Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Movie Review: Heartening And Cathartic, With Powerful Performances

Cast: Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira, Angela Bassett, Winston Duke, Dominique Thorne, Martin Freeman, Tenoch Huerta, Florence Kasumba, Michaela Coel, Alex Livinalli, Mable Cadena
Director: Ryan Coogler

The late Chadwick Boseman's absence in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever can be felt deeply - also because director Ryan Coogler goes heavy-handed with the sentiments and eulogies. Boseman had brought great heart and attitude to the celebrated role of the first Black superhero (to get a standalone movie) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). His untimely death following a private battle with colon cancer forced the scriptwriter / director to change the course of the sequel drastically. Coogler in fact uses that unfortunate circumstance to address the loss, within the movie.

With Wakanda grieving over the death of King T'Challa, the people, rudderless without their protector, have to continue protecting their precious 'vibranium' resource from greedy nations from across the world.

Their relationship with the UN gets more complicated and suddenly they find themselves fighting a new unknown enemy in the form of Namor (Tenoch Huerta) from Talokan - a powerful underwater nation that the world was totally unaware of. The scale is epic but the film also feels intimate and extremely personal because of the treatment employed here.

The world-building here is fresh and strong on exposition and character study.

Shuri (Letitia Wright), at the heart of this movie, gets all the definitive moments while Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o), Okoye (Dania Gurira), M'Baku (Winston Duke), and Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) shed luminosity with their solid presence and rewarding story arcs.

One of the new characters introduced is Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne), a young genius student whose technological versatility rivals that of Tony Stark. She is charismatic and certainly appears to have the potential to grow in stature as the future instalments keep coming.

The manner in which Coogler has incorporated Boseman's passing into the story has a great impact. Namor is an intriguing character here but his grouse and aggression against Wakanda don't stand up to close scrutiny. The underwater world of Talokan has great potential to up the ante in future sequels. It looks quite spectacular -especially with the unique powers that its inhabitants seem to possess.

Wakandan lore of experiencing historical tragedies and their subsequent effects on the people living today and the construct about globalism vs. isolationism, is explored once again.

This film though is as much a tribute to Boseman's short-lived career as it is a homage to a character of King T'Challa/Black Panther that has caught the imagination of the audience so emphatically.

And Coogler makes it imperative that the audience feel the loss and experience the catharsis through the elegiac grief cycle he orchestrates here.

There's hope at the end of the tunnel though. Shuri, ravaged by guilt and embarking on vengeance gains redemption en route while a new lineage emerges from the shadows of the gloomy past.

With a runtime of 161 minutes, the narrative of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever tends to weigh you down intermittently - but then there are also those beautiful moments created by a strongly rhythmic musical score, evocative songs, powerful performances, fantastic production design, and vividly enchanting cinematography to keep you grounded and absorbed in what is happening on the screen!