#MovieReview: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever misses its star [Watch]

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is slickly made and introduces some exciting new characters, but suffers from a huge Chadwick Boseman shaped hole.

Boseman, who starred as the titular character in Black Panther (2018), tragically passed away from colon cancer in 2020, forcing widespread changes to the Wakanda Forever script.

The film has to reckon with his death, fit into the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and introduce an entire new civilisation, leaving it overstuffed and with uneven pacing.

But when Marvel’s best director, Ryan Coogler, is allowed to put his signature world-building talents to use, Wakanda Forever delivers some of the best individual scenes in any MCU outing.

King T’Challa’s death and ensuing mourning period is well-handled, while the new underwater world of Talokan is richly imagined.

Unfortunately, these scenes bookend the movie’s muddy middle period which drags the audience through a 160-minute runtime.

It misses the propulsive performance of Boseman, who was able to hold the screen equally well during battle scenes and speeches to the UN.

An almost fully female main cast is solid, with a particularly good performance from Angela Bassett, but with no one to unite around, Wakanda and Wakanda Forever are both worse off.

Spoilers to follow

At the end of Black Panther, King T’Challa introduces Wakanda – previously a hidden empire – to the outside world in a bid to bring the international community closer together while fighting Thanos.

But, of course, there are nefarious forces who see the value of Wakanda’s vibranium and have interests contrary to world peace.

In the hunt for the precious metal, another once-hidden nation (Talokan) is unearthed, much to the natural displeasure of their powerful king Namor (Tenoch Huerta Mejia).

Talokan is an underwater Mayan-inspired haven where many residents share natural cynicism of western powers after their previous empire on land was razed.

This makes Talokan and Wakanda somewhat natural bedfellows, but they disagree on how to defend their homelands against external threats, turning them on each other.

Namor becomes an effective villain, because one cannot help but sympathise with him and his attempts to protect his people.

This disagreement forms the central conflict of the film, with decent if not outstanding fight scene set-pieces taking place in Talokan and Wakanda along the way.

Wakanda Forever recovers for an emotional ending, but lacks the layered undercurrent that made Black Panther such a success.

A serviceable superhero outing with heart, but not focus.

Rated PG for some language and violence.
3/5.

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