I was kind of unsure of how to feel about Black Panther: Wakanda Forever whenever Chadwick Boseman passed away. It eased my mind whenever it was announced his role wouldn’t be recast. I got interested in it once that it was announced that the character of Namor would be in the movie. Being able to see one of the more obscure comic book characters on the big screen intrigued me. I ended up really enjoying Wakanda Forever even though my only gripe was with the length of the movie.
I was intrigued by the story that Ryan Coogler wrote. The screenplay that he wrote with Joe Robert Cole was able to work as a tribute to Boseman as well as a way to continue the story of the world. I don’t want to say too much about the story, but I do appreciate how they made Namor’s anger make sense. Rather than being just generally angry, I fully understood his point of view and was on his side. He went about everything in less-than-optimal ways, but I understood him. There were even meditations on grief and anger and how they can affect each other and those around us.
Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke, Florence Kasumba, Dominique Thorne, Michaela Coel, Tenoch Huerta, Martin Freeman, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Angela Bassett star in Wakanda Forever. Tenoch Huerta’s version of Namor made me want to see more of him. I want either a Namor movie or a show on Disney +, either would be good with me. Winston Duke got to be featured more prominently in Wakanda Forever than in the first movie. His character, M’Baku, even got to take on an advisory role with Shuri. Both Letitia Wright and Angela Bassett deal with the heavy subject matter in the story. Along with Lupita Nyong’o we see how different everyone has dealt with T’Challa’s passing. Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s inclusion makes we wonder how this movie will lead into the next Captain America movie, but I don’t want to theorize about that here.
The effects for Wakanda Forever run into the same problems as every other MCU movie. The majority of the effects look amazing but certain scenes weren’t given enough time and that only makes those scenes look even worse. All of the effects that deal with Namor and the rest of Talokan are amazing. The costume design for the different nations make everything look like they belong in those regions. The set design does the exact same thing but grounds the story even more. The score from Ludwig Göransson is amazing. Each song fits the nation that its used in.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is a fitting end for phase four of the MCU with it possibly setting several things up for the future of not only the characters featured but for the world as a whole. This might be the strongest movie in phase four. I do think that a lot of the plot points set up where the United States will go with the next Captain America movie as well as the Thunderbolts movie that was announced. I recommend seeing Wakanda Forever in theaters if you can. I give Black Panther: Wakanda Forever 9 spears out of 10.