**½
My people call me K’uk’ulkan. But my enemies call me Namor.
Black Panther was a good movie that dealt with some issues that ran contrary to the don’t-rock-the-boat nature of the mega-blockbuster Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Wakanda Forever dared to ask, what if they rocked the boat even more, in a way that was really obvious and not particularly productive. The great actresses of the original cast gave well acted performances (Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright, and Angela Bassett). Their varied roles and demeanors contrasted distinctly from the two polar opposites of masculinity in that film, from the toxic Killmonger to healthy T’Challa/Black Panther. There was very little T’Challa in this sequel, since Chadwick Boseman who played him, died in 2020. There was also very little Killmonger, whose character died in the first movie. The film acts as a tribute to the late Chadwick Boseman, and it succeeded insofar as it really made me think about him and miss him. Letitia Wright’s Shuri has the mantle of the Black Panther thrust upon her, both in the film’s plot and in reality. I found her struggle a little bit interesting, but also like an okay episode of Star Trek with technobabble and special effects pervading until there was a technological breakthrough.
The antagonists in the film are the colonizing forces who want to get vibranium from Wakanda and the Atlanteans who decide they want to join Wakanda in their fight, but not as an equal ally. Knowing that Namor would eventually turn into a future protagonist, as the Marvel villains sometimes do, it made the conflict underwhelming. One thing that upset me was at the end of the movie, when Wakanda has won (not a spoiler, it’s called “Wakanda Forever”), how the Wakandan leaders like Shuri act like “mission accomplished!” It’s the end of Return of the Jedi instead of Aragorn with his small remnants of armies at the first ending of Return of the King. it seemed so artificial and basically ruins the sentimental denouement where the film returns to the memory of Chadwick Boseman.
All told the film feels like just another Marvel movie, unlike the original Black Panther which felt fresh and different. It is not terribly shot or very shoddily acted, although at least one scene was really poorly lit. Where the Atlanteans came from was something I found interesting. I liked the changes from the comics, actually. I was surprised to see that Ryan Coogler directed and co-wrote this, as he did the original. Perhaps he was grieving and this was the best that he could do. After some disastrous comic book movies, “fine” was where the bar was set. But Marvel had a good run; Coogler had shown himself to be a good director; so “fine” from him is a disappointment.
Jabrody's Movielog 