I honestly feel bad for this film as it always was expected to do too much for too many. Not only to be an MCU sequel with all the inherent pressure therein – not to mention be a sequel that upholds the textual and subtextual capital “I” Importance of its predecessor – but to also serve as a fitting memorial to a lost star whose personal impact may never be fully realized. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever manages to weave all of that into a movie that never feels weighed down in all of its expectations and in fact finds a balance that I don’t think anyone expected.
The death of star Chadwick Boseman in 2020 created a massive creative hurdle for the sequel to overcome. Boseman’s T’Challa was not only the titular Panther, but also was the soul of the piece. Director Ryan Coogler and writers Coogler and Joe Robert Cole wasted no time in addressing this right off the bat, opening the film with a scene of tension, pathos, and pain that serves to both situate the audience in the new status quo but also bathe you in the emotions that will be your companions for the remainder of the film. Make no mistake, while this is a superhero movie, it is also a story of grief, loss, and unimaginable pain and those emotions might as well have had credited roles.
Set 6 months after the loss of T’Challa, we see his mother Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) trying to carry on for both her people and her daughter Shuri (Leticia Wright). When a mysterious water-dweller named Namor (Tenoch Huerta Mejia) requests the help of the Wakandans to protect a shared resource from the Americans, the world teeters on the edge of a war that could doom everyone.
Wakanda Forever uses it’s runtime to set up at least 1 new MCU series, 1 new MCU movie, and, with the appearance of Namor and what he represents to the Marvel COMIC universe, potentially a new MCU concept which has been long-awaited by fans. It should be noted, not to be all comic-fanboy, that the Namor we meet here is vastly different than the comic version in nearly all possible ways. He’s named Namor, has pointed ears and winged ankles and is amphibious; beyond that he’s essentially a different character. I will also note with his new backstory, his comic catchphrase “Imperious Rex” doesn’t really make a lick of sense anymore (as much as it made sense before) which is a shame.
Every member of the cast – main to supporting to glorified cameo- gets a moment to shine. Whether it’s Okoye (Danai Gurira) and her journey of self-doubt, to new character Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) discovering her personal power, to Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) and M’Baku (Winston Duke) rediscovering how they can be heroes to their people. Even Dora Milaje guard Ayo (Florence Kasumba) gets a quiet sweet moment with fellow guard Aneka (love of my life Michaela Coel).
All that said, this movie belongs to Wright. Shuri’s story is the heart and soul of the film. The story is driven by her grief, pain, rage, and utter desperation. Truly the depths of emotion Coogler asked her to sink to, and the moving mother daughter story she shares with Bassett (who, I’ll just say it, deserves an Oscar nomination here) is at once heartbreaking and inspiring.
Coogler and director of photography Autumn Durald Arkapaw (who I went to high school with! Hey!) bring visually stunning film with sumptuous colors and absolutely gorgeous shots of locations and fights and people and oh my god this movie is beautiful to look at!
While not perfect, the final battle could have used another once-over from a logic perspective, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is a film that delivers in all of the categories it needed while never getting overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of it all. It’s a great film that answers the promise of the first and continues the legacy. I doubt it will be all things to all people- not that that was ever possible to begin with- but it managed to answer the call and remove the shroud that was hanging over it to reveal the beauty underneath.
Geek of Critique 
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