MOVIE REVIEW: Black Panther - Wakanda Forever

 (Mistakes - Uppermost)

(A quick note here: The internet cannot seem to agree on the spelling of 'Talocan/Talokan'. I stuck with the former. My apologies if this is incorrect.)

Can we all just take a moment and consider the situation that Ryan Coogler found himself in when the time came to make the sequel to ‘Black Panther’? Let’s just think about the hurdles he had to get over, shall we?

First, there’s the general success of ‘Black Panther’ itself. As a Marvel movie, it’s regarded as one of the best, rightfully so. It was an absolute monster of a success, so even with the cards stacked in his favor, a sophomore effort was always going to be a huge trick to pull off.

…Of course, we all know that Ryan Coogler didn’t have anything CLOSE to a well-stacked deck.

You can’t talk about ‘Wakanda Forever’ without mentioning the passing of Chadwick Boseman. Boseman -was- Black Panther and going anywhere near the IP without him seemed an impossible task. How do you make a ‘Black Panther’ movie without the Black Panther? 

This presented yet another problem: Coogler was virtually obligated to spend at least part of the second film ‘in memoriam’. This seems like a given, except how do you balance spending a respectful amount of time doing this while also making a film that continues to be watchable outside of that? You’ve only got two hours for a decent flick -- two and a half, if you’re feeling ballsy — so…how do you handle that?

Aaaaaaand then there’s what can only be described as ‘drama’ surrounding one of the principle cast members that Coogler had to deal with in addition to everything else. Dealing with that drama without compromising the film itself couldn’t have been easy.

When you bear all of this in mind, Coogler’s task must surely have been too great for even his considerable talent.

...Was it?

THE SHORT-ISH VERSION:

...I've re-written this part of the review half a dozen times now in an effort to try and articulate this tastefully -- and not be completely swarmed over by legions of angry fans.

I -do- think that Coogler and the entire team working on 'Wakanda Forever' had an impossible task. I think that, with the passage of time, the reality of this will become more and more apparent. I also think that 'Wakanda Forever' is probably the best that it could have been under the circumstances. If you keep reading this article, you'll see any number of praises and critiques from me about this film. A film that, for several YEARS required its cast and crew to repeatedly bathe in mourning and remembrance of a dear friend. I cannot imagine what that would be like.

Bearing all of this in mind, bearing the obstacles that I mentioned in my opening in mind, I think that 'Wakanda Forever' is probably the best film that it could have been. It is not perfect. That it -is- is the accomplishment, and I think it should be celebrated for that.

If you're interested in my more detailed breakdown of the film, keep reading. 

THE LONG VERSION:

I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that when someone asks me about this film, the first thing that comes to mind is, ‘Tragic’. Every single obstacle that I mentioned in this review’s opening is a cut that contributes to this film’s ultimate demise. This isn’t to say that the film is bad but every time something good starts to come to the surface, you get a taste and go, “YES, give me more of that!” And then the film moves in another direction.

It’s difficult to talk about the problems I had with the film without spoiling it — there’ll be plenty of that at the end for those who want it — but I’m going to give it a shot. 

A great deal of this film is wrapped around something that happens within the first five minutes. The incident in question is completely understandable, basically unavoidable, and sets the tone for the rest of the movie. 'Wakanda Forever' feels much more like a character film than a traditional Marvel movie by the time the credits roll. As a character film, it's impressive, dealing with grief, coping, rage, despair, growth, fear, and a number of other very understandable emotions that come in the wake of death. It also affects the pacing, slowing the movie down dramatically. Indeed, the film has a whopping 2 hours and 45 minutes running time. By the time it’s over, you feel every single minute of it. That's because 'Wakanda Forever' also suffers from what feels like clumsy storytelling and lackluster, painfully CG'd action sequences. I am choosing to believe that the catalyst for these things stems from the things I mention in this review's opening rather than a more mundane cause. 

The film contains any number of instances of sharp, clever, subtle humor and action sequences designed to get the blood pumping. Those instances are only successful part of the time, either because they don't fit with the movie or they're simply not done well. That's a shame because when the movie is on, it’s very, VERY on. It just spends far too much time being off. There are some story beats that simply make no sense at all and at least one instance of Deus Ex Machina — quite literally — that has the potential to completely unbalance the entire MCU.

…Except it probably won’t because of how much of an afterthought it was.

Several supporting characters are basically throw-away parts and the newcomer nation of Talocan is passed over FAR too quickly. This is CRIMINAL.

 Perhaps most frustrating of all, I came away from the film feeling like it didn’t HAVE to be as long as it was. Some of those story beats that I mentioned could have been removed from the film completely, it would have tightened it up significantly, and it wouldn’t have impacted the story at all.

There are some incredible moments in the film, moments of character development, great story beats that will have long-felt impact in the MCU. (You’ll want to be strapped in for the big reveal that starts Act 3. The musical cue, the moment itself, is one of the MCU’s absolute best. As the credits rolled, I felt that I was left with a film that, while extremely sentimental for all of the right reasons, still suffered for all of the wrong ones. It’s ‘not bad.’ ‘They did an excellent job, considering…’ There are surely much weaker entries in the MCU and I have no doubt that many people will argue that this film is certainly 'good enough'. I just expected more.

Maybe that's on me.

HERE THERE BE SPOILERS!

- Like I said earlier, when Shuri finally gets into the suit for the first time, that musical cue that plays might have been the single best moment in the whole film for me. Maybe one of the best moments in the entire MCU. Thaaaat said...

- It's good that she gets her moment because literally EVERY OTHER MOMENT with her in that suit runs the gamut between unimpressive and insulting. If Shuri was trying to do homage to the mantle of the Black Panther, she blew it. The ultimate resolution between her and Namor simply does not make up for the path she took to get there.

- M’Baku is a treasure and steals every scene he’s in. He’s gone through such a wonderful character evolution. Winston Duke is basically perfect.

- If you would have asked me about Shuri being the Black Panther back when the first movie came out, i would have said it was a slam dunk. It’s incredibly bittersweet now because of the … drama surrounding Letitia Wright.

- There was literally no reason whatsoever for Okoye to be stripped of her rank and status. None. Zilch. Zip. Nada. It was utterly out of character for Ramonda to do it and it served no significant purpose to the larger story. Period. The only redeeming thing about that whole scene is the fact that both actresses got to act their hearts out. They both absolutely sold it. It's just a shame that it was completely unnecessary. 

- Namor absolutely stood up in every single scene he was in and he deserves more. Hell, all of Talocan deserves more. You get to see so much of the fascinating place that is Wakanda but you get some too-dark, murky footage of Talocan? Like I said above, CRIMINAL.

- Ooookay, so Talocan is wicked advanced, technologically, but no one thought to sweep Shuri for bugs. Brilliant.

- Shuri talks about her grief burning the world. This is understandable. Translating this, somehow, to “Okay, let’s actually go and burn the world!” Was very much a WTF leap to make. 

- The film establishes Shuri as being consumed by vengeance and grief, so yes, it's OBVIOUSLY a good idea to give her access to the Nuclear Option that is the Heart-Shaped Herb. 

- Can we talk about how chummy Namor was with Shuri and how staggeringly unrealistic that was?! Folks online are talking about the romantic tension between them but no one's talking about how ... squirmy that would be.

- I’m sorry, but Iron Heart deserved a better introduction than this. I am 100% DOWN for that new series and I have no issue at all with Riri Williams at all but man... the suit looked bad and there was just no build-up whatsoever to her suddenly being Tony Stark. And we will quietly draw a veil over how in the hell she managed to build an Arc Reactor for her proto-suit. "Vanko did it, Steve. In his dingy shop." Yes. With detailed blueprints and access to knowledge from one of the Arc's original co-inventors. And even HE didn't do it right on the first go. Just saying, they could have introduced Riri differently. They didn't have to tap her to essentially just support a single plot point that could have been hand-waived a dozen different ways.

- There was no point to the Midnight Angel suit. None. It served no purpose to the plot and was a waste of time.

- Okay, so…Shuri can 3D Print the Heart-Shaped Herb now. At will. Without lead-up. As an afterthought. Sure.

- Why, again, did she see Killmonger?? Don’t get me wrong, it was good to see him chewing scenery again but…why?

- You’re telling me the two most technologically advanced nations in the world do war by…doing melee battle on a boat. Low-tech melee battle. YAAAAAWWWWWWWNNNNN.

- “Hey guys, the lynchpin of this whole operation is the sonic emitter on the bottom of our boat, but don’t worry. We’re going to leave it completely undefended. It’s fine though!”

- Deus Ex Kimoyo bead.

- I’m sorry, how in the blue fuck did The Director Baroness chick BUG Shuri’s Kimoyo beads?! 

- Yeah, out of all of the nations that are going to send special forces to try and invade Wakanda, this film picks the French? Probably the most unrealistic part of the whole film…

- Can we talk about the story beat of Namor wanting to kill the scientists that invented the detection tech? Like...look at how Wakanda is handling this, man! You don't have to do that shit because you can so UTTERLY FLEX on anyone who gainsays you. They found it in your territory? Great. Establish your dominance -- they CLEARLY do this in the film with perfect poise and position -- and life goes on. Everett Ross even makes this point in the movie!

- So, Ryan Coogler is on record as being a big fan of Namor. Such a big fan that they change his origin story. But that's okay, they chose something really original. "Someone had a vision of a god that told them to go find the heart-shaped fish-shaped herb and to eat it and BOOM, Namor! And they're BLUE, see? Not purple!" Yes, I know that the comic origin of Namor comes really close to the one used in the DCU's Aquaman. Could they not have done something a wee bit more original though?

- Wait, so...you're telling me that once they found out that Namor was made by his mother taking the Fish-Shaped Herb while she was pregnant with him, they elected to...what, just not ever do that with anyone else again and deliberately let everyone else continue to be blue and unable to breathe the atmosphere? And fly? Can someone explain this one to me please? 

- Alright, there's a fish-shaped herb and a heart-shaped herb. There's clearly a link between botany and metallurgy here, and NO ONE has explored that further yet? ... Except for the part where Shuri can now 3D Print what is essentially a God Potion.

- One of THE biggest story beats in this film is the fact that vibranium exists outside of Wakanda and...that's never addressed. I hope that gets covered in future movies. Okoye's reaction to this realization is perfect. There are SO MANY corollaries between this incident and real-world elements. This could be SO GOOD. I hope they don't leave this alone.

- I've seen a lot of sympathy for Namor and his people online in the same vein that I saw sympathy and empathy for Killmonger. Let's be clear here: They were both perfectly fine with killing people en masse to accomplish a goal. THAT MAKES THEM BAD GUYS. Namor and his crew marched dozens of innocent people to their deaths. Civilians. Doctors. Emergency Teams. This isn't a 'Shades Of Gray' thing here. Tragic? Maybe. Relatable? Certainly. That's why they're so compelling as villains. But make no mistake, they are villains...and Shuri was lined up to be just as much a villain until the very end. Her actions resulted in the needless deaths of a LOT of people. Her growth arc still involves her doing something very, very bad. But hey, she manufactured the herb and took it, and she has a cool suit now, so...BLACK PANTHER! "But Steve," you cry, "people can change! Forgiveness! Shuri learned to be better!" From who? Her mother? The woman who stripped Okoye of her rank, her authority, and her pride for not being able to defend against something WILDLY out of her control? No one has any high ground left to stand on in this movie by the time the credits roll.

...Except M'Baku of course. Which makes him PERFECT for what the film implies at the end, and I'm glad they did it.

- ...Yes. Yes, I know. The stinger. Yes, I had a problem with it. Several, actually. No, I'm not going to talk about it here.