You could quite easily argue that without the emotional narrative running throughout – this could have been grouped with Marvel’s other inconsistent 2022 releases.
Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Thor: Love & Thunder were both erratically ‘patchy’ at best, and while the Black Panther sequel is more refined – mainly due to the direction of Ryan Coogler – its bloated run-time can take you from ‘weepy’ to ‘weary’ due to some unnecessarily long bouts of inactivity.
But at its core Wakanda Forever is still a passionately worthy, and sometimes deeply moving, tribute to Chadwick Boseman – who starred as his King T’Challa iteration of Black Panther in the blockbuster 2018 original – before his sad passing due to colon cancer in August, 2020.
For this alone – headlined by a sensational opening intro and several ‘lump in throat’ sequences all to the backdrop of Rihanna’s song Lift Me Up – makes it worth the ticket price.
Without this, you could argue it does veer surprisingly into generic Marvel territory during the final third, but fortunately the main story threads involving Letitia Wright’s grieving sister Princess Shuri and – arguably the movie-stealing – introduction of Tenoch Huerta’s super-powered serpent God Namor (the Sub-Mariner in comic-book lore) always makes this watchable fare during its overly ‘talky’ lulls.
The movie doesn’t try to sugar-coat the death of Boseman’s T’Challa, by immediately showing tech-wizard Shuri trying to synthetically recreate the heart-shaped herb – destroyed by Killmonger in the last film – to save her ailing brother who is suffering from a mystery illness. But fails to do so before he sadly succumbs.
Fast forward a year and the international community is pressurising Wakanda – and Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) – to share their precious metal vibranium, with the CIA and US Navy SEALs trying to locate it at the bottom of the ocean.
But this search inadvertently angers the anciently-secret underwater civilisation of Talokan – who reveals it has vibranium at its disposal – who look to align themselves with Wakanda to destroy anyone who seeks this resource, including the person responsible for devising the vibranium-detection machine.
This leads to Shuri and Danai Gurira’s General Okoye protecting said person, Dominique Thorne’s MIT student Riri Williams, who has also invented an Iron Man-esque suit of armour (she is known as Ironheart in comics, but isn’t referenced as that here) from the wing-footed Namor, his two right-hand warriors, and relentlessly loyal army.
But when Shuri and Riri get captured, this leads to a stand-off that quickly involves Martin Freeman’s CIA agent Everett K Ross, Winston Duke’s leader of mountain tribe the Jabari M’Baku, and Lupita Nyongo’o’s returning Wakandan spy Nakia – who mysteriously disappeared after ‘The Blip’ – in differing capacities.
With so much going on, acclaimed director Coogler – arguably for the first-time in his career – does intermittently ‘lose control’ with so many moving parts threatening to take this epic super-hero tale off track, as he struggles to cohesively blend together all the movie’s intertwining plotlines.
And to the most cynical – with Marvel’s almost-flawless track record in previous phases – you claim it’s a tad underwhelming as a whole.
But as previously mentioned, Wright’s emotive turn as the tormented Shuri and impressive rookie bow from Huera’s Namor puts enough meat on the bone – which compliments the fitting celebratory eulogy to Boseman emanating throughout.
And for that it achieves its goal – and solidly forwards the MCU in the process.
ESP Rating: 3.5/5
Gavin Miller
Showcase Cinema De Lux Peterborough, Out Now
Cast: Letitia Wright, Tenoch Huerta, Angela Bassett, Danai Gurira, Lupita Nyongo’o, Martin Freeman, Dominique Thorne, Winston Duke, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, Florence Kasumba, Michaela Coel, Lake Bell & Michael B Jordan
Running Time: 2 Hrs 41 Mins
Director: Ryan Coogler
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