Photos courtesy of IMDB.com
New chapters arise from ashes of grief in Wakanda
Grief is a wonderous thing. Despite knowing the stages intimately, we are sometimes still in the throes some days. As it were when Black Panther’s sequel, Wakanda Forever, arrived, we were not in the later part of the journey. Our titular king, Chadwick Boseman, had been lost two years earlier and we were not in the headspace to take on new endeavors. And glimpsing the scenes of white and pomp with trepidation signaled that we were not going to see this any time soon. And we didn’t.
But years passed. We’ve made our peace with the loss of Boseman, and we emerged from the cocoon to witness the aftermath. We were not disappointed.
Wakanda Forever is a most dangerous game. From the opening scenes, chaos is supreme. But the chaos is expected. The sequel had the arduous task of telling the story of the loss of Boseman and his avatar T’Challa and it handles it most gracefully. You know it’s coming and that you need to look away and, yet you can’t look away. The outpouring of grief is so surreal and yet real, raw and visceral. The funeral scenes are so delicate that when it hits you in the face hard with the fact that T’Challa is gone, you’re already numb to the impact. We grieved the character when Boseman passed away because we already knew he would die also, but this hit in different way years later.
That visceral and raw emotion comes to play in several ways later. Queen Ramonda, played by the always exquisite Angela Bassett, shows how to lead a nation with quiet fury and resentment that must be watched to be believed. Shuri, as portrayed by the excellent Letitia Wright, has matured but still waits to step up. However, with the introduction of Namor – handled by the excellent Tenoch Huerta Mejia – Shuri must step up quickly. Shuri obviously is the focus this go around; it’s nice to see the character grow and lead. Danai Gurira is fantastic as Okoye as always, Winston Duke is still a scene stealer as M’Baku, Lupita Nyong’o is exceptional as Nakia and Dominique Thorne is a bright, fun and welcome addition as Riri Williams/Ironheart.
Wakanda Forever, while just as fun as the original, does have some issues. It’s not as good as the first, which is to be expected. There isn’t much that could top the original movie, and while Wakanda Forever tries, it doesn’t quite make the mark. Some of the CGI is not great, and some scenes meander just a little bit too much. And, while it respectfully carries on Boseman’s legacy very well – the opening Marvel logo intro dedication is phenomenal – it overall plays like a sorrowful song of more than two hours that constantly reminds you that T’Challa and Boseman are gone. It’s a bombardment of grief so strong that it makes watching Wakanda Forever more than once an arduous task that we do not want to do.
Wakanda Forever is a good movie. Not a great movie, a good one. And it’s a testament to the prowess of director Ryan Coogler that we could see this movie three years after its release and still feel its impact. We await our return to Wakanda when the grief is not as heavy.
HOW WE GRADE
We score the properties in three categories: Casting (or voice acting in cases of animated), plot and similarities to its source material. Each category receives points out of the maximum of 10 per category and 30 overall. The percentage is the final score.
Like the comics: 8
Acting: 10
Story: 7
Total: 25/30 or 8.3
