Movie Review: Black Panther - Wakanda Forever

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Bravely tackles a tough job with action and advancing story

Cons: Too unfocused and long for me

The Bottom Line:

Black Panther tribute

With an advancing story

Tries to do too much

Wandering Movie Had Its Moments

I’m beginning to wonder if it is time for me to give up on the Marvel franchise.  I’m just not finding most of the movies as entertaining as I once did.  I’m definitely not willing to pay to see them in the theater, which is why I am just now watching Wakanda Forever, the follow up to Black Panther.

The movie opens with the off-screen death of King T’Challa, aka Black Panther.  The main story picks up a year later as the residents are trying to move on.  His mother, Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) has retaken her place on the throne.  His sister, Shuri (Letitia Wright) is still blaming herself for not finding a cure in time to save his life.

But the world outside of Wakanda is about to come knocking.  Someone has discovered a deposit of vibranium, the substance that gives Wakanda it’s unique place in the world, in the Atlantic Ocean.  When forces show up to stop the expedition from learning more, everyone assumes it is the Wakandans.

However, it is another race that knows about vibranium, led by Namor (Tenoch Huerta).  It isn’t long before he shows up in Wakanda making demands.  Can Ramonda and Shuri figure out how to fight him?

Part of my issue with the movie is the two-hour forty-five-minute length.  It feels bloated.  Part of that isn’t the movie’s fault, however.  Due to the unfortunate passing of Chadwick Boseman, this movie had to address the death of his character, T’Challa, who was supposed to be the main character here.  The re-writes needed to cover all of that actually do a good job of handling that and still moving the story forward.

However, it is too much for one movie.  I get that Namor is being set up to be a major part of the next chapter of Marvel movies, but I feel like this movie did too much as a result.  Maybe a lesser villain here would have been better and Namor could have been introduced another way?

Also, I get that the characters were mourning.  The problem was, I wasn’t.  I feel like those parts of the movie, while they might have been cathartic for the cast and crew, also slowed things down.

Which is too bad since there was a good story in here.  Two actually.  The action scenes are impressive and kept my attention.  The ending sets up further stories with these characters without feeling like cliffhangers.  I’m intrigued to know what comes next.

I watched this movie on a 4K TV via Disney+.  I found the special effects to be good.  Although I did have to laugh at some of Namor’s subjects.  They look like extra who got lost from a Pirates of the Caribbean movie.  I realize my lack of knowledge from the comics is probably showing here, but that was all I could think of when they were on screen.

And maybe that’s part of the problem.  I don’t know the comics or any of the cool connections that the movies are making as they set up the next big stories.  Maybe if I did, I would still be enjoying them more.

None of my complaints are the fault of the actors.  They are all good at bringing their characters to life.  While I could have cared for them a bit more, I blame that on a script that tried to do too much.

It’s not that Black Panther – Wakanda Forever is bad.  It’s just too unfocused and too long for my tastes.