther Wakanda Forever Review: The Black Panther Lives!
Black Panther Wakanda Forever was a fantastic film! A more emotionally driven story with some amazing acting and a great tribute to the late Chadwick Boseman. It is a film that knows how to balance it’s characters and action wonderfully.
Black Panther Wakanda Forever Review: The Black Panther Lives! | Prairie Grown Reviews
Director: Ryan Coogler
9.7
Black Panther Wakanda Forever was a film that I was really looking forward to as I loved the first film but almost more so because I wanted to know how they would honour Chadwick Boseman. I knew this film had a heavy and huge task of trying to honour the passing of its leading star while also presenting a future for the character of Black Panther and Wakanda.
While I was quite excited for the film I was curious but a little skeptical that they would be able to pull that off. Having now seen the film I will say that it was fantastic and my second favourite phase 4 film. I want to say that this movie did what most action/superhero films struggle to do and that is let scenes really sit, having the emotions of the scene carry instead of action or exposition.
I thought this was without a doubt one of the most if not the most emotional films the MCU has ever released and it really helps ground this film. This is a movie to celebrate Wakanda and I love that, with the loss of their leader we get to see how Wakanda has to move forward and we get to see how the rest of the world reacts to that. One thing that I think is a positive for this film that some might see as a negative is that it is not super connected to the rest of the MCU. If you have only seen the first Black Panther you could watch this film without watching any other MCU films from before or since. Yes, there are references to past events and or storylines that could have an effect on the larger film but that is by no means the focus of this film. This film is truly about Wakanda and its people and I love that. To start with its people I thought the performances in this were probably the best out of any solo MCU film. The emotion the actors portray is just so real and natural. You can tell they pulled from the real loss of their friend Chadwick to help with these scenes. Angela Bassett as Queen Ramonda is getting a lot of attention and rightfully so. She is a powerhouse in this movie and she has one speech with Okoye where you can just feel all the emotions. My other favourite has to be Letitia Wright as Shuri, she elevates this character and takes her in a direction
I would not have predicted her character even knowing her role would be increased. I just felt her emotions throughout and the internal struggle as to what her role in Wakanda will now be. I would be amiss if I did not at least mention Namor, as played by Tenoch Huerta, who is our villain in this movie and I thought his character was really interesting. I particularly thought his origin and backstory were fascinating and it added this new world to the MCU that I quite enjoyed. He could also be charming at times so I could be more sympathetic towards him and his goal to protect his people. The other characters like M’Baku, Nakia, Riri Williams, and Okoye were excellent, with their actors giving their all.
Now to discuss the story a bit I really like the struggle for vibranium was a really cool aspect and a plotline I could see continued in future projects. It really showed how the real world would act if there were a country that had a precious resource that no one else really had access to. A resource that can be turned into a nearly indestructible weapon and of course the other countries want a piece of the pie. Even though this movie is largely concerned with a fake African country with a superpowered protector fighting an underwater civilisation
I still found they managed to make the plot realistic with many real-world aspects. The action in this film was also quite good. Now it’s not the film’s focus and there’s not a lot of it but when there is I thought the fights were creative, and brutal and had a good impact on the story that was engaging to watch. Finally, I thought the many ways the film honoured Chadwick Boseman and his portrayal as T’Challa were really tasteful and well done. I don’t want to give them away but I was certainly moved and it did make me a bit sad at times but you smile because he had such a great impact.
All in all, I thought this was a really excellent film that I know many of you have already seen and if you haven’t I suggest you head to the theatre now!