Black Panther Wakanda FOrever
“Black Panther : Wakanda Forever”
The large task that writer/director Ryan Coogler had in carrying on with this Marvel franchise after the loss of its title character and star Chadwick Boseman to cancer is a task many would have walked away from. Coogler and his cast and crew most of which took large part in the original film also instead decided to go through the process of mourning and real loss and put it all up on the screen, and share that with the audience. I feel that they pulled it off nicely and at the same time are seeming to follow the theme of the rest of the Phase 4 Marvel movies that seems to be a passing of the mantel to another.
We jump right in as they are losing T’Challa to a strange illness that can only be cured by the scared flower that Killmonger destroyed after taking the mantel of the Black Panther in the first film. Of course his passing puts the Kingdom of Wakanda in a state of dismay. Without the flower to create a new Black Panther Wakanda finds itself for the first time in over 150 years without its champion and protector. This leaves the other super powers of the world to try their best to acquire some Vibrainium and gain power. In the process of searching they find the precious metal on the ocean floor and in doing so awakened a sleeping giant in the ocean deep. In this film we get our first look at longtime Marvel character Namor/The Submariner. This I feel is the magic trick that Coogler pulled off in this film. By basing his origins in the Mezoamerican/Inca area of the Spanish Conquistadors was a stroke of genius for this character and civilization both stylistically and mythologically. He is also the first Marvel writer/director since the Fox buyout to use the word “Mutant” in an MCU production which for a nerd like me garnered one of my biggest surprise moments of the entire movie or of any Phase 4 Marvel movie for that matter.
The story was fine the execution was flawless. The only way this film could have been better than it was was if Boseman had not passed away. Coogler wrote a good story about what people go through when dealing with great loss, and how sometimes refusing to do what is easy in favor of what is right are not only hard choices to make but sometimes leave wondering if the path you've decided to take was the right one. Letitia Wright did a good job as Suri and the always fantastic Angela Bassett as Queen Romonda was great and Winston Duke as M’Baku is quickly becoming a favorite character of mine and I hope more is done with his character in the future. If youre a Marvel nerd nothing I said good or bad will stop you from seeing this, if you’re a casual Marvel fan I say to you dont skip this one just for what they are building towards in the other Marvel frachises.
*This movie review was originally published in The Current River Observer as the River Reels article written by Jeffrey Riggs
